Oeuvres Morales De La Rochefoucauld 0371117864, 0571118607, 0371117860, 9780371117866

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Nigel Short:

Prodigy DAVID SH0RT

Other Chess Books published by Faber LEONARD BARDEN'S CHESS PUZZLE BOOK Leonard Barden 'This book is a collection of 300 of the best puzzles that have appeared in Leonard Barden's ''Evening Standard" column since it started in 1 956. The standard of the problems varies enormously but even the complete beginner will find some he can cope with. For the experienced player and problem solver there is plenty of material to immerse oneself in.' The British Chess Federation hardcovers and in Faber Paperbacks

THE CHESS COMPANION Edited by Irving Chernev 'Chernev, an inveterate and skilled anthologist of chess in all its forms, has here produced a most entertaining volume. The first part is devoted to a selection of interesting stories and articles about chess, while the second is a very well done anthology of games and endings.' The Times Literary Supplement hard covers and in Faber Paperbacks THE MOST INSTRUCTIVE GAMES OF CHESS EVER PLAYED Irving Chernev 'The author has had the excellent idea of producing an anthology of games, not just to entertain the reader by a collection of brilliant combinations, but also to instruct him. Chernev has selected sixtytwo masterpieces of chess strategy and the result is a work that both pleases and teaches . . . can be recommended for the quality of the games, which is consistently high.' H. Golombek in the Observer Faber Paperbacks MY 60 MEMORABLE GAMES Bobby Fischer 'The 60 games (3 of them losses) abound in breathless combats (number 16 with Petrosian) and magical brilliance (number 48 against Byrne) and many are played in the style he has since com­ pletely perfected : lucid, almost faultless, almost Mozartian in beauty, yet happily insulting us by making it all look so diabolically easy.' Leon Arden in The Times Educational Supplement hard covers and in Faber Paperbacks

Faber Paperbacks

NIGEL SHORT: Chess Prodigy His Career and Best Games

DAVID SHORT Edited by Leonard Barden Discussion and analysis of games by George Botterill and comments by Nigel Short

FABER AND FABER London and Boston

First published in 1981 by Faber and Faber Limited 3 Queen Square London WCiN 3AU Filmset in Great Britain by Latimer Trend & Company Ltd, Plymouth Printed in Great Britain by The Thetford Press Ltd, Thetford, Norfolk All rights reserved

© David Short, 1981

CONDITIONS OF SALE This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Short, David Nigel Short, chess prodigy. 1. Chess—Collections of games I. Title IL Barden, Leonard 794-1 59 GV1452 ISBN 0-371-11786-4 ISBN 0-571-11860-7

Pbk

To Brian and Joan King

Contents

i 2

Progress of the Prodigies Foreword Introduction Nigel’s Style and Strengths Nigel at Seven: You’re too young for chess Nigel at Eight: Discovered

page

11 13 19 21

25 29

Game 1

3

Nigel at Nine: Success at Jersey

32

Games 2-5

4

Nigel at Ten: One step forward, one back

46

Games 6-14

5

Nigel at Ten: Victory over Korchnoi

69

Game 15

6

Nigel at Eleven: The breakthrough

75

Games 16-26

7

Nigel at Twelve: More honours

107

Games 27-32

8

Nigel at Twelve: The British Championship

124

Games 33-8

9

Nigel at Thirteen: Background pressures

145

Games 39-42

io

Nigel at Fourteen: The eighth Samurai

159

Games 43-67

Postscript: Nigel the master Nigel Short’s Career Highlights Index of Opponents

252 255 257

138

150

9 11

9

9

E N G LA N D

USSR

CUBA

R U S S IA /F R A N C E

S P A IN

N. Short

G. Kasparov

J. Capablanca

A. A lekhine

A. Pomar

M eckm g

188

200 213

225

238

2 5 0 263

9

9

10

9

10

8

11

10

12

12

10

13

11

10

10 10

10

12

10

10

10

11

10 9

12

7

12

7

13

11

14

12

11

11

12

11

12

13

13

12

14

13

12

12

13

12

12

13

89

13

13

15

16

13

12

14

14

14

14

11

14

19

16

17

15

14

17

15

15

14

19

15

28

19

18

15

15

19

16

14

23

21

25

20

38

24

23

20

16

28

20 18

16

24

This chart shows the ages at which some of the world ’s great prodigies passed grading milestones. The figures at the top are British grades with their Elo world rating equivalents.

E.

B R A ZIL

9

9

E N G LA N D

J. H odgson

8

7

USSR

A. Karpov

9

9

9

USSR

Fischer

B. Spassky

10

7

9

R

163 175

1600 1700 1800 1900 2 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 2200 2 3 0 0 2 4 0 0 2 5 0 0 2 6 0 0 2700

125

USA

P O L A N D /U S A

S. Reshevsky

R ATIN G

C O U N TR Y

NAME

G R AD E

PROGRESS OF THE PRODIGIES

Foreword by Leonard Barden

The first time I noticed Nigel Short’s name was in a Lancashire Chess Bulletin report of the 1974 Bolton Easter congress where he was runnerup in the junior section. I was surprised to see an eight-year-old in second place to the well-known Nigel Davies, and when his name cropped up again as winner of the Merseyside under-9s I made some inquiries. At that time we were just starting to look systematically for young talent in the primary schools. Two older junior generations—the Keene/Hartston/Basman/Whiteley group who beat the Russians in 1967 and the Miles/Stean/Nunn/Mestel/Speelman players who won several world and European junior titles—were helped to international success by training programmes begun in their middle or late teens. There was hard contemporary evidence of the value of starting earlier still. In the Soviet Union, Gary Kasparov was already, at age ten/eleven, attracting attention in clock simuls and the USSR under-i8s; while in England, Julian Hodgson was getting good results in adult Opens at age ten. So in July 1974 we planned two events for primary school players: a tournament combined with inter-round coaching in London; followed by an England under-11 championship at Newbury. The latter, though unofficial, was fully representative and included some twenty children who had done well in earlier events. I recall being hesitant about including Nigel. He was a year younger than most of the others, and I didn’t like the thought of bringing a lad and his parents all the way from the North if he might be outclassed. The Merseyside officials referred me for an opinion to Richard Furness, and in due course a cautiously optimistic letter from Richard arrived which ended: ‘I think you ought to include him.’ Nigel’s start in national junior chess was good, though not

14

FOREWORD

exceptional. He lost his very first game in the humble surroundings of ‘London Chess Club Junior Invitation, E Group’ to Miss Sally Atkin of Lincolnshire. But he won the next three, and at Newbury his only defeat was by one of the tournament winners. During that Newbury invitation David Hooper, the world endgame authority, gave a talk to the players, and Nigel was in the audience. Hooper says that Nigel asked more questions than the rest of the boys put together. His enthusiasm for endings was probably greater than his knowledge, for Mike Moreton, the London primary school organizer who was also in Hooper’s audience, told me that Nigel didn’t seem to know some of the basic principles of the opposition in king and pawn endgames which he had taught his own boys months before. Newbury also featured a simul by L. Barden. Nigel was one of three boys who beat me (Game 2) but I regarded this as ‘one that got away’ and was much more impressed by Ian Wells, who had outplayed me convincingly. The next junior invitation in September was a disaster for Nigel. Promoted to the D group, he managed only one draw in his four games. I recall David Short looking shell-shocked and muttering, ‘He’s never made blunders like that before.’ Nigel lost to another girl, Julia Park of Sussex. I made soothing noises to David while my inner cynic said, ‘Another British white hope bites the dust.’ Nevertheless, that September weekend proved valuable in two important ways. It convinced David, as he told me later, that he should step up Nigel’s programme of club matches against adults. And I introduced him to Mike Conroy, manager of Lancashire juniors and a leading Bolton player, who had come to help with the coaching, and who from then on took a keen interest in Nigel. By December 1974 Nigel was top seed for the London under-10 championship. Motivation to aspire to the highest level is important in junior chess, and the notice board at the tournament included a ‘world ranking list’ for under-ios with Nigel’s name in about fourth place. Frankly, this particular list was rather spurious, unlike that for under12s which showed Kasparov and Hodgson at the top. The only under- to with any results at all was a Canadian named Kachroo who had scored a few points in the Canadian Open, had been hailed there as a prodigy, and had declared his wish to become world champion. Seeing his name in fourth place provided the desired effect on Nigel, who told his father he intended to oust Kachroo from No. 1. He swept through his nine opponents in the London under-1 os without much

foreword

15

trouble. Glancing at one of his positions, I thought he had sacrificed unsoundly and mentioned it to David Short. Half an hour later I was called over to another board, where Nigel had set up the critical position and politely but firmly demonstrated his winning lines, which I had missed. By this time I had realized he might be rather special. His first encounter with a grandmaster came next month at Vaganian’s Slater Foundation simul at the London junior prizegiving; Nigel got a passive position early on and lost quite quickly. But there was another chance to put him against a GM next month in Portisch’s nationwide simul tour where the sponsors, Prestige Hotels, provided free junior places at each venue. Nigel played at Chester, and drew (Game 4). Ironically this feat made no impression on Portisch, who didn’t even notice he had played a nine-year-old. People often ask if I visualized Nigel as a potential grandmaster or world champion immediately on seeing him play. It is clear from the above that the honest answer in his case (and probably for every child of talent) is no, it took several months. It was three of his 1975 events which convinced me he had the potential to scale ultimate chess heights. One was Jersey, where he not only had an excellent result but made a deep impression on two senior British experts. Peter Clarke, the referee, criticized his play in the rook ending which Nigel narrowly lost to O’Sullivan: Nigel didn’t meekly agree but argued the case for his own analysis. Gerald Bennett, who I had asked to look over Nigel’s games at the end of the tournament, was so impressed that they spent several hours playing five-minute chess. A few weeks before Jersey, Nigel had appeared at another London training tournament, this time promoted to the C group. I had thought about putting him in the top tournament, the Southern Counties under18, but decided he wasn’t yet ready. Nigel proved me wrong by demolishing his four opponents with great ease and putting up a good fight in some friendly one-to-one games with IM Kottnauer which were part of his prize. He demonstrated the win below to Kottnauer and the game appeared in the British Chess Magazine with the comment: ‘How a world class nine-year-old plays . . .’

16

FOREWORD

GAME o White: Adrian Petherick Black: Nigel Short London 1975 Sokolsky Opening 1. b4c6 2. 04 Qb6 3. Qb3 Nf6 4. e3 Na6 5. 33 g6 6. Bb2 Bg7 7. Nf3 0-0 8. Be2 . Qg3Nf6 10. QxgyQes + 11. Be2Rg8 12. Qh6 Rg6 13. QI14 Bdy 14. Bgs Bc6 15. 0-0-0 with overwhelming pressure, as in the famous game Alekhine-Nimzowitsch, Bled 1931. Quite an interesting alternative, however, is 5 . . . Bxc3 + 6. Nxc3 Nc6 7. Bbs Ngey 8. Bgs f6 9. Be3 0-0, though here too White keeps up an initiative with 10. Qd21 followed by f2-f3.

