Miniature of the Month - May 2008

It's hard to go past the following game, between two strong GM's at this years US Championship. Defending champion Alexander Shabalov set up a tactic that turns up quite a lot in the Sicilian, unfortunately he set it up for his opponent Alex Yermolinsky. Shabolov resigned when he realised what he'd done.
This game very may well have been the only highlight of the tournament for both players as Shabalov finished on 4.5/9 and Yermolinsky fared even worse on 4/9.

Yermolinsky,A (2518) - Shabalov,A (2633) [B23]
Frank K Berry ch-USA Tulsa USA (1), 13.05.2008

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 e6 3.Nge2 d5 4.exd5 exd5 5.d4 Nc6 6.Be3 Nf6 7.dxc5 Be7 8.Nd4 0-0 9.Be2 Ne5 10.0-0 Bxc5 11.Ne6 fxe6 12.Bxc5 Rf7 13.f4 Nc6 14.Bf3 Qa5 15.Bf2 Bd7 16.Qd2 Rd8 17.Rad1 Rff8 18.a3 Ne7(D)
[ 18...Ne7 19.Nxd5 Qxd2 20.Nxe7+ Kf7 21.Rxd2 Kxe7 22.Bc5+] 1-0