18 NOVEMBER 1995, Page 74

CHESS

Short circuit

Raymond Keene

LAST WEEK I REPORTED on the exceptionally strong tournament at Horgen in Switzerland, sponsored by Credit Suisse, which saw a great triumph for Ivanchuk and Kramnik and a terrible setback for Kasparov. Now, I give the full cross-table of the final scores. These reveal a superb comeback by Nigel Short, his best tourna- ment performance for years and perhaps a portent of a renaissance in his career which might match that glorious period in 1992 and 1993 which swept him to a world title challenge.

Credit Suisse, Horgen October—November 1995

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

1. Ivanchuk * 1/2 1/2 0 1 1/2 1 1 1 1 1/2 7 2. Kramnik 1/2 * 1/2 1 1/2 1 1/21/2 1 1 1/2 7 3. Ehlvest 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 1 1 1/2 1/21/2 1/2 6 4. Short 1 0 1/2 • 1/2 1 0 1/2112 1 1 6 5. Kasparov 0 1/2 1/2 I/2 * 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 1/2 5 6. Gulko 1/2 0 0 0 1/2 * 1 1/2 1/2 1 1/2 41/2 7. Korchnoi 0 1/2 0 1 0 0 * 1/2 1 1/2 1 41/z 8. Yusupov 0 1/2 1/2 1h 1/2 1/2 1/2 • I/2 1/2 1/2 41/2 9. Lautier 0 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 * 1/2 1 4 10. Vaganian 0 0 1/2 0 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 1/2 • 1 31/2 11. Timman 1/2 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 1/2 0 1/2 0 0 * 3 [1 =win 1/2 = draw 0= loss]

Short's result at Horgen was distin- guished by a win against the co-victor, Ivanchuk, and an attractive demolition of his old sparring partner, the Dutch grand- master Jan Timman.

Timman—Short Horgen, October 1995; Nimzo-Indian Defence.

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 Qc2 Kasparov's favourite at this stage, defending the knight against capture by Black's bishop. Thus White hopes to gain the advantage of the bishop pair without suffering the compensating disadvantage of doubled pawns. In their 1993 world champi- onship Short suffered badly in game nine when Kasparov introduced some important new ideas in this variation. For the present game, Short

comes better prepared. 4 ...d5 5 cxd5 QxdS In his game against Kasparov Short played 5 ... exd5. The text is more active. 6 Nf3 In the sec- ond game of the world championship this year, Kasparov preferred 6 e3 against Anand in this position. 6 ... Qf5 A most unorthodox move, the brainchild of the Ukrainian grandmaster Oleg Romanishin. In previous games White has tried either 7 Qb3 or 7 QxfS, but Black's results have been good. After 7 Qx15 exf5 Black's freedom of action and grip on the centre have more than compensated for his doubled pawns. Timman now tries out a fresh concept. 7 Qdl c5 S e3 cxd4 9 exd4 The danger from White's point of view is his lack of development, occasioned by two moves with his queen which have returned her to the starting square. It might have been more dynamic here to try 9 Nxd4 and if 9 ...Bxc3+ 10 bxc3 Qc5 11 Bb5+ Bd7 12 a4 offering a pawn sacrifice, e.g. 12 ... Qxc3+ 13 Bd2 Qc7 14 Rcl with a lead in development to compensate for the missing pawn. 9 ...Ne4 10 Bd2 Nc6 11 a3 The alternative 11 Bd3, pinning Black's knight, looks attractive but it fails to the tactical shot 11 ...Nxf2 12 Kxf2 Qxd3 or 12 Bxf5 Nxdl. 11 ... Bxc3 12 bxc3 Bd7 13 Qc2 Rc8 Trouble is brewing on the 'c' file; it is always suspicious when your opponent places a rook on the same file as your queen. Timman proceeds as if oblivious to the danger. 14 Bd3 (Diagram) White's last move

• Position after 14 Bd3

appears to win a piece since Black's knight on e4 is now trapped and pinned to his queen. Never- theless, Short has prepared well for this eventu- ality and now unleashes a hail of tactics to justify his bold play. 14 ... Nxd4 15 Nxd4 White has no choice. 15 Qxf2+ 16 Kdl Nc5 Black already has two pawns for his piece and White's king is misplaced. With the threat of ...Ba4 winning White's queen, Short gains further time to anni- hilate what remains of White's kingside pawns. 17 a4 Qxg2 18 Rel Qxh2 19 Be4 g6 20 Reg Qgl+ 21 Re1 Qg3 22 Re3 Qd6 23 Nb5 BxbS 24 axb5 0-0 25 Rxa7 (Diagram) At least regaining one

Position after 25 Rxa7

pawn. White's salvation, if he has one, will be that Black's armada of passed pawns may be needed to defend his king and could, therefore, be difficult to advance. 25 ...Rfd8 26 Ra2 Qf4 27 Kel Trying to stop Black's queen reaching f2, which would paralyse White's forces. Now, though, White's king is back in the firing line. 27 ...Qh4+ 28 Ke2 Qh2+ 29 Kel Rd7 30 Bel Qgl+ 31 Ke2 RcdS White resigns In the final position there is no good defence to the threat of ...Rdl when White will soon be mated.

At the Intel Speed Chess tournament in Paris, which followed soon after Horgen, Kasparov redeemed himself by winning first place and $80,000 in prizes and bonus- es, ahead of Kramnik, Ivanchuk and his challenger from New York, Anand. Anand, in fact, lost his first game against the cham- pion by default when he mistook the start- ing time (`treize heures') for three o'clock. More on this tournament next week.