6- S3” Nigel: ‘An interesting pawn sac. It is probably no good at all. I am always prone to take a pawn when it is offered.’ The normal line known to theory is 6. Nxe4 Nf6 7. N2g3 Nc6 8. C3 es 9. Nxf6+ Bxf6 10. ds Ney with chances for both sides. An interesting attempt to improve on this for White is 6. Nxe4 Nf6 7. Qd3!?, which has the advantage of facilitating a quick 0-0-0. 6 ... fs 7. Bgz C5?

Nigel: ‘Probably safer is 7 . . . c6, followed by . . . Nf6 and . . . Nds with a nice solid position.’ But why move the c-pawn at this stage at all? Priority should surely be

110

NIGEL AT TWELVE

given to 6 . . . Nf6 and 7 . . . 0-0.

8. Bf4 Nc6 As this only serves to encourage White’s strong next move, one is tempted to say that it is a mistake and that Black should have played 8 ... Nf6. But in fact the damage has probably already been done with 7 ... C5, for on 8 ... Nf6 comes 9. dxcs Qxdt + 10. Rxdi Bxc$ 11. Nb5 with unpleasant threats.

9. ds! (Diagram 32)

Diagram 32 9. d5

abcdefgh

Nigel: ‘I was quite happy with my position until now. 9. d5l smashes up the centre.’ 9 ... Nd4

It was a tough decision for Black. If instead: (a) 9 ... exd5 10. Nxd5 Bd6 11. 0-0 leaves Black with serious developmental problems. He can move neither KN nor QB, whilst 11 ... Bxfq 12. N2xf4 puts White in position to strike with Qhs + and/or f2-f3(b) 9 ... es to. dxc6 Qxdi +11. Rxdi exf4 12. cxby Bxby 13. Nxf4 and Black has a lot of weaknesses, for which the two bishops are only partial compensation. The connoisseur of evils might perhaps judge that the consequences of this last line would be slightly less bad than those of the move actually played.

111

MORE HONOURS

io. Nxd4 cxd4 ii. Qxd4 Bf6 12. Qc4?!

12. Bes! was stronger. Perhaps Horner wanted to avoid a possible simplification after 12 ... Bxe5 13. Qxe5 Qf6. But then 14. Qcy! and Black has big problems. 12 ... Qey 13. d6! is also clearly to White’s advantage. 12 ... BXC3+ 13. Qxc3 Nf6 14. dxe6 Bxe6 15. Rdi Qey?

Nigel: ‘15 ... Qc8 is just equal because Black is able to castle.’ The possibility of equalization was the direct consequence of White’s inaccuracy at move 12. The nature of the cause is easy to comprehend: White lost control of the square d5. 16. Bd6 Qfy 17. 0-0 Rc8 18. Qd4 b6 (Diagram 33)

abcdefgh

Diagram 33 18...b6

19- *3-' Notice how often this move plays a crucial part in White’s plans. Black’s forces are in a disorganized state, the true vulnerability of which is, for the moment, screened by the central line-blocking pawn at eq. Eliminate that pawn and the black king will soon find himself as naked as that gullible emperor in his ‘new clothes’. 19... Rc4 20. Qd2 Qby 21. b3 Rc8 22. fxeq Nxeq 23. Bxeq fxeq 24. Bb4

Nigel: ‘I am now helpless against the threat of Qd6, and am wondering whether to resign....’ 24 ... Bh3 25. Qd6 1-0.

NIGEL AT TWELVE

112

White threatens 26. Rf8 + and if 25 . . . Bxfi 26. Qe6 4- and mate next move. GAME 28

Nigel: ‘In the second round I met B. Jones. He is a former Yorkshire champion. I was very pleased with the game afterwards because I didn’t seem to make a mistake anywhere.’ White: Nigel Short Black: B. Jones Sale 1977 Modern Defence

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. NC3 d6 4. BC4 c6 Both 4 ... Nc6 and 4 ... Nf6 offer Black more hope than this passive continuation. Nigel’s games help to show why (cf. Short-Ludgate, Game 26).

5- Qf3 Nigel: ‘My favourite move in this position. I am always happy if I get this line.’ The brutal threat against fy extracts a serious concession in the form of 5 ... e6—a move that is not at all helpful to Black’s counterplay.

5 ... e6 6. Nge2 bs More defiant than Ludgate’s 6 ... Ney. You may well think that Black’s lack of development puts him in no shape to back up this show of aggression. But there is sense in gaining space on the Q-side, even if the gesture does no more than deter White from castling over there.

y. Bb3 a$ 8. 33 Ba6 9. Be3 Ndy 10. h4 hj 11. Nf4 Nf8 T o stave off a ‘sacrifice’ at e6, for 12. Bxe6 was already threatened with rapid recovery of the investment plus high interest. 11 ... e5 lost to 12. Nxg6 or 12. Nxhs, according to taste.

12. ds BXC3 + ?

Nigel: ‘The bishop is badly needed as will be shown later.’ Black should certainly have tried to keep the position closed with 12 .. . cxdy 13. exd5 e$.

13. bxc3 Qf6 (Diagram 34)

113

MORE HONOURS

Diagram 34 13 . . . Qf6

abcdefgh

i4- ej! Combined with his next this constitutes a very imaginative idea. 14 ... Qxe$

14 . . . dxe5 15. dxe6 is no improvement.

15.

Kdz!

Facing Black with two threats—Bd4 and dxe6 (plus Qxc6+ to follow). 15 ... Qf$ 16. dxe6 Ne7 17. exf7 + Kd7 18. Rhei Rh7 19. Radi a4 20. Baz ds 21. Kci Threatening 22. Nxdsl. 21 ... Bb7 22. Nds!

Nigel: ‘If he had played 22 ... Qxfs 23. gxf3 would have left me with a winning position even though I would have had 7 isolated pawns.’ 22. Bcs Rxf7 is not so clear, but now if 22 ... Rxf7 23. Nes + wins. 22 ... Ne6 23. Qg3 RfS 24. Bb6!

Really so simple. There is no defence against the coming invasion on c724 ... Rhxf ? 25. Rxe6 Kxeti 26. Rei + Kd7

Or 26 . . . Kf6 27. Bd4+ and mate next move.

114

NIGEL AT TWELVE

27. Qc? + Ke8 28. Qd8 mate 1-0. GAME 29

Though he would be the last to admit it, chess has been a little unfair to John Littlewood. No matter how brilliantly he may play in other matches it is one of his losses that will remain the best known—the supremely instructive game in which Botvinnik coolly refuted a menacing attack at the 1961-2 Hastings tournament. And John Littlewood does play many attractive games. A regular British Championship contender who has played for England on many occasions, his greatest assets are a fluent attacking style and, above all, a bubbling enthusiasm for the game. Nigel gives a frank account of the psychological atmosphere in which this game was played: ‘My final game was against John Littlewood. I, of course, did not expect to win, but John did not play as he can. I thought I might have a chance of a draw, but I blundered a pawn in the opening, which made things difficult.’ White: Nigel Short Black: John Littlewood Round 5, Sale 1977 Ruy Lopez

1. e4 eg 2. Nfj Nc6 3. Bb$ d6

This old form of the Steinitz Defence is rarely seen nowadays. 4. Bxc6 +

But if White were to play like this it would become popular again! A stronger continuation is 4. d4 Bdy 5. Ncj Nf6 6. Bxc6 Bxc6 7. Qdj! exd4 8. Nxd4 and White builds a highly promising position with 9. Bg5 and 10. 0-0-0.

4__ bxc6 5. d4 exd4 6. Qxd4 eg 7. Qdz Since the e-pawn is going to need protection 7. Qd3 is the more useful retreat.

7 ... Be7 8. NC3 Nf6 9. b3 0-0 10. Bb2 Bb7

Nigel: ‘The best move. Otherwise I could defend the pawn by castling and Rei.’

11. eg?

MORE HONOURS

115

Nigel: ‘I don’t know why I did it. It just loses a pawn.’ White hardly seems to have anything better than 11. Qd3, which would of course be a confession that he has mishandled the opening. ii

... dxe$ 12. o-o-o Qxd2+ 13. Rxd2 e4 14. Ng$ Bd6

Black has an extra pawn, the bishop pair, and an unpleasant threat of .. . Bf4. In theory Black’s position can be considered as won, despite the shaggy pawns at ay, cy, C5 and e4- However, Dr Tarrasch used to say that the hardest thing in chess is to win a won game. Like all such generalities that has to be taken with a pinch of salt, but the present game is a good illustration of the problems a player can encounter in trying to exploit an indisputable advantage.

15. NI13 Bc6 16. Rei Rfe8 ly. Rdez h6 18. gj g§?! After the event wisdom comes easy, but this does seem to be the result of over-confidence and the cause of many later difficulties. Black thinks that he can keep the NI13 out of the game permanently. But he weakens himself along the long black diagonal and digs a hole at fs. 18 . . . Rab8, preparing for . . . C5-C4, was stronger.

19. Ngi Re6 20. Ndi! This is not mere grovelling: the knight is heading for f520 ... Ng4 21. I13 Nes 22. Ne3 Nfj 23. Rdi as 24. 34 (Diagram 35)

Diagram 35 24. a4

abcdefgh

24 ... Nes

116

NIGEL AT TWELVE

Ominous signs of uncertainty begin to appear. 25. Redz KI17 26. Bcj Kg6 27. g4 Ndy?! Littlewood intends ... Nb6 and then ... C5-C4. But in the meantime he loses control of important central points. The immediate 27 ... C4 is not convincing since after 28. Bxes Bxe5 29. Nxc4 Bf4 30. Ne3 White has counterplay through Ne2-d4. The best move seems to be 27 ... Nf3l (again!), so as to sink the bishop on f4 without delay.

28. Ne2 Nb6 29. Nfj Bf8 30. Neg3

Nigel: ‘My position has steadily improved for the past ten moves or so because of the squares f5 and hs which can be penetrated. Now John blunders badly.’

30 ... C4?I Yes, a blunder. But what has become of Black’s once dominating position? The Ra8 is tied to the defence of the 35 pawn, the Nb6 and the Bf8 have no useful move, and if he cannot play ... C5-C4 Black’s pawns are totally immobile. Even if the move played involved an oversight it may be as good as anything else by this stage: e.g.3O...Bb73i. Rd8 and the 35 pawn is lost.

