IM Salinnikov has offered the following game to illustrate his aggressive tactical style. He has provided light analysis and a few comments to illustrate a couple of the key points. I have added a few of my own comments which appear in italics. Salinnikov's opponent, Anton Sitnikov, was the 2000 Ukrainian Under 16 Champion.
(125) Salinnikov, Denis (RUS) - Sitnikov, Anton (UKR) [C05]
Ch Ukraine (team) Alushta (Ukraine), 2000
[Salinnikov/Castro]
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 Nc6 7.Ngf3 cxd4 8.cxd4 Nb6 9.a3 a5 10.b3 Bd7 11.0-0 Be7 12.Bb2 0-0 13.Rc1 a4 14.b4 Na7 15.Qe2 Rb8 [ 15...Qe8!? 16.Rc7~~ ( 16.Rc5) ] 16.h4 Qe8 Diagram
17.Rc5! BC: "White offers the exchange in order to close off the queenside to Black counterplay. I spoke to IM Salinnikov about this move. He said that it has been played a couple times before, but he figured it out over the board. As you will see, it leads to a most exciting game where material advantage takes a backseat to piece activity and weak squares around the Black king." 17...Na8 [ 17...Bxc5 18.dxc5 Nbc8 19.Bxh7+! with a strong attack.] 18.Ng5 g6 19.Qg4 Bb5 [ 19...Bxc5 20.dxc5 Bb5 21.Bb1! Bxf1 22.Nxf1+- BC: "Even though White has sacrificed the exchange twice, all of Black's pieces are away from the action, while White has a strong attack. Both White bishops are aiming at the Black kingside and h4-h5 (attacking the weakened pawn structure around the king) is coming."] 20.Rxb5 Nxb5 21.h5 Nbc7? After this move Black forces the exchange of the dark-square bishop and can't defend weakened squares on the kingside. After necessary 21...Kg7 22.f4 the position is unclear. 22.hxg6 hxg6 23.Qh4 Bxg5 24.Qxg5+/- Diagram 24...Kg7 25.Nf3 Rh8 26.Bc1! Decisive bishop transfer. 26...Qd8 27.Qg3 Qd7 28.Bg5 Ne8 29.Nh2 Rc8 30.Bb1 Qb5 31.Qf4 Qe2 32.Ng4 Rh7 33.Bh6+ Kg8 34.Bxg6 Diagram [ BC: "Black resigned seeing that he will have to suffer heavy material loss to avoid being mated." 34.Bxg6 fxg6? 35.Qf8#] 1-0
Interview with IM Denis Salinnikov
