Nisipeanu eliminates Shirov in world chess quarterfinals

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

LAS VEGAS - Liviu Nisipeanu of Romania scored the biggest shocker of the World Chess Championship on Friday when he eliminated the second seed, Alexei Shirov of Spain.

Nisipeanu, the 46th seed that no one thought would get past the second round, won with the black pieces to qualify for the semifinals which begin Sunday at Caesars Palace.

The last woman in the field, Judit Polgar of Hungary, was also knocked out of the tournament when she had to settle for a draw against Russia's Alexander Khalifman.

The Michael Adams-Vladimir Kramnik and Sergei Movsesian-Vladimir Akopian games ended in draws for the second straight day. These matches will be decided by two-game sets of playoff matches Saturday.

This seven-round knockout style tournament which started with 100 entrants will then be down to its final four.

The event is being sponsored by the Federation Internationale des Echecs (FIDE). The winner will receive $660,000 of the $3 million prize fund and be crowned world champion.

Shirov attained an extraordinarily complex position where he seemed to have the only winning chances. Shirov is famed for his ability to convert such positions into victory.

Nisipeanu, who is little known outside of Eastern Europe, defended expertly and managed to generate some threats of his own. As both players became short of time, the Spaniard made some inaccurate moves, and Nisipeanu's counterattack came crashing through.

This is by far the closest any Romanian player has ever come to the world championship.

Khalifman played a solid game and never seemed to be in danger while securing the draw that eliminated Polgar. He will play Nisipeanu in the semifinals.

In exiting the tournament in the quarterfinals, the Hungarian set a new standard for women. None has ever come nearly this close to the men's title.

Kramnik, the top seed and Russia's other hope, played a 17 move draw against England's Adams, the fifth seed.

Movsesian, the 20-year-old Czech, had a small advantage against Akopian of Armenia, but the players agreed to a draw after 21 moves.

Three of the top players in the world are not competing here.

Garry Kasparov, generally recognized as the best player in world, and Anatoly Karpov, the current FIDE World Champion, dispute the validity of this championship.

Kasparov, who split from FIDE as its champion in 1993, claims that he is still the real title holder. Karpov contends that he has the right to defend his title winner of the current tournament.

Viswanthan Anand could not play here because he is scheduled to play a match this autumn against Kasparov for his version of the title.

The score of the Round 5, Game 2 match between Shirov, playing White, and Nisipeanu:

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nc3 e6 5.g4 Bg6 6.Nge2 c5 7.h4 h6 8.f4 Be7 9.Bg2 Bxh4+ 10.Kf1 Be7 11.f5 Bh7 12.Nf4 Qd7 13.Nh5 Bf8 14.dxc5 Nc6 15.Nb5 Bxc5 16.c4 Nxe5 17.Qe2 Nxc4 18.Bxd5 Qxb5 19.Bxc4 Qb6 20.fxe6 000 21.exf7 Ne7 22.Qe6+ Kb8 23.Bf4+ Ka8 24.Qxb6 axb6 25.Be5 Rhf8 26.Ke2 Nd5 27.Rhf1 Ne3 28.Bb5 Nxf1 29.Rxf1 Bg6 30.Rf4 Bd6 31.Bxd6 Rxd6 32.Bc4 b5 33.Bb3 Bd3+ 34.Ke3 g5 35.Rf2 Bc4 36.Bxc4 bxc4 37.Ke4 Rd7 38.Rf6 Rfxf7 39.Rxh6 Rfe7+ 40.Kf5 Rd5+ 41.Kg6 Re2 0-1

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