31. Nd4 Ba3 + ?

Convinced that somehow or other he must be winning, Black makes a superficial ‘attacking’ move. Instead the much more subtle move 31 ... Bgy! was available with the possibilities: (a) 32. Nxe6? Bxc3 is winning for Black. (b) 32. Ngfs Bxd4 33. Nxd4 Rd6 34. Nfs Rxd2 35. Rxd2 Bdy 36. Ney + KI17 37. Nd5 Nxdj 38. Rxd5 Be6 is a clearly drawn ending. 32. Kbi cxb3 33. cxb3 Bd$

Nigel: ‘Unfortunately best, but White is clearly winning.’ 33 ... Rf6 loses to 34. Nc2—which shows why 31 ... Ba3 was such a bad check—' and if 33 ... Rd6 then 34. Ngfs. Nor does 33 . .. Nds 34- Bat e3 35. fxe3 Nxe3 36. Nxe6 Nxdi 37. Nd41 suffice to avoid material loss. 34. Nxe6 fxe6 35. Kc2 C5 36. Re2 Rc8 Black is now suffering from the fantasies induced by time-trouble. In any case one pawn is not enough for the exchange when all your pawns are weak.

117

MORE HONOURS

37. Bxa$ C4 38. Bxb6 cxb3 + 39. Kbi ba 40. Rxba Destroying all Black’s hopes.

40 ... Rc3 41. as Bc4 42. Nxe4 Rxh3 43. Nes Rf3 44. Rbda Bb4 45. Rd4 Bxcs 46. Bxcs Bea 47. Rida Rxfa 48. Kba 1-0.

GAME 30

Nobody could have predicted from this first round game that this was going to be quite a successful tournament for Nigel. White: Robert Bellin Black: Nigel Short Charlton Open, 1977 French Defence, Tarrasch Variation

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d$ 3. Nda Nf6 4. e§ Nfdy 5. Bd3 Nea Qb6 8. Nf3 cxdq 9. cxd4 f6 10. NC3!?

6. C3 Nc6 7.

Robert Bellin, a future IM and British champion (1979), was as ever up with all the latest theory. Here he borrows an idea from the Soviet expatriate Leonid Shamkovich (specifically from the game Shamkovich-Watson, USA 1976). The point is that 10... fxe5 11. dxe5 Ndxes 12. Nxes Nxes is losing for Black because of 13. Qh5 + followed by Bbs +. 10 ... Be7 11. 0-0 0-0 12. Rei fxe$ 13. dxe§ h6?

Nigel: ‘Possibly the losing move. The bi-hy diagonal is very weak and now Bxh6 is always a possibility. Perhaps ... Rfy and ... Nf8 is an improvement.’ 14. Qea a6

Nigel: ‘Black is now moving aimlessly.’ It is already difficult to suggest a constructive plan for Black. Retaining that pawn on e5 looks like a smart idea for White since it seriously cramps Black and makes it a real problem to get the Bc8 into play.

15. 33 Nes 16. Bea as 17. Be3 Rxf3?! Nigel: ‘The move that looks good but in fact loses. I played this move very quickly indeed. If I had spent more time on it I might have seen White’s 20th.’

NIGEL AT TWELyE

118

Some interesting complications can develop from 17 ... Bd7 18. Na4 Qay. The immediate 19. b4 is not so good: 19... axb4 2O. axb4Nxb42i. Nxc5 Qxai and now both 22. Nxd7 Nxc2 23. Qxc2 Rxf3! 24. Rxai Rxai + 25. Bci Ba3 and 22. Rxai Rxai + 23. Bdi Bbs! 24. Qd2 Bxc5 25. Bxc5 Rc8 26. Bxb4 Reel 27. Qe3 Rxdi + 28. Net d4 29. Qe4 Bd3 are actually winning for Black. However, these are ‘dream variations’ and White can recall Black to a harsh reality with the simpler 19. Nxc5 Bxcs 20. Bxc5 Qxc5 21. Qd3 Rf5 22. b4 to be followed by b4~b5 and an eventual Nf3-d4-

18. Qxf3 d4 (Diagram 36)

Diagram 36 18...d4

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

19. Bxh6! dxc3 In view of what follows 19 ... gxh6 was a better practical chance, though after 20. Ne4 Black’s king is too exposed to survive for long. 20. Bg6! Nd8 21. Bxgy! 1-0.

After 21 ... Kxg7 22. QI15 there is nothing to be done against the threatened 23. Qh7 + , with a quick mate. A nice attacking game by Bellin.

GAME 31

White: Nigel Short Black: Max Fuller Round 4, Charlton Open, 1977 Sicilian Defence

119

MORE HONOURS

i. e4 c$ 2. Nfj Nc6 3. Bbg Qb6 4. Bxc6 Obviously White could also have defended the bishop. But in this variation White often aspires to conduct an attack on the dark squares after swapping bishop for knight (cf. Portisch-Short, Game 4). The present game is a good example of black-square strategy.

4 ... Qxc6?! A dubious move as the queen becomes exposed to attack. Either pawn capture was preferable. 4 ... bxc6 strengthens Black’s centre. Yet 4 ... dxc6 is probably the best, freeing a diagonal for the Bc8 and preparing for play on the d-file.

5. 0-0 g6 It would certainly be risky to take the pawn: 5 ... Qxe4 6. Nc3 Qc6 7. d4 with White’s huge lead in development giving more than enough compensation.

6. NC3 Bg7 7. d4 d6 8. dxcs dxcs 9. Bf4l The unpleasant threat of 10. Nds now induces Black to part with his good KB, the natural guardian of the dark squares. 9 ... Bxc3

io.

bxc3 Qxe4?

This is really asking for trouble. 10 ... Nf6 was much more sensible. Of course the advantage of hindsight makes it easy to criticize such a move. But the experienced Australian master should have been forewarned by recollection of the fate that befell Black in the celebrated game Bronstein-Geller, Goteborg 1955:1. 0405 2. Nf3 NC63. Bbs g6 4. c3 Bg7 5. d4 Qb6 6. 34 cxd4 7. 0-0 a6 8. Bxc6 Qxc6 9. cxd4 Qxe4? 10. Nc3 Qfs 11. Rei ds 12. as Bd7 13. Qb3 Nf6 14. Res! Qd3 15. Rxe7 + ! Kxe7 16. Nxds + Nxds 17. Qxd3 1-0. An ominous historical precedent for the black queen’s pawn-grabbing venture.

11. Qci Bfs 12. Rei Qa4 Black realizes too late that after the consistent 12 ... Qxc2 comes 13. Qa3! and he is in terrible trouble—White threatens both 14. Qxcs and 14. Radi followed by Rd2. However, 12 . . . Qc6 would have been a little better, as soon becomes obvious.

»3- Qe3! Qc6

NIGEL AT TWELVE

120

Forced, since White threatened not only 14. Qxc5, but also 14. Be5 f6 15. Bxf6.

14.

Nes Qc8 15. Nc4 Be6 16. Qes Nf6 (Diagram 37)

Diagram 37 16 . .. Nf6

a

17.

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

Nd6 + !

Breaking through on the black squares. 17 ... exd6 18. Qxf6 Rg8

There is no salvation in 18 ... Kdy: 19. Radi ds 20. Rxds + Bxds 21. Qd6 mate ...

19. Bxd6 Qdy ... nor in 19 ... Qd8 20. Rxe6+ fxe6 21. Qxe6+ and mates.

20. Radi 1-0. The black queen is going to be subjected to a fatal discovered attack. E.g. 20 ... Rc8 21. Bxcs Qc7 22. Rxe6+ and mate in two.

GAME 32 Nigel: ‘This win gave me third place in the 1977 Manchester Open. I knew Norman Littlewood was an excellent player, but during the game I was told that he was a superb tactician in the sixties. After that I took extra care to watch out for all traps.’

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The Littlewoods are one of Britain’s great chess-playing families. The Littlewood genes seem to be so well programmed for the game that they might consider applying for independent affiliation to FIDE. In the 1960s Norman was both one of the best and one of the most entertaining players in Britain, a daring performer who combined tactical sharpness with a great deal of sheer guts. When he restricted his playing appearances, brother John maintained the family honour with immense gusto (cf. Short-J. Littlewood, Game 29). Not to be outdone by the previous generation, John’s son Paul has become an international master. The family has a quite distinctive ‘house style’—lively, enterprising and fearless. The family motto is ‘Attack, attack and sac’. But Nigel makes sure that the combinative flow is strictly one-way in the most dramatic style. White: Nigel Short Black: Norman Littlewood Manchester Open, 1977 Modern Defence I. eq d6 2. dq g6 3. NC3 Bg7 q. Bcq c6

The move-order that Black has adopted, deferring .. . Nf-6, gives him the chance to put immediate pressure on dq with q ... Nc6. This is one of the more cunning ways of meeting Nigel’s favourite Nc3 + Bcq + Qe2/Qf3 system against the Pirc/Modern (cf. Short-Ravikumar, Game q9). 5- Qf3 d5?!

Nigel: ‘A typical aggressive Littlewood move.’ An optimistic idea which is, alas, not graced with the virtue of soundness. 6. exds Nf6 7. Bgs 0-0 8. Bxf6 exf6 9. Nge2 b$ 10. Bb3 bq II. Naq Ba6 12. 0-0-0 Bb$

The appearance of activity on Black’s part is deceptive. He has rammed the b-pawn up the board and stationed his QB on a sweeping diagonal. But the rest of the black pieces are sluggards. The attempt to regain the pawn illustrates this: 12 . .. Bxe2 13. Qxe2 cxdj iq. Qf3 and there is nobody in play to defend dj. In contrast Nigel has not only retained the pawn, but also developed his forces very efficiently.

13. hq Qa$ iq. Nc$ Qc7 Nigel: ‘Intending . . . a$ and . . . aq, but the attack is too slow.’

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15. hj Re8? This turns out very badly, although, in extenuation of Black’s policy, one must admit that the tactical refutation that follows was far from obvious. Since the removal of the guard on fy plays no little part in the doom that descends on Black we should ask: What would have happened if he had left the rook at f8 and gone ahead with 15 ... 35? Naturally White starts off by opening the h-file with 16. hxg6 hxg6. But what then? 17. Qh3 Re8 only serves to leave White with two pieces en prise (Ne2 and Bb3 to the coming ... 34), whilst 17. Ne6 fxe6 18. dxe6 is refuted by 18 ... 34. Since there is no good forcing continuation it looks as if White does best to defer his own attacking operations and save his bishop with 17. C4. After that 17 .. . bxc3 18. Nxc3,17 ... 34 18. cxb5 axb3 19. Qxb3 cxbs 20. Kb 1 and 17 ... Ba6 18. Kbi should all turn out in White’s favour—though not so drastically as the continuation of the game itself.

16. Nf4 Bh6 Nigel: ‘It looks as though White is under a bit of pressure, but it is Black who is in for a shock’ (Diagram 38).

Diagram 38 16 . ..Bh6

abcdefgh

17. d6! Qxd6 18. Bxf7 + ! Kf8 Nigel: ‘If 18 ... Kxf7 19. hxg6+ Kg7 20. Rxh6 Kxh6 21. Qhs + Kg7 22. Qxh7+ Kf8 23. Qf7 mate.’

19- g3 g5 Can’t Black take the bishop now—19 . .. Bxf4 + 20. gxf4 Kxf7? Well,

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he could, but then comes 21. hxg6 + hxg6 22.Rh7+ Kg8 (or 22 . . . Kf8 23. Qb3l Qd5 24. Qh3 with similar effect) 23. Rdht and mate is on the way. 20. Bxe8 Na6?

