CHESS
Ars brevis
Raymond Keene
What is the secret of Nigel Short's phenomenal success? Still just 21, he has won the British Championship (way back in 1984), qualified for the Candidates' tournament (the only Briton ever to do so), chalked up two Olympic team silver medals plus one individual gold, beaten Kasparov, and reached the number seven slot in the world ranking list. His latest exploit has been to share first prize in the extraordinarily strong tournament at Wijk aan Zee.
I have often stated that Short is the only credible western challenger for Kasparov's crown. This observation is reinforced by the knowledge that Korchnoi, Hubner, Timman, Miles, Nunn and Seirawan are considerably older than Nigel, hence likely to be in relative decline as our hero approaches his peak, probably between the ages of 26 and 30.
Judged by world title standards Short is not yet outstandingly erudite where chess theory is concerned. As White he tends to adopt homespun systems against the Sici- lian, while as Black he counters 1 e4 with the French. He still has trouble at top level against 1 d4, having failed to settle either on the Queen's Indian or Queen's Gambit Declined as his staple defence. Where Short scores is in subtle strategic man- oeuvres, blending the styles of Karpov, Capablanca and Nimzowitsch — playing for position, constriction and blockade.
He is an admirable sportsman, staying cool under fire and capable of bouncing back quickly from defeats. As an example, he demolished Korchnoi in the first round at Wijk aan Zee, just after a particularly nasty loss to the same opponent in the last round at Brussels, their preceding event. Nigel's reactions are also exceedingly swift. Last year he won the British Quickplay Championship with the astonishing Fischeresque score of 11/11.
Writing just before the match, I believe Short will perform well in his six-game London Docklands sponsored speed chess challenge against Kasparov. The games are being played at the London Hippo- drome on Wednesday and Thursday (4 and 5 February). An embargo has necessarily been imposed on their publication until the Channel 4 series has been screened, but I will deal with them here week by week as the games become available. Watch out for the TV series at 6.30 p.m. for six consecu- tive Saturdays from 21 February.
Here is more information from Wijk aan Zee:
Ljubojevic — Short: French Defence.
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 c5 4 Ngf3 Nc6 5 exd5 exd5 6 Bb5 Bd6 7 dxc5 BxcS 8 Nb3 Bd6 9 Be3 Ne7 10 Qd2 0-0 11 Be2 Nf5 12 Bf4 Bxf4 13 Qxf4 Re8 14
Qd2 a5 15 a4 Qf6 16 0-0 Qxb2 17 Bb5 Qf6 18 NxaS Rd8 19 Nb3 h6 20 Rfel Nce7 21 Ne5 Nd6 22 Bd3 Bf5 23 Qb4 Be4 24 Ng4 Qg5 25 f3 Nc6 26 Qc5 Bxd3 27 cxd3 Nf5 28 Qf2 Re8 29 Rxelt+ RxeS 30 Rel Rxel+ 31 Qxel h5 32 Nf2 Nh4 33 QeS+ Kh7 34 g3 Nxf3+ 35 Kg2 Qf5 36 Qe2 Nfe5 37 d4 Ng4 38 Qd3 Kg6 39 Nc5 Nxf2 40 Qxf5+ Kxf5 41 Kxf2 Na5 42 Kf3 g6 43 h3 b6 44 Nd3 85 45 Ne5 f6 46 g4+ hxg4+ 47 hxg4+ Ke6 48 Nd3 Nc4 49 Ke2 Nd6 50 Nf2 f5 51 gxf5+ KxfS 52 En Ne4 53 Nd3 Nc3 54 NM g4+ 55 Ke3 Kg5 56 Kf2 Kf4 57 Kg2 Ke4 58 Nc6 Nxa4 59 Kg3 Nc3 60 Kxg4 Ne2 61 Kg5 Nxd4 62 NM Net 63 Kf6 d4 White resigns.
Short — Miles: Caro-Kann Defence.
1 e4 e6 2 d3 d3 3 Nd2 g6 g3 0g7 5 Bg2 e5 6 Ngf3 Ne7 7 0-0 0-0 8 b4 a5 9 bxa5 Qxa5 10 Bb2 d4 11 Qcl Nd7 12 Nb3 Qa4 13 c3 c5 14 cxd4 cxd4 15 Nfd2 b6 16 f4 Ba6 17 Qbl Rac8 18 Nf3 Nc6 19 Rf2 Nb4 20 Bfl f5 21 a3 Nc2 22 Rxc2 Qxb3 23 Rxc8 Rxc8 24 fxe5 NxeS 25 NxeS Bxe5 26 Bc1 Qxbl 27 Rxbl fxe4 28 dxe4 BM 29 Kxfl Rc2 30 Bf4 Bxf4 31 gxf4 Rxh2 32 Rxb6 Rh4 33 f5 Rf4+ 34 Kg2 g5 35 Rb8+ Kg7 36 Rb7+ Kh6 37 Re7 d3
38 Kg3 d2 39 Rd7 Rxe4 40 Rxd2 Ra4 41 Rd7 Rxa3+ 42 Kg4 Ra4+ 43 Kg3 Ral 44 Rfl Rbl 45 Kh3 Rgl 46 Kh2 Rfl 47 Kg2 Rf4 48 Kg3 Rg4+ Draw agreed. 49 Kxg4 is stalemate. The game Chows Nigel's clear-headed defensive skills in a near-desperate plight after twenty moves had been played.
Short and Korchnoi dominated Wijk aan Zee, both scoring 9V-2/13. There followed: Andersson (Sweden) 8; Nogueiras (Cuba) 71/2; Miles and Zapata (Colombia) 7; Ljubojevic (Yugoslavia), Sosonko (Hol- land), V.d. Steffen (Holland) 61/2; Helgi Olafsson (Iceland) 6; V.d. Wiel (Holland) 51/2; Hulak (Yugoslavia), Hear (UK) 41/2; Gutman (Israel) 21/2.
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