SIMPSON'S
IN-THE-STRAND
CHESS
SIMPSON'S
IN-THE-STRAND
Born again
Raymond Keene
NIGEL SHORT cannot have been happy that the latest Fide (World Chess Federa- tion) ranking list deposes him from his number one slot in the UK ratings. Worse, Short is not even number two, but has dropped to third position behind Michael Adams and Matthew Sadler. At the start of the year, after his victory in Groningen, it appeared that Short was on the point of re- establishing his old form which swept him to a world title challenge against Garry Kasparov. Thereafter, though, the doubts and uncertainties which had afflicted him on and off since his defeat by Kasparov in 1993 returned once again to plague him. Mediocre result followed upon mediocre result.
Finally, however, Nigel has delighted his supporters with an excellent result in the Novgorod tournament (see the crosstable in the 5 July issue). In the first cycle of this double-round event Short appeared to con- firm his recent terrible form, scoring a mere one point out of a possible five and languishing at the bottom of the tourna- ment table. But in the second cycle Short rose like a phoenix from the ashes, notch- ing up a barely credible four points from five possible, permitting only Bareev and Kasparov to escape with draws and admin- istering sharp defeats on Gelfand, Topalov and Kramnik. Indeed, it was only Short's win again Kramnik that enabled Kasparov to keep his nose in front and clinch overall tournament victory by half a point.
Uneven Short's results may be, but he is still the only British player capable of scor- ing consistent wins against the world's best. Here is how he despatched Kramnik, wide- ly regarded as the most likely future human challenger to Kasparov's throne.
Short–Kramnik: Novgorod 1997; Sicilian Defence.
1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 d6 6 h3 Normal is 6 Bg5, but Kramnik is supremely well prepared in theoretical highways of the Sicilian Defence. One of the secrets of Nigel's success in the second half of Novgorod was that by employing aggressive yet offbeat openings he was able to derail his more classically minded opponents. For example, the game Gelfand- Short commenced 1 d4 e6 2 c4 b6 3 e4 Bb7 4 Bd3 Nc6 5 Net Nb4 while Topalov–Short went 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 e6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Qb6 5 Nc3 Bc5 6 Na4 Qa5 +. Neither of these Black defences could in any way be described as mainstream. 6 ...g6 Against White's unusual system Kramnik decides to transpose into a Dragon variation. 7 Be3 Bg7 8 Bc4 0-0 9 Bb3 Na5 10 Qd2 Bd7 11 Bh6 With Black's queen's knight having migrat- ed away from c6, thus lessening Black's counter- pressure against the centre, White can take the opportunity to trade off Black's valuable fianchettoed bishop. 11 ... Rc8 12 Bxg7 Kxg7 13 Qd3 This looks like loss of tempo, but White wishes to avoid a black knight settling on the outpost square c4. 13 ... a6 14 f4 eS This appears to me to be too weakening, particularly of the black pawn on d6. By playing instead 14 ... Qc7 Black could hold up White's intended e5, whilst renewing his own threat to invade with ...Nc4. 15 Nde2 Qb6 16 0-0-0 Bb5 Black has to resort to tactical trickery to defend his pawn on d6. If now 17 Qxd6 Qxd6 18 Rxd6 Bxe2 19 Nxe2 Nxe4 when Black is fine. Still, the weakling on d6 does not need to be exploited at once. It will not go
away. 17 Qf3 Bxe2 18 Qxe2 Nxb3+ 19 axb3 exf4 It is important to forestall White's plan of f5 fol- lowed by g4, with a winning pawn avalanche. The text even wins a pawn, and d6 still appears easy to defend, but Black's structure overall is slowly beginning to disintegrate. 20 Rhfl Qa5 Black pins his hopes on short-termism, e.g. the threat of ... Qal +. Instead 20 ... Nh5 holds the pawn on f4 and even threatens the fork ...Ng3. However, after the calm response 21 Qd2 fol- lowed by Kbl and ultimately Nd5, White would reassert his authority in the centre. 21 Rxf4 Qal+ 22 Nbl Nd7 It is now too late to defend d6 by conventional means. One of White's threats is the deadly e5. 23 Rxd6 Nc5 24 Qe3 a5 Speculating on the insecurity of White's king, but Black's king is also in the firing line. 25 e5 b5
This really is too slow. 25 a4 was his last chance to muddy the waters. 26 Rh4 Opening up a fresh battery against the black king. 26 ...Kg8 27 Rd5 (Diagram) Driving Black's knight from
Position after 27 Rd5
its menacing post before carrying out execution on the other wing. 27 ...Ne6 28 Qh6 Rxc2+ Utter desperation in view of White's threat of Qxh7+. 29 Kxc2 Rc8+ 30 Nc3 Black resigns After 30 ...Rxc3+ 31 Kxc3 Qel+ 32 Kc2 Qf2+ 33 Kbl Black runs out of checks and White's material advantage is overwhelming. A convinc- ing win against a great opponent.
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