Punch-drunk. Since 20 ... gxf4 21. Rhei fxg3 + 22. Kbi gxf2 23. Qxf2 offers no hope, Black might as well capitulate at once. 21. Nfe6+ Kxe8 22. Qxf6 1-0.

8 Nigel at Twelve The British Championship

Having already filled five scrapbooks with press clippings of Nigel’s career, we knew his appearance in the British Championship would attract a lot of publicity, but even we were taken aback by what actually happened. The media descended on Brighton, and in the course of six days we gave no fewer than seventeen radio and television interviews, as well as facing a battery of cameras and questions from newspapers and magazines. Nigel’s exciting third-day victory over ten-times British champion Jonathan Penrose kept interest at fever pitch and I had to ban further interviews with him in an effort to prevent off-the-board pressure affecting his play. Paul Buswell, secretary of the British Chess Federation, had wisely suggested that Nigel should be available for interviews before the championship started in an attempt to get publicity out of the way before the first round. We might as well have stood on the beach and ordered back the tide. For two and a half hours Nigel nobly smiled and talked, and posed with a £100,000 chess set made by the tournament’s sponsors, Collingwoods of Conduit Street. The rest of the family were also cornered by the press, but we still found time to indulge in the champagne and tasty offerings provided at the sponsor’s reception on a balcony of the Royal Pavilion. We assumed that Nigel had also eaten his fill, but with only half an hour to go before the start of the first round, he suddenly asked, ‘When am I going to have lunch?’ Apparently the press and television had kept him so busy he had missed most of the food. With a five-hour playing session in prospect, Nigel was not worried about missing the first few minutes, so he opted for a Wimpy Bar. His mother and I hurried on to the Corn Exchange, the congress venue. To our horror there was a huge crowd round Nigel’s board, the

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ITN cameras were all set up and the Mayor of Brighton was waiting to greet Nigel. Paul Buswell explained the delay, and we dashed back to the Wimpy Bar to collect him. He had still not been served, but the ITN camera crew got an unexpected bonus for their twenty-minute wait. Nigel duly arrived at his board still trying to devour half a hamburger. The Mayor accepted the delay with good humour. Fortunately for Nigel, the day’s events must have been just as unsettling for his opponent, Dr Ken Neat of Durham. Both players played an inaccurate opening and when the game was adjourned after five hours Nigel had an inferior position. On resumption ninety minutes later, Nigel managed to find an improvement on his adjournment analysis, which was sufficient to give him a well-earned draw against one of the previous year’s prizewinners. In the second round the Lancashire President, David Lees, blundered, and Nigel wrapped up a quick win to keep up with the leaders. It was several hours later that I had a premonition. ‘You’re going to play Penrose tomorrow, and you will win,’ I announced with complete certainty. And that’s the way it turned out. For Jonathan Penrose, a prodigy himself when he appeared in 'the British Championship at the age of fifteen, Nigel was probably a psychologi­ cally difficult opponent. It was the David and Goliath encounter the media had prayed for. Penrose, an international master, and still a very redoubtable opponent, even if his best chess years were behind him, matched against the talented but relatively inexperienced schoolboy. The game matched the occasion. Nigel, with the white pieces, made a good start. Penrose made a slight mistake, and his position steadily deteriorated. If the spectators themselves were unconvinced that the ‘impossible’ was going to happen, the amused expressions of the other competitors told it all. Nigel was going to win. The end came after four and three-quarter hours’ play. Penrose resigned (Game 33). Nigel had 2J points out of 3 and a wildly optimistic popular press started to talk in terms of a twelve-year-old champion. Once again the news of Nigel’s achievement went round the world. A New York radio station rang our hotel. ‘We hear Nigel’s the new Muhammad Ali. Can we do an interview over the phone?’ they asked. The following day the bubble inevitably burst. Nigel met the eventual champion, George Botterill, didn’t play well, and lost fairly easily. It was the start of a four-day slump for Nigel. After two defeats, he met teenager David Cummings, played a hasty move which he thought won

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NIGEL AT TWELVE

the game, and lost once more. For most of the players, that was the end of the first week, with a well earned day’s rest to come, but for Nigel, and eight other juniors competing at Brighton, ‘rest day’ meant another highly publicized clock simultaneous game against the world champion Anatoly Karpov in London, organized by Lloyds Bank. Nigel showed much better form, and for a long time had drawing chances. Karpov harried most of his young opponents into time trouble, including Nigel. The endgame required precise play, and Nigel was unable to prevent Karpov queening a pawn (Game 34). Karpov’s impressive display gave him a 9J point to | victory over England’s talented junior squad. Significantly, perhaps, Tony Williams, the only player not competing at Brighton, scored England’s only draw. Defeat came again for Nigel the following day. That made it five in a row, counting the Karpov match, the worst losing run of his career, but he fought back gamely in the closing stages of the competition to finish on 5 out of 11, only half a point short of his own pre-tournament target (Game 35). In view of some of Nigel’s sensational tournament performances during the summer, his performance at Brighton was patchy, but it was still sufficient to give him another world record—the youngest player ever to qualify for a FIDE rating with 2,230. After Brighton, Leonard Barden was no longer the only chess columnist to start thinking of Nigel in future world championship terms. Raymond Keene, in the Spectator, said that much as he hated writing about small boys, Nigel Short had forced his hand. By 1984 Nigel might be challenging for the world title, he suggested. That seems ambitious and beyond Nigel’s expectations. With GCE examinations intervening, Nigel will happily settle for a grandmaster title by 1984. The world championship has been the ultimate objective almost from the beginning. We have always had a strong feeling that Nigel had not only the ability, but also the other characteristics of a champion: ice-cool nerve and a total refusal to be overawed by the opposition or the occasion. In the few months after Brighton, however, it all seemed a long way off. Nigel went through the first real form slump of his career. He was the youngest competitor in the world under-17 championship in France, and was disappointed with his equal ninth place (Games 36-8). Garik Kasparov was second, but the two prodigies didn’t meet. Nigel was eliminated in the qualifying rounds of the British Championship but by January 1978 he was back in the headlines again, beating former world champion, Tigran Petrosian in a Slater

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Foundation simultaneous display, and finishing first in the London under-21 championship—the youngest-ever winner.

GAME 33

What a startling and memorable event this clash of two generations was! In the white corner, a presumptuous twelve-year-old making his first appearance in the national championship. In the black corner, the mighty Jonathan Penrose, British champion no less than ten times.

White: Nigel Short Black: Jonathan Penrose Championship, Brighton 1977 Sicilian Defence

Round 3, British

1. e4 C5 2. Nf3 e6 3. C3 Nigel often plays C3 systems against the Sicilian and scores well with them. 3 ... Nf6 4. Bd3?J

But this is not good, as Nigel is the first to admit. Black gets a fine game now with 4... ds!;e.g. 5. esNfdyfi. Bc2 Nc6y. d4cxd4 8. cxd4b6 and Black has more than equalized. 4. e5 is the right move. 4 ... b6 5. 0-0 Ba6 Since the resultant position of the knight at a6 gives Black problems 5 ... Bby seems better. 6. Bxa6 Nxa6 7. d4 cxdq

Of course Black cannot play 7 ... Nxe4 because of the fork 8. Qd3. 8. Nxd4 A fine and rather surprising move. After 3. 03 one would expect White to recapture with the c-pawn. But 8. cxd4 Nc7 9. Nc3 d5 only leads to equality.

8 ... Be7 9. ej Nd§ 10. Qg4l g6

Of course 10 ... 0-0 11. Bh6 was out of the question. So it was either this or to ... Kf8. Maybe it should have been to. . . Kf8, which is not as bad as it looks—Black follows up with ... I15, . .. g6 and .. . Kg7-

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11. Bh6Nc5?! As this knight is easily driven back again the immediate 11 ... £5 would have been better.

12. C4 fs? An outright blunder, which Nigel answers with . ..

Qf3? ... anoversight! Afterwards he realized that 13. QI13!, threatening not only 14. cxds, but also 14. Bgy, would have brought the game to a swift conclusion.

13 ... Ney 14. Nc3 Qc8 15. b4 Nby 16. 33 Nd8 17. Ndb$

Nigel: ‘It is a beginner’s principle not to exchange pieces when attacking. 17. Rfei I think.’ This seems to be an absolutely correct judgement. White should centralize his rooks—something that Black is in no position to do. The difficult question in such positions is: which files will the rooks be most useful on? Should they go to ei and di? To ei and ci? Or to di and ci? Those are the puzzles that time-trouble is made out of. 17 ... Nxb$ 18. Nxb$ Nc6

Parrying the threat of Qxa8 and Ney + (Diagram 39).

Diagram 39 18... Nc6

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

19. Bg7 Rg8 20. Bf6 a6 21. Bxey Kxe7?

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THE BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIP

Nigel: ‘At this point he offered me a draw. If he had played 21... axb5 I would have accepted it. However, I was feeling pig-headed and declined, realizing that I had a good position and couldn’t really lose.’ Is it possible that after 21 .. . axbj 22. Bd6 bxc4 Black stands better? No, White still holds the advantage after 23. Qf4l, threatening Qxc4, Qh6 and QI14. 22. Nd6 Qc7 23. Qg3 gs This loses by force. But so too would 23 ... Nxe5, which also involves some pretty variations: 24. Radi (not’24. Qxe5 Qxd6) Nfy 25. Nxfj + (25. Nxfy Qxg3 26. hxg3 Kxfy 27. Rxd7 + is also good) Kd8 26. Qh4 + g5 27. Qxhy Rf8 28. Qg7 Ke8 29. Qf6! exf5 30. Rfei + and wins.

24. QI13 Nxes The most stubborn defensive resource appears to be 24 .. . Rh8.

25. Radi Raf8 26. Rfei Ng6 27. Qxhy • Kf6 Or 27 ... Kd8 28. Rxe6! (Diagram 40).

Diagram 40 21... Kf6

abcdefgh

28. Ne8 +! Rxe8 29. Rxd7

Black is now forced to take desperate measures to stave off the threatened mate at f7.

29 ... Re7 30. Rxc7 Rxh7 31. Rxhy Rc8 Black could have resigned now. The rest is simple enough.

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32. Ray Ne§ 33. Rxa6 Nxc4 34.34 Key 35. a$ Rb8 36. axb6 Nxb6 37. bs Kd6 38. h3 Kds 39. Raai NC4 40. Radi + Kes 41. Rxe6 1-0.

GAME 34

White: Nigel Short Black: Anatoly Karpov Simultaneous, London 1977 Sicilian Defence

Lloyds Bank Clock

1. e4 cs 2. d4 cxd4 3. C3

The Morra Gambit. White gets a lead in development and some open lines. But can something like this be expected to work against a world champion? It is almost a gesture of irreverence.

3 ... dxc3 4. Nxc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 e6 6. 804 a6 7. 33?! Karpov condemned this move. 7. 34 would give Black less freedom of action, though it creates a weak spot at b4. The gambit-style continuation was 7. o~o, accentuating the lead in development.

