Alexander Khalifman (born 1966) won the 1990 New York Open and was ranked equal 10th in the world in 1991. He was a fixture in the Top 20 for much of the next decade.
The St. Petersburg grandmaster is most famous for winning the 1999 FIDE World Championship. That earned him invites to elite events, where he generally held his own.
At the 2002 edition of the hallowed Wijk aan Zee tournament, Khalifman was near his career-high rating of 2702 and took down tournament winner Evgeny Bareev‘s Rubinstein French in just 20 moves.
White to play. How did Khalifman end the game suddenly?
20.?
A Bolt from the Blue
This is nice because it shows us a few different thematic ideas. Thanks for this!
Hi Jay!
Glad you liked the post!
Awesome game. I looked at Rg5 for a moment, but failed to see the continuation. I especially like the line with f5 and sacing the Bishop for mate. Is it me, or does Khalifman look like Russell Crowe?
A little bit!