In Miskolc, Hungary, Norwegian wunderkind Magnus Carlsen bested Hungary’s no. 1 player, Peter Leko, in an eight-game rapid match, 5-3! Leko, as all chessnuts know, drew the classical world championship match against another super-solid player, Russia’s Vladimir Kramnik in 2004.
In Sarajevo, Bosnia, Russian GM Alexander Morozevich dominated the six-man tourney, with a performance rating of 2869, which means that he will be the world’s number three in the next FIDE ratings list, after Anand and Kramnik.
In Odessa, Ukraine, two legendary players and bitter rivals, Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi, participated in the double-round rapid Pivdenny Bank Chess Cup. Boris Gelfand and Ruslan Ponomariov were also among the participants, but it was Pavel Tregubov of Russia who had the better tie-break score and won first prize.
Finally, in Bazna, Romania, British GM Nigel Short convincingly won the “Tournament of Kings,” an-11 player event that drew the participation of nine former world championship candidates and two Romanian players. Short played against Portisch, Andersson, Mecking, Vaganian, Timman, Beliavsky, Sokolov, Khalifman and the Romanian GMs Suba and Murariu.
Short, the highest rated player, won four games, drew six and had topped the tournament with a round to spare.
Besides Kasparov and, of course, Torre, Nigel David Short was my favorite player in the 1980s. In 1983, I used to go to a bookstore, a jeepney-ride away from my grandfather’s house, just to read “Nigel Short: A Child Prodigy,” written by his father David and published in England in 1981. It was a Faber Paperback and priced way beyond the financial capability of a 10th grader.
Born on June 1, 1965 in Leigh, Lancashire, Short was 10 years old when he defeated Korchnoi in a simul. He was 12 when he became the youngest ever participant in the British Chess Championship. Two years later, he tied for first place in the championship. He placed second to Kasparov in the 1980 world junior championship and was awarded the grandmaster title in 1984, aged 19 — the youngest in the world at that time. The following year, he narrowly qualified from the Biel Interzonal to become Britain’s first ever candidate. He had to go through a playoff against van der Wiel and Torre for the last berth, after the three had tied in regulation play. In the Montpellier candidates tournament, however, Short could only finish 10th place. Still, by the late 1980s, he had already eclipsed Tony Miles in the English chess scene and emerged as a serious contender for the world title.
He won the 1987 Subotica Interzonal with compatriot Jon Speelman and in the candidates matches Short defeated Gyula Sax (+2=3) but unexpectedly lost (-2=3) to Speelman!
In the next world championship cycle, however, Short’s strength peaked. A last round victory over Gurevich enabled Niegel to finish equal third with Anand, behind Ivanchuk and Gelfand, at the Manila interzonal. Short then defeated Gelfand (+4=2-2) and Speelman (+3-2=5) to set the semi-final stage against the mighty Karpov. Short beat the Russian (+4=4-2) in a match that was described as “the end of an era.” In the final, Short defeated Dutchman Jan Timman (+5=5-3) to earn the right to face the world champion, Kasparov.
Unhappy with FIDE’s decision on the venue and the prize fund, Short and Kasparov broke away from the World Chess Federation, formed a rival organization, the now defunct Professional Chess Association, and played a match in London from September to October 1993. Kasparov won convincingly (+6-1=13). “I have spent many months, if not years, of my life solely contemplating how to defeat him,” says Short; “but to no avail. He is simply too strong.”
Known for his creative, swashbuckling style of play, Short has won many matches and tournaments and is still an active player, but he is now building a reputation as an outstanding chess coach of prodigies, among them, Pentala Harikrishna, Sergey Karjakin, David Howell and Parimarjan Negi. Short is also the national coach of the Islamic Republic of Iran which surprisingly won the team bronze medal at the Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, in 2006. In the nine chess events at the Asian Indoor Games in Macau 2007, Iran took a silver and two bronze medals.
Game of the week. In this game against one of strongest Soviet players in the late 1980s — ranked no. 3 in the world in 1987-88! — Short played his best game in Bazna. According to our annotator IM Malcom Pein, the victory was “reminiscent of Short at his best in the 1990s when no Sicilian player was safe.”
White: N. Short (2660)
Black: A. Sokolov (2596)
Bazna 2008
Sicilian Defense Keres Attack
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 d6 6.g4 h6 7.Bg2 Nc6 8.h3 Bd7 9.f4 a6 10.Be3 Be7 11.Qe2 (11.0–0 Qc7 12.a4 Rc8 13.Nb3 Na5 was Short-Sokolov World Cup Rotterdam 1989 which was a win for Short in 47 moves) 11…Qc7 12.Nb3 b5 13.a3 Rc8 14.0–0 (14.0–0–0 was also possible but Short’s choice is vindicated by Black’s next move) 14…Nh7 (14…0–0 15.g5 hxg5 16.fxg5 Nh7 17.Qh5 Ne5 is fine for Black but Short would play 15.h4) 15.Rad1 0–0 16.Qf2 b4 17.Na4 (With a black knight out of play on h7 as opposed to centralized on d7 Short decides to invade the queenside) 17…bxa3 18.bxa3 Nb8?! (Unnecessarily passive 18…Rb8 19.Nb6 Be8 offered better chances and Nf6-d7 may be possible) 19.Nb6 Rce8 20.c4 Bc6 21.Na5! (White dominates the board and Black’s next move allows a combination) 21…Nf6 (21…Nd7 22.Nxc6 Qxc6 23.e5 Qc7 24.Nxd7 Qxd7 25.exd6 Bxd6 26.c5 wins) 22.Nxc6 Nxc6 23.e5! dxe5 24.g5! displacing the knight and planning Rd7 24…hxg5 25.fxg5 Nd4 (25…Nh7 If 26.Rd7 Qb8 27.Bxc6 wins a piece) 26.gxf6 Bxf6 27.c5 (Short advances this pawn to force the win) 27…Rd8 28.Rc1 Be7 29.Qa2 Nf5 30.Rxf5! exf5 31.Nd5 Qd7 32.c6 Qe6 33.c7 Rc8 34.Rc6 Bd6 (34…Qxc6 35.Nxe7+) 35.Qc4 Rfe8 36.Qxa6 Ra8 37.Qb6 1–0
Puzzler.
White — pawns on b3, b4, h2; Qa8, Ke1, Be4, Ne7
Black — pawns on a5, b5, e5, g5; Na7, Bb6, Ke3
White to play and mate in three moves.
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