7.. .b$ 8.Ba2b49.axb4Bxb410. o-oNgey n.Bgs 0-012. Nds (Diagram 41).

Diagram 41 12. Nd5

abcdefgh

A neat pseudo-sacrifice to open the position up. Unfortunately, White’s lead in development is too slight for him to be able to profit much from his ingenuity.

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12 ... exd§ 13. exdg Qc7 Obviously 13 .. . N moves 14. d6 would be very tasty for White.

14. dxc6 dxc6 15. Rci a$ 16. Qez Ba6 17. BC4 Bxc4 18. Rxc4 Rfe8 19. Qe4 Rac8 20. Rfci White is well mobilized. But a pawn is a pawn. 20 ... Qd7 21.114 f6 22. Be3 Nfj 23. Qg4 I15 24. QI13 Qe6

Black has emerged from all inconveniences. However, Nigel still has reasonable chances of saving the game because of the weakness of Black’s split a- and c-pawns. 25. Be5 Nd6 26. Qxe6 + Rxe6 27. R4C2 Bxc$ White threatened 28. Nd4, or simply 28. Bxb4 followed by Rxc6. If 27 ... Nb$ White replies 28. Bxb4 axb4 29. Rc4, which wins back the pawn and creates a very drawish position. Karpov decides that the best chance for a win lies in surrendering his h-pawn, after which he has a small advantage, partly because White’s 3-2 majority on the K-side is not as significant as Black’s extra pawn on the other wing, partly because White has to waste some time in extricating his rook from hs.

28. Rxcs Nb7 29. Rxhj Rd8

To see the point of this move, consider the consequences of 29 ... g6 30. Rdsl. Now there is a real threat to snare the rook with 30 ... g6. 30. Rf$ Rd3 31. Rf4 c$ 32. Rfc4

After the game it was suggested that this was inferior to 32. Ra4. But this does not seem to be correct since after 32. Ra4 Re2 33. Rbi Rb3 34. Ra2 Kfy White is in a bad way, whereas now 32 ... Re2 can be met by 33- RlC2. 32 ... Rb3 33. Ricz?

33. R4C2 Reb6 34. Rbi was unpleasantly passive, but there was no obvious refutation. Now he loses a pawn without any compensation. 33 ... Reb6 34. Nd2 Rxbz 35. Ne4 Rxc2 36. Rxc2 Kf7 (Diagram 42) 37. Rci

Could he not have played 37. Nxc5 at once? This question is not answered merely by noting that after 37 . . . Rc6 Black wins the

NIGEL AT TWELVE

132

Diagram 42 36 ... Kf7

abcdefgh

exchange: 38. Nxby Rxc2 39. Nxas. For it would be well worth giving up the exchange in order to eliminate both Black’s passed pawns. The fine point is that after 39 ... Ke6 the white knight cannot escape by either 40. Nby Kdy or 40. Nb3 Kds, and so must inevitably fall prey to Black’s king and rook. 37 ... Ke6 38. Nxcj + Nxcs 39. Rxcs Ra6 Karpov has allowed Nigel to re-establish material equality. But it is a general rule in rook endings of this sort that the superior side wins if he can place his rook behind the passed pawn. The present position seems to be no exception.

40. Kfi a4 41. Ke2 33 42. Rci az 43. Rai The defender’s rook is forced into a position of utter passivity in front of the passed pawn. 43 ... Kfj 44. Kdz

This move was criticized after the game on the grounds that Nigel could at least have tried to keep the black king at bay with 44. f3However, after 44. f3 Kes 45- Ke3 Ra3 + 46. Ke2 Kd4 47. Kd2 Ras White is in zugzwang. Whichever way the white king goes the black king slips in on the other side.

44 ... Kg4 45. Ke3 Ra3 + 46. Kez Kxh4 47. Rhi + Kg4 48. Rai 49. Kfi Kf4 50. Ke2 g$ The advance of this pawn to g3 will make the e3 square available for Black’s king.

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51. Kd2 g4 52. Ke2 gj 53. £3 If 53. fxg3+ Kxg3 54. Kfi £4 is another zugzwang: 55. Kgx Rb3. 53 ... Kes 54- Kei Kd4 55. Kdi £4

Another zugzwang position—Black has the opposition and the white king must give way. 56. Ke2 Kc3 57. Rdi

A last little joke. Black can have his queen at once, but after 57 ... at — Q 58. Rxai Rxai it is stalemate. 57 ... Kc4 58. Rai Kb3 59. Rci ai = Q 0-1.

Karpov: ‘The gambit is not so bad, but 7. 33 was weak. After that he made some good moves in the middle-game, but some more mistakes in the ending.’ As a whole the game is a good illustration of that relentless perseverance so characteristic of Karpov.

GAME 35

After the excitement of the early rounds, the flattering if none too perceptive attentions of the press, and his epochal victory over Penrose, dreams of further glory in his first championship appearance had been shattered by a series of painful reverses. At the start of the tenth round Nigel had only 31 points. But his spirit was resilient and he was ready to learn quickly in the hard school of tournament play. One of the basic lessons concerns the sort of attitude required for competitive success. You must use your defeats to fuel your determination. Nigel: ‘I felt I just had to crush somebody. . . .’ White: Nigel Short Black: Glenn Flear Round 10, British Champion­ ship, Brighton 1977 Ruy Lopez

1. e4 e$ 2. N£3 Nc6 3. Bbs a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d4 Nigel had faith in his pet ‘CARL’—the Centre Attack Ruy Lopez. Nigel: ‘This is a great move against people who have never seen it before—or in fact against anyone!’

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NIGEL AT TWELVE

Will that faith survive his loss to Korchnoi in the Phillips & Drew Kings? 5 ... exd4 6. o-o Bey 7. Rei 0-0

The alternative—and it seems quite a good alternative—is 7 ... b5 8. e5 Nxes and now: (a) 9. Rxe5 d6 to. Ret bxa4 11. Nxd4 Bd7 12. Qf3 0-0 13. Nc6 Bxc6 14. Qxc6 Ndy, whereupon an instructive game Sax-Smejkal, Amsterdam 1979, went 15. Nc3 Bf6(!) 16. Bd2 33 17. b3 Bd4 18. Radi Nes 19. Qa4 Qf6! 20. Ne4 Qg6 and Black had the initiative (though he eventually lost). (b) 9. Nxe5 bxa4 10. Qxd4 0-0 11. Bg5 Rb8 12. Nc3 h6 with chances for both sides. But maybe White has a few extra, undisclosed tricks against 7 ... bs. 8. es NeS

Some sources say that 8 ... Nd5 is inferior because of 9. Nxd4 Nxd4 10. Qxd4Nb6 11. Bb3 d5 12. exd6 Bxd6 (12 ... Qxd6 13. Qe4l + ) 13. Bf4. That does indeed favour White—e.g. 13 ... Qh4 14. g3 Qg4 15. b.3 Qdy (or 15 ... Qf3 16. Re3 Qc6 17. Rc3 Qd7 18. Rd3l± Holmov-Gurgenidze, Baku 1961) 16. Bxd6 Qxd6 17. Qxd6 cxd6 as in Short-Botterill, British Championship, Chester 1979. Here 18. Re71 is extremely strong. However, the Welsh international John Cooper has an idea worth investigating: 8 ... Nd5 9. Nxd4 Nb6 10. Bb3 d5l? 11. exd6 Bxd6 12. Nxc6 bxc6 with a position in which the activity of Black’s pieces provides fair compensation for his broken pawns. 9. C3! (Diagram 43) 9 ... d3 As is so often the case, the real test of the variation must lie in the acceptance of the gambit. Two years later, in the final round of the 1979 championship, Beilin played 9 ... dxc3 and the game continued: 10. Nxc3 d6 11. exd6 Bxd6 12. Bg5 Nf6 13. Bxc6 bxc6 14. Qa4h6 15. BI14 Rb8 16. Radi Rb4 17. Qa5 Bg4 18. Rxd6 Qxd6 19. Bg3 and a draw was agreed. After 19 ... Rf4 20. Bxf4 Qxf4 Black appears to be the one who has a legitimate case for playing on, but Beilin knew that a draw was good enough to give him the title on tie-break and so he had little incentive to try for more. Instead of the 14. Qa4 played in that game 14. Ne4 Bey has a drawish tendency: Black retains an extra pawn, but with

135

THE BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIP

Diagram 43 9. c3

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

two sets of doubled pawns and all his pawns isolated he cannot realistically hope to make much out of the ending. io. Qxdj d6 ii. Bxc6 ii. Bc2 g6 does not aid White’s cause. Nigel goes in for over­ protection of the strongpoint at e5- It was one of Nimzowitsch’s teachings that the pieces that protect a strong pawn thereby acquire strength themselves. ii

... bxc6 i2. B£| Bg4 13. Nbdz Qdy 14. Radi

Nigel: ‘Now is the hard time for Black. How does he get his pieces out?’ 14 ... f6?

Nigel: ‘Almost instantly after he played this we both saw the win.’ Black had to content himself with 14... g6 and ... Ngy—a procedure which is an admission of inferiority.

15. e6! Bxe6 Loses by force. 15 ... Qc8 was no better though: 16. Nd4l and after either 16 ... Qby 17. f3 BI15 18. Nfs or 16 ... Bxdi 17. Nxc6 Bd8 18. ey Black can already resign. 16. Qe4 Kfy 17. Nd4 Bds 18. Qxhy (Diagram 44) White’s threat is simply Nfs. The black pieces, crowded together and

NIGEL AT TWELVE

136

jostling each other, are quite unable to ward it off. Note in particular the wretched, tragicomic plight of the stalemated knight at e8.

18 ... Qg4 19. g3 Bd8

If 19 ... Qg6 20. Rxe7 + , exploiting the overloading of the black king—a commonly occurring tactical device for the attacker.

20. Nf§ 1-0.

21. Nh6+ is curtains. A model illustration of the potential of the Centre Attack Ruy Lopez. The pet ‘CARL’ has quite a bite!

GAME 36

The following game is really a fairly easy win for Nigel, but visually it paints a most attractive picture. White: Nigel Short Black: A. Sendur (Turkey) World Cadet (under17) Championship, Cagnes-sur-Mer 1977 Sicilian Defence

1. e4 C5 2. C3 g6 3. d4 b6?l

This looks highly dubious—White could already win a pawn with 4. dxc5 bxcs 5. Qd5. 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bc4 Nc6 6. dxc$

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Nigel can no longer resist the temptation and helps himself to the pawn. The point is that if 6 ... bxc5 7. Qd5 is a double attack against f; and C5. It turns out that Black has nothing clever prepared and he accepts the loss of a pawn, with an inferior position to boot. . 6.. Nh6 7. cxb6 Qxb6 8. 0-0 0-0 9. h) d6 10. Qci Rb8 11. Nbdz a$ 12. Rdi Qcs 13. a4 Bdy

Black still has no real compensation for the pawn. But he has at least hindered White from developing his QB on the natural square at 03. In consequence White is slightly vulnerable in the gi-a7 diagonal. In the next phase we see Black opening the f-file so that he can converge on f2 along both file and diagonal.

