Chess
0 frabjous day!
Raymond Keene
Just like Alice in Through the Looking Glass, Nigel Short, after many adven- tures, has finally reached the 8th row. Whereas Alice was then promoted to a Queen with a golden crown, Nigel has become a Grandmaster — appropriately enough, England's eighth. At the age of 19, this makes him currently the world's Youngest GM, and possibly the youngest player ever to have achieved Grandmaster status in Western Europe. His three norms came at Amsterdam 1982, Amsterdam
1983 and now Esbjerg, Denmark, earlier in July this year.
There is a very slight technical hitch with his first Dutch norm, since Nigel played too many Dutchmen to satisfy the strict letter of the law. Nevertheless, his brilliant victory at Baku last year, plus another near-miss at Plovdiv in June (where he came second to Plaskett) should combine to eradicate any possible qualms that might arise with the Fide Qualification Commis- sion. Nigel's result at Esbjerg was an unqualified triumph. He not only acquired
his third and decisive norm, but also captured first prize in a strong tournament, scoring 71/2/11, ahead of Mestel and Karl-
sson 7, with Miles, Csom and Arnason further down the list.
Nigel's most severe test came in round 8 (!) against an opponent who was obviously very determined to win.
Miles — Short: Nimzo-Indian Defence. 1 d4 e6 2 c4 Nf6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e3 c5 5 Ne2 cxd4 6 exd4 d5 In recent games, e.g. Torre-Karpov, Phillips and Drew/GLC in May, Black has been faring badly with the once popular 6 . . . 0-0 7 a3 Bel 8 d5! etc . . . Significantly, Torre himself, as Black, prefers 6 . . . d5. 7 c5 Ne4 8 Bd2 Nxd2 9 Qxd2 a5 10 a3 Bxc3 11 Nxc3 a4 12 Bb5+ Trying to improve on the 12 Bd3 b6 13 0-0 bxc5 14 dxc5 Qa5 15 Racl 0-0 of Miles-Torre, also P+D/ GLC, where White could make no real progress. 12 . . . Bd7 13 0-0 0-0 14 f4 g6 In his turn, trying to improve on 14 . . . f5?! 15 Rfel, Korchnoi-
Seirawan, Bad Kissingen 1981, or 14 . b6 15
f5!•exf5 16 Bxd7 Qxd7 17 cxb6 Nc6 18 Qf4, Gligoric-Lein, Lone Pine 1981, in both cases with White on top. Nigel's idea is to slow down any White K-side attack based on f5. 15 Rael BxbS 16 NxbS b6 17 g4?! (Diagram) White insists
Position after I7g4!?
on forcing through f5 and abandons his Q-wing. 17 . . . bxc5 18 15 exf5 19 dxc5 Na6 20 gxf5 Nxc5 21 fxg6 hxg6 22 Qh6 Ne4 23 Re3 Rab8 24 NO The last chance to confuse the issue is 24 Nc7! Qxc7 25 Rh3 or 24 . . . Rxb2 25 Ne6! fxe6 26 Qxg6+. Black has to play 24 . . 0g5+. losing a tempo on the game. 24 . . . Rxb2 25 Kh 1 Qg5 Ending White's attack by exchanging queens. 26 QxgS NxgS 27 NxdS Rd8 28 Rd3 Kg7 29 Rf4 Nh3! This forces a liquidation which leaves Black with a totally won Rook and Pawn ending. 30 Rxh3 RxdS 31 Rhf3 Rdl + 32 Rfl Rxfl + 33 Rxf1 Ra2. 34 Rf3 g5 35 Rc3 Kg6 36 Kgl f5 37 Rc6+ Kh5 38 Rc3 f4 39 Rd3 Kg4 40 Rc3 Rb2 41 Rc4 Rb3 42 Rxa4 Kf3 43 Rb4 Rxb4 44 axb4 Keg White resigns. The 'f pawn rapidly reaches the 8th row!
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