14. b3 Kh8 15. Ba3 Qa7 16. Raci f$ 17. Ng$ Rf6 18. Ndf3 Rbf8 Of course one must view Black’s preparations for a K-side attack with some scepticism. For he has gravely weakened his own king’s position and the white pieces are sufficiently active to exploit this. Still, in the adverse circumstances created by his careless opening, Sendur is putting up quite a good fight.

19. Bdg fxe4 20. Qxe4 Neg!? With a nice idea that meets with a nicer refutation. 21. Nxeg Qxf2 +

. 21.. Rxf2 also came into consideration. White has to be careful then, but 22. Qd4 seems an adequate reply. 22. Khi Rf4 22 ... dxeg 23. Bxey was no use to Black. But now, when the white queen moves, he has 23 .. . Bxeg. However, it depends on where the white queen goes ... (Diagram 45).

23- Qxg6!I It is a pity that there is a ‘dual’. 23. Nd3l also wins, since White keeps his extra piece. But Nigel’s method is much prettier: 23 ... hxg6 24. Nxg6 mate! It is also just as decisive since Black is forced to resort to a desperate expedient in order to avoid 24. Qxhy mate. 23 ... Bfg 24. Nefy + Nxfy 25. Nxfy + Kg8 26. Nxd6 + Kh8 27. Nf7 + Kg8 28. Qgg RI14

138

NIGEL AT TWELVE

Diagram 45 22. .. Rf4

abcdefgh

Stumbling into another combinative blow. But of course it was beyond saving anyway. 29. Qxf'5 Qxf'5 30. Nh6 4- Kh8 31. Nxfj Rxf5 32. Be6 1-0.

GAME 37 White: G. G. Soppe (Argentina) Black: Nigel Short (under-17) Championship, Cagnes-sur-Mer 1977 English Opening

1. g3

World Cadet

2. Bg2

It is curious how openings which are not particularly effective for White sometimes seem rather formidable when played by Black. Here for example, since White is obviously going to play C2-C4 before long, we could regard this as a Sicilian with colours reversed. Yet 1. e4 C5 2. £4 is neither very popular nor greatly feared. The explanation is mainly psychological. Moves that come routinely from the white pieces sometimes bespeak an attitude of outright aggression when played by Black.

3- d3 Not bad, but in some circumstances he may want to play d2-d4 directly. So 3. C4 is better. 3 ... Nf6 4. C4 g6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6.114?

THE BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIP

139

An eccentric move—and a bad one. It seems he wants to develop the Ngi without obstructing his bishop. But this objective could have been achieved much more economically with 6. e3 and 7. Nge2, giving a standard variation of the Closed Sicilian with colours reversed. Besides, if he wanted to put the knight on I13 it was much better to go there at once and follow up with f2-f4. 6.. c6

An important move. The normal scheme of development would involve ... d6 and ... Nc6. But since White is developing in crab-like fashion why not neutralize the pressure against d5? None the less, this is a move that retards Black’s development, contrary to Nigel’s usual, direct style.

7. Nh3 0-0 8. 0-0 d6 Nigel correctly avoids 8 .. . dy? 9. cxdy cxdy 10. Qb3, which would give point to White’s play (10 . . . Be6 11. Ngy).

9. Rbi h6 10. d4 Hoping that Black will play 10 ... e4 and let the NI13 come into play via £4. But Nigel, of course, is not so obligingly kind. 10 ... Qey 11. dxey dxey 12. 64 Be6

White stands badly. The knight on I13 is out on a limb, the advance h2-h4 has weakened his K-side (e.g. it makes f2-f4 unthinkable), his Qside pawns are vulnerable, and he clearly has less central control than Black (Diagram 46). In the circumstances his next move is a most commendable bid for counterplay.

13. by £4!? Much better than 13 ... Bxc4 14. bxc6 bxc6 15. Qa4 with Ba3 and a new lease of life for White’s pieces to follow. The disadvantage of ... fy-f4 in most positions of this type is that it cedes control of the e4 square to White. But the wretched position of the Nh3 makes that a secondary consideration. Not only is it knight-years away from any square that controls e4; it also reduces the power of the Bg2 by binding it to the protection of an idling piece.

14. bxc6 bxc6 Leaving Black’s QN and QR awkwardly placed, but it is vitally

NIGEL AT TWELVE

140

Diagram 46 12 . . . Be6

abcdefgh

important to keep control of dj. 14 ... Nxc6 15. Nd5 is not bad for White.

15. gxf4?! This opens up the K-side in a way that can only favour Black. More spirited was 15. Qa4l?, threatening Bag; e.g. 15 . .. Qdy 16. Rdi! Qc8 17. Kh2 Ng4+ 18. Khi (fxg3 19. fxg3) with a very obscure position in which it is hard to say whether Black’s Q-side or White’s K-side is the more gruesome disaster area. The forthright 18 ... Ne31? 19. fxe3 Bxh3 looks dangerous for the white king, but whilst the black Q-side pieces are still at home he can live in hope. 15 ... Nh$ 16. fxe$ Qxh4

The dark side of 6. I14 and 7. NI13 is now painfully apparent. It is really surprising that White’s position does not cave in more quickly, but in fact Black is unable to avoid the exchange of queens. 17. Qd3 Ndy 18. Qe4 Qxeq 19. Nxe4 Nxes 20. Ba3

White’s problems persist—the C4 pawn is weak and the Nh3 is still out of play. But with reduced material and an open board Black must play exactly in order to maintain his advantage.

20 ... Rfb8 21. Nd6 With counterplay against c6. 21 ... Bxhs!

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THE BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIP

Nigel always thinks in concrete terms. Many players would automatically avoid a move like this that trades a good bishop for a feeble knight. But the black knights trample all over White now, and Black wins a pawn as well.

22. Bxhj Nf4 23. Bg2?I 23. Khz! was more interesting: e.g. 23 ... Nxe2 24. Be6+ KI17 25. Rxb8 Rxb8 26. f4 Nd3 27. fs Be 5 + 28. Kg2 Nef4 + 29. Kf3 and White is not without chances. True, Black can avoid this with 23 ... Rxbi 24. Rxbi Nxe2, but then 25. Rb7 gives counterplay.

23 ... Nxe2 + 24. Khi Rxbi 25. Rxbi Rf8 Very strong. He threatens both ... Rxf2 and ... Rf4-

26. Rei Nd4

Not 26 ... Rxf2? 27. Ne427. Rdi

There was little choice as Black was threatening both 27 . . . Nd3 and 27 . . . NC2

27 ... Rf4 (Diagram 47)

Diagram 47 27 ... Rf4

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

28. Kg i Or 28. Bcs Ng4l. 28 ... Ne2 + 29. Kfi NC3 30. Rei

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NIGEL AT TWELVE

A horrid move to have to play, but if 30. Rd2 Nbi completes the humiliation of the white bishops. 30 ... Nd3

The rest is a massacre. 31. Re8 + KI17 32. Re3 Rxfi + 33. Kgi Ne2 + 34. Khi Ndf4 35. Bxc6 Bes’.

With the pretty point 36. Rxe5 Ng3+ 37. Kgi Nh3 mate. 36. Nf7 Bd4 37. Ng$ + On 37. Rb3 comes 37 .. . Rfi + 38. Kh2 Bgi + 39. KhrBe3 + ! 40. Kh2 Rf2+ 41. Khi Ng3+ and mate next move. 37 ... hxgs 38. Re7+ Kh6 0-1.

GAME 38 In which Black plays passively and is wiped out on the king’s side.

White: Nigel Short Black: A. Foucault (France) World Cadet (under17) Championship, Cagnes-sur-Mer 1977 Caro-Kann Defence 1. e4 c6 2. Ne2 Nigel has had good results with this move—see his games against Speelman (Game 48) and Lein (Game 56). Objectively it may not be as good as 2. d4 or 2. NC3. But it has the practical virtue of nullifying all the theory that Black knows in the established main line and throwing him straightaway on his own resources.

2 ... g6 3. d4 Bg7 4. Ng3 d6 5. C4 Nf6 6. Nc3 0-0 The game has taken on the character of a King’s Indian Defence.

7. Bd3 e$ 8. d§ as?! Routine King’s Indian play, to support a knight at C5. But it is all rather slow and has the serious drawback of making it difficult for Black to play actively on the Q-side, since there is no longer any possibility of expanding in that sector with ... ay-a6 and ... by-bj. More enterpris­ ing was 8 .. . cxd$ 9. cxdj Nbdy when the opening of the c-file is a

143

THE BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIP

discouragement to Q-side castling for White. A piece of basic strategic thinking in this position is that it is important to Black’s cause that he induce White to castle K-side, since only then will there be possibilities of showing that the Ng3 is misplaced.

9. h4 h§ 10. Bgs Qcy

ii.

Qdz Nbdy 12. 0-0-0

Here we see the flaw in Black’s set-up. 12 . . . cxds is no good because after 13. cxds he has no control over the square bs. 12 ... Nc$ 13. Bc2 Rd8

A miserable move. But how else to defend the pawn at d6? Bad positions breed bad moves.

14. Rdfi Re8 15. £4 Nfd7? Hopelessly passive. Absolutely mandatory was 15 ... exfq and 16 ... Ng4, opening the long diagonal for his bishop and playing for control of es. The loss of the d-pawn after 15 ... exf4 16. Bxf4Ng4 17. dxc6bxc6is something that Black should willingly accept as the open.b-file and the prospect of active minor-piece play with ... Nes and ... Be6 would give him good compensation. In fact, this possibility makes Nigel’s 15. fq look rather premature.

16. fs Nf8 The soul of the Caro-Kann cannot survive long in the body of a King’s Indian! Most lines of the Caro-Kann require neutralizing play on Black’s part, with nothing positive to be undertaken until the fire of White’s initiative has been damped down. The King’s Indian needs a totally different spirit: either Black counterattacks or he is dead.

17. f6 Bh8 (Diagram 48) 18. Bdi! White can win as he chooses since the black bishop at h8 is practically worthless. A Petrosian might switch play to the other side of the board and sadistically torment Black for ages. But wherever possible Nigel, like Fischer, chooses the most direct process, and so he prepares to break down Black’s defences with a sacrifice on hj. 18 ... Bdy 19. Kbi Rab8 20. Bez.

He pauses to frustrate Black’s rather pathetic efforts to achieve ... by-bs, although 20. Nxhs was already winning.

NIGEL AT TWELVE

144

Diagram 48 17 ...Bh8

20 ... a4 2i. Nxh$!

The first capture is also effectively the end of the game. 21 . . . gxh$ 22. Bxhj The threat is Bh6 followed by either Qg5 or Rf3~g3—and there is not much that Black can do about it.

22

... Qc8 23. Bh6 Nhy 24. Rf3 Nxf6 25. Qgs + 1-0.

If 25 . . . Khy 26. Rxf6 Bxf6 27. Qxf6 Rg8 28. Bg5 Rg7 29. Bxfy and White mates in two moves at most.

9 Nigel at Thirteen Background pressures

Bolton School have always been considerate in granting leave of absence to enable Nigel to compete in major tournaments. Absences have been kept to a minimum but have made it difficult for Nigel to do full justice to his studies and his interest in history and languages. Apart from struggling to regain a grip on his school work Nigel also had to contend during the year with turmoil in the home. Jean and I decided to divorce after eighteen years of marriage. The junior selectors nominated Nigel for a place in the British Championship at Ayr where, apart from a very exciting win over Peter Clarke, he performed quietly but efficiently and just missed the top ten places. A disastrous international master tournament followed and the Financial Times commented that Nigel was more interested in playing blitz chess between games than preparing for opponents. In fact, Nigel very rarely prepares for opponents and his poor form was more likely due to staleness from the cumulative effect of playing 150-plus games a year. So the temptation to go for prize money in weekend tournaments and to play too many club games had to be resisted. The clampdown started after the disappointments of the Lloyds Bank Masters. The World Under-17 Championship was coming up again and despite indifferent form Nigel got the selectors’ vote as the English representative. Suddenly Nigel’s form took off, this time on a sustained run which has lasted into the 1980s. The spark was the British lightning champion­ ships. Nigel led the Atherton club team to victory, and the following day completed a double by becoming the youngest-ever winner of the individual event. The event was not very strong—it very rarely is when held outside London—but it restored confidence. Another win in a weekend tournament followed, and then it was the

146

NIGEL AT THIRTEEN

World Under-17 Championship in Holland. Kasparov didn’t compete and the strongly fancied Americans failed to send a representative. Nigel finished equal second and collected the bronze medal on tie-break. The previous summer Nigel started to get to grips with international master opposition. He met three in a day—surely a record—in the National Bank of Dubai Open in London, defeating a Belgian IM and drawing with the other two. For good measure he drew with another IM, George Botterill, in the last round. ‘I can draw with IMs but they are very difficult to beat’, was Nigel’s view of the international scene as he reached the end of his thirteenth year. The target for 1979-80 was to hit international master standard. It happened sooner than expected. Away from the board Nigel was maturing physically and in outlook. His psychological advantage over opponents disappeared as he shot to close on six feet in height. Musical tastes, which had started with Abba, the Beatles and Wings, switched from punk to heavy rock and seemed to replace chess as the all-absorbing interest. Instead of suffering from the competition, Nigel’s chess started to take on a new dimension. Press and media interest in Nigel waned for the first time during his thirteenth year. He was no longer the infant prodigy and now had to prove himself at a higher level. It was nice to have a respite from the publicity although most of it had been kind and reasonably well informed. There had been exceptions however. An English-language news­ paper in Majorca produced a story that Nigel was like Muhammad Ali: ‘forever shooting his mouth off about how good he is’. At times it seemed that that indeed was how the press would have preferred to have found him. A Daily Express reporter didn’t bother to ask for an interview with Nigel but spent his time in the street talking to neighbours and other children, suggesting that they say what a horrible child he was. When he received only nice answers he disappeared, and needless to say, no story ever appeared. Nigel’s faith in the press really took a hammering after the Daily Mirror had gone to town. The Mirror’s, photographer asked him to ‘look arrogant for the camera’. The Mirror’s reporter, one of the paper’s top feature-writers, earned the hostility of the family at the interview. The resulting story, a full-page feature, was awaited with trepidation—as it turned out, with some justification. He managed to get just about every interpretation wrong, not to mention some of the facts. When a reporter spends two hours in someone’s company and still manages to describe a

BACKGROUND PRESSURES

147

brunette as a blonde, as he did Jean, it says little for the standards of the British popular press. Nigel is usually polite and co-operative with the press and photo­ graphers. If, in the future, an interviewer finds him abrupt, he can blame the Daily Mirror. GAME 39

White: Nigel Short Black: John Carleton Round I, British Champion­ ship, Ayr 1978 Ruy Lopez

1. e4 e$ 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bbs g6 A move that was despised until Smyslov took it up—after which nobody could see what was wrong with it. From Carleton’s point of view it had the practical advantage of side-stepping Nigel’s favourite Centre Attack (3 ... a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. d4).

4. 0-0 Bgy 5. 03 d6 6.I13 Nf6 7. Rei 0-0

Both sides have developed solidly and sensibly. One might now have expected 8. d4, which is of course part of White’s programme. But does White obtain any advantage after 8. d4 exd4 9. cxd4 d5? Nigel decides to defer the central advance until he is better prepared to deal with any counter-punches.

8. d3 h6 Apparently the purpose of this move is to prepare ... Ndy, strongpointing e5 in accordance with Chigorin’s good old recipe. However, Black’s main problem is the development of his QB, and to this end 8 ... a6 9. Ba4 b5 to. Bc2 Bby was preferable.

9. Be3 Nd7 10. Qci An unusual move to play in the Ruy Lopez. 10 ... Khy 11. d4 Ne7?I

Passive and self-obstructive. True, White was threatening to inflict serious pawn-weaknesses with 12. Bxc6 bxc6 13. dxe$ etc. But 11 .. . Qey was a much more natural counter. 12. dxe$ dxe§ 13. Nbdz c6 14. Bfi Qcy 15. Qcz

NIGEL AT THIRTEEN

148

Structurally the position is very nearly symmetrical. But the black knights are miserably placed. The inability to co-ordinate the action of the rooks is a grave matter. He needs to move the knight on dy, in order to move the bishop on c8, so as to connect the rooks. But on 15 . . . Nf6 he does not like 16. NC4. So he tries to get the knight to f8. Since he abandons this idea almost as soon as he has conceived it, it seems that, for better or worse, he should have gone in for 15 . . . Nf6. 16. Nc4 Nhy. 15 ... Rd8 16. BC4 Rf8

An ignominious retreat. Should Black have dared the complications resulting from 16 ... fs 17. exfj gxf5? His position certainly looks dangerously loose, but if there is a combinative exploitation it is not obvious.

17. 34 b6 18. b4 Bby 19. Nbj Rad8

Black has, at last, laboriously achieved a complete development. But in the meantime White has had a free hand in developing an initiative on the Q-side. 20. a§ Nc8 21. axb6 axb6 (Diagram 49)

22. Ba6! At first sight there is an air of paradox to this move. Why swap the good-looking bishop on C4 for its inert opponent on by? Seen in the context of the whole game, however, this emerges as the first step in a plan that is simple and impressive in its clarity. White is going to fix the

BACKGROUND PRESSURES

149

black c-pawn by means of C4-C5 and is then going to hammer away at the weakness at c6. Over the next twenty moves Nigel implements this plan very purposefully and persistently. The c6 pawn falls at move 41 and the victory is gained soon after. It all looks very smooth and logical. To the annotator, however, the game of chess reveals itself as not only fiendishly difficult but also at times cruelly perverse. In the middle of this well-conceived and consistently executed plan—at move 34, to be precise—there is a big hiccough.

22 ... Rfe8 23. C4 Nf8 24. c$ The first stage of the plan is completed, and Black has an unpleasant choice to make. If he allows 25. cxb6 White will immediately occupy the outpost on C5. The alternative that he chooses has the unfortunate consequence of granting White support-points at a5, b6 and d6, all of which can be utilized in the siege of c6.

24 ... 65 25. Bxb7 Qxby 26. Qa2 Nigel correctly judges that an exchange of queens will give him a positionally won game in view of the vulnerability of c6.

26 ...Ne6

Black strives to neutralize White’s pressure by occupying d4, a standard stratagem in such positions. However, it may be that 26 ... Rd3!? was better, since in the game Black loses control of the d-file. 27. Qa6 QC7 28. Nas Ne7 29. Qb6! Now Black cannot avoid the exchange, for 29 ... Qc8 30. Nby and 31. Nd6 cost material. 29 ... Rd7 30. Qxc7 Rxc7 31. Redi

No doubt Carleton rejected the passive defence 31... Nc8 because he felt he had done enough grovelling for one game. 32. Rd6 fxeq

Ceding an ‘eternal square’ on eq to a white knight. But what else? 33. Nd2 Nd4

The consequences of 33 ... Nds!? demanded careful calculation: 34. Nxc6 Nxe3 35. fxe3 Bf8 36. Nxeq! Kg 7 (36 .. . Bxd6 37. Nf6+ and

150

NIGEL AT THIRTEEN

Nxe8 wins) 37. Nxes Bxd6 38. Nxd6 and White has more than enough for the exchange.

34. Nxe4 (Diagram 50)

Diagram 50 34. Nxe4

abcdefgh

34 ... Nefs?! Here he should definitely have played 34... Nds!, striking at White’s one weak pawn (b4). The outcome is then by no means clear: e.g. 35. Bd2 Ra8!, parrying the threat of Nxc6 and threatening ... Bf8 himself. Suppose Black had played 34 ... Nd5 and gone on to win—not an impossible turn of events. What would we have said then? Where would we have located White’s error? Chess analysis, the attempt to detect the culprit move and the search for the right move, is sometimes like looking for a needle in a haystack. And sometimes it is like looking for a needle in a haystack when you don’t know it’s there! Meanwhile 34. . . Nefs does of course trap White’s rook. . . .

35. Bxd4 Nxd4?I After 35 ... exd4 36. Nf6 + Bxf6 37. Rxf6 there is clearly no hope in 37 ... Rec8. But 37 ... d3, threatening ... d2 and ... Ret +, is tricky: e.g. 38. Rxc6 Rdy 39. Rdt d2 40. Kfi Rdey! and White is lost. 38. Rdi Rdy 39. Nb3 does seem to retain some advantage for White. But whatever the outcome should be, we may conclude that 35 ... exd4 was much the better chance.

36. £3 Ra8 37. Rdi

BACKGROUND PRESSURES

151

Meeting the threat of... Nc2xb4- But what is he going to do about the rook at d6?

37 ... Bf8 38. £4! Leave it there and get a giant pawn in return is the satisfying, if obvious, solution.

38 ... Bxd6 Or 38 ... Ne2 + 39. Kf2 Nxf4 40. Rdy + Rxdy 41. Rxdy + Bg7 42. Nxc6 Ra2+ 43. Rd2 and White’s c-pawn is the decisive factor.

39. cxd6 Rfy 40. fxej Ne6 41. Nxc6 R£$ 42. Nc$ Rai

There is no stopping the white pawns. So Black tries a last trick: 43. Nxe6? Rff2 and White has great difficulty in escaping from perpetual check.

43. Rfi! 1—o.

GAME 40

Most of the other players in the championship were not too impressed with Nigel’s second-round game against Peter Clarke, regarding it as a sort of large-scale swindle. It’s the sort of game that makes masters of more volatile temperament and quicker passions cry out ‘Scandal!’ in heavy mid-European accents.

White: Peter Clarke Black: Nigel Short Round 2, British Champion­ ship, Ayr 1978 Owen’s Defence 1. 3 exd4 26. Qxd$ Rd8 27. Qbj Qf4 + 28. Nd2 Qc7 29. Kbi b6 30. Nf3 1-0.

io Nigel at Fourteen The eighth Samurai

With the World Under-17 Championship of 1978 spilling over into January 1979, two championships were held in six months. The 1979 championship was held in France again, and Nigel went with high hopes, having just shared first place with IGM John Nunn in an international in Geneva. For the first six rounds Nigel struggled to find his flair, but despite losing to the Russian, he stayed within sight of the leaders. The Russian made a sensational start and looked a certain winner at the half-way stage. When he started to crack under pressure, Nigel found a rich vein of form, and despite missing a win against the Argentinian, Tempone, he entered the last round with a chance of the title. His opponent was the outstanding American teenager, Joel Benjamin, who had on occasions headed Nigel in the BCF’s world rankings. Nigel gained his second win over Benjamin, whose title chances had already gone, but some unexpected results on the lower boards gave Tempone the title on tie-break countback. Nigel took the silver medal. Within a few weeks, the same tie-break system cost Nigel the chance of winning the British Championship. Thanks to the sponsorship of stockbrokers Grieveson Grant, the British championship at Chester was the strongest for years. IGM Tony Miles was a last-minute entrant and the field also included IGM Nunn and IMs Speelman, Mestel, Chandler, Botterill and Bellin. Nigel had an early reverse against the Australian Max Fuller, but a lucky win against Julian Hodgson, the first-ever meeting between the two leading young British players, put Nigel back in the running. The tournament built up into a fascinating climax and the media had a field day when Nigel conclusively defeated Tony Miles, who had lost some of his early momentum. Miles offered a draw at one stage, but Nigel ignored reputations as usual and forced a win.

160

NIGEL AT FOURTEEN

Speelman, the reigning British champion, was another sensational victim in the next round, and with two rounds to go Nigel was the tournament leader on 7 points from nine games, half a point ahead of John Littlewood, Nunn and Beilin. Amid mounting excitement, Nigel fought back with the black pieces to draw against Nunn. Beilin, meanwhile, defeated Hebden to draw level with one round to go. The final round against Bellin seemed to be going Nigel’s way, when Bellin took sixty-five minutes for one move. Beilin had mistaken the position for an earlier game of Nigel’s from which he had gained a crushing victory. The long delay in such a tense situation may actually have worked to Bellin’s advantage for almost immediately Nigel made an inaccurate move and asked for the draw. John Nunn duly won his game, but the title went to Beilin on the tie-break. There was consolation for Nigel when junior selector and family friend Mike O’Hara suddenly realized before the start of the last round that Nigel had already achieved an international master norm, an occurrence so unlikely in a British championship that no one had given the possibility a thought. By luck of the draw he had played four non­ English players, an Australian, a Welshman, an Irishman and a Scot, as well as the requisite number of titled players. Because of this, Nigel became the youngest player in chess history to achieve an IM title norm, beating by some months the records set by Bobby Fischer when he won the American championship, and Mecking of Brazil when he tied for first place in the South American Zonal in 1966. Both results of course carried greater distinction than Nigel’s and qualified both Fischer and Mecking as full IMs, while Nigel had to strive again for another norm, or perhaps two norms, depending on the number of rounds in his next IM tournament. That turned out to be the Benedictine International in Manchester, where he entered the last round needing a win over IGM Balinas of the Philippines for a second IM norm, but Balinas took no chances and forced a draw by repetition. Nigel’s startling run of success in both team and individual events had lasted almost twelve months, and it continued in Denmark with England’s victory in the first world under-16 team championship. The Russians failed to enter a team in an event in which they would have been hard pressed to win, and the Americans were also absentees. Equally predictably, the Russians denigrated England’s victory afterwards, pointing out their own absence. Their great hope,

THE EIGHTH SAMURAI

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Kasparov, was too old to compete. The Russians have refused all challenges to meet British junior teams in the last few years. Perhaps we shouldn’t blame them. Four of the five English players—Nigel, Julian Hodgson, Daniel King and Ian Wells—had gradings in excess of 2,200 and would have tested IM, let alone teenage opposition. Nigel, on Board 1, won his first six games and then settled for a draw in the final against Sweden to virtually ensure a victory on board count. Nigel’s performance in the British Championship brought him an invitation to play in the I CL Premier at Hastings. Bill Hartston thought the invitation was a mistake. He attributed Nigel’s wins over Miles and Speelman to the ‘nervousness’ of them both and said there were weaknesses in Nigel’s defence which he suggested would be ruthlessly exposed at Hastings. Nigel himself was unconcerned at the coming ordeal and set his own target—the IM title. In a Category 10 tournament that meant 7I points from the fifteen rounds. Nigel had only once beaten a grandmaster. At Hastings he would have to face ten, plus four IMs. When Speelman effortlessly defeated Nigel in round 1, Michael Stean and John Nunn said, ‘Don’t worry.’ They were right. .Nigel won an exciting game with America’s world junior champion, Yasser Seirawan, in round 3, then beat IGM Lein of the United States, a victory which later gave Nigel the brilliancy prize. Nigel suffers from almost continual head colds, but in Hastings he w is much worse than usual. It’s difficult to say how much his play was affected but against Mestel he was unable to play on and was forced to ask for a draw. After eight rounds Nigel was on 3J points, but with his cold subsiding he again hit a winning streak. IGM Liberzon of Israel was next to lose and the following day Peter Biyiasas of the United States became his third grandmaster victim. Then came the headline-making win over Andersson, the Swede’s first defeat in thirty-six major games. Nigel ended the first session with a three pawn advantage and consolidated his position during two hard-fought adjournment sessions. With the press already anticipating a shock defeat for the Swede from the third adjournment, Nigel went into another key game against British champion, Robert Beilin. A draw against Bellin and a win over Andersson would make Nigel the world’s youngest international master. The Beilin game lasted only twelve moves. The champion already had a slight advantage when he leaned across the board and asked Nigel if he fancied a game of Space Invaders. They shook hands and headed for the amusement arcade on the pier. Space Invaders, a concert by punk group The Clash and guitar

NIGEL AT FOURTEEN

162

lessons from his friend Daniel King, provided Nigel’s relaxation during the seventeen days of the Hastings tournament. This time the relaxation was not necessary. Andersson resigned before the start of the next adjournment session. Nigel added another half point to his score from the last two rounds, but it was something of an anti-climax. He went heme physically and mentally exhausted and it was a couple of weeks before he had completely recovered. The Hastings result confirmed that he had reached the top rank of English players. The seven Samurai, as Miles, Nunn, Stean, Keene, Hartston, Mestel and Speelman sometimes called themselves, had been joined by an eighth. Stean and Nunn didn’t seem to have any doubts about the standard of Nigel’s Hastings performance. Stean said there was a vast gulf between grandmaster tournaments and other events, but Nigel had made the transition at one go. Three months later, Nigel had a setback in the Phillips & Drew Kings—but that was a Category 13 GM tournament. The players at Hastings were as impressed by Nigel as a person as they were with his play. To a parent, those were the most rewarding comments. Touch wood, we had brought up a prodigy without any side effects.

GAME 43

The pieces make some pretty patterns in the following game. The overall picture looks like an illustration of the advantages of centralization, as there is a marked contrast between the firepower of the white pieces in the middle and the black pieces at the edge. White: Nigel Short Black: Villanyi Geneva 1979 (Round 5) Sicilian Defence

i. e4 c§ 2. Nf3 e6 3. C4!? It is refreshing to be reminded that the customary 3. d4 is not the only move. The move-order Nigel chooses here is so rare that even the massively comprehensive Informator Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings does not contain a single reference to it—see Volume B, p. 194, note 1, for the place where it ought to appear, but doesn’t! Black now has the chance to enter uncharted territory with 3 ... ds!?. If then 4. exdy exds

THE EIGHTH SAMURAI

163

5. cxd5 Nf6 should give Black equality, but 4. exd5 exd5 5. d4 leads to interesting complications. After this brief gesture towards the unknown, however, the game quickly returns to more conventional channels.

3 ... Nc6 4. d4 cxdq 5. Nxdq Nf6 6. NC3 Qc? A good move here is 6 ... Bbq, e.g. 7. Nxc6 bxc6 8. Bd3 e$ seems unproblematic for Black.

7. BezBbq 8. NdbsQbS 9.3360710.0-0 d6 u.Khi 0-0 12. Be3 b6 13. £3 Bby 14. bq Rd8 15. Qb3 a6 16. Ndq d$ So Black has achieved the thematic counter, breaking White’s bind on the centre. When . .. d6-ds is playable it is usually good for equality at the least. But the present position is an exception since Black is weak on the a2-g8 diagonal. 17. exds exds 18. Nxc6 Bxc6 19. Radi Qb7 20. 34! Thus White enforces bq-bj and gains absolute control; first of the diagonal a2-g8 and then, from d5, of the diagonal hi-a8. 20 ... dxcq 21. Bxcq Bf8 22. b§ Rxdi 23. Qxdi

Not 23. Rxdi?? Bxf3. 23 ... axb$ 24. axb$ Be8 25. Qez Rc8 26. 6dq Ndy 27. Bds Qb8 28. Ne4 Ncs 29. Rei Nxe4 30. Qxeq Qd6

In the last ten moves Black has been forced further and further back. His thoughts are concentrated solely on defence. But could he have played 30 ... Bxbs? Well, it looks very dangerous after 31. Bxfy+ Kh8 32. Be6: e.g. 32 ... Re8 (32 ... Rd8 is better) 33. Qfs (threatening both Qxb5 and Qfy) 33 ... Bd7 34. Bes! and Black loses in all variations—34 •.. Bd6 35. Bxg7 + , 34. ... Bxe6 35. Bxb8, 34 ... Rxe6 35. Qxe6 (Diagram 54). 31. Qfs Qd7? The losing move, falling for a sucker-punch. 31 . .. Rd8! was, rather surprisingly, quite all right for Black: e.g. 32. Rxe8 Qxd5 33. Qxdj Rxd5 34- Bxb6 Rxbs and the game must be a draw, or 32. Res?! Bey 33. Qeq Bxbs seems adequate.

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NIGEL AT FOURTEEN

Diagram 54 30... Qd6

abcdefgh

32. Bxfy + l Kh8 33. Be6 Qey 34. Qes Rd8 35. Bxb6 Rdi 36. Be3 Rex 37. Bg5 Qb4 38. Bds Bd7

Black had to prevent not only 39. Qxe8 but also 39. Qe6. 39. Rdi Qxbs 40. Qf4 1-0.

Black lost on time. But there was in any case no defence against the dual threats of 41. Qxf8 + and 41. Qfy. E.g. 40 . . . Rc8 41. Qfy Bb4 42. Bf6!.

GAME 44

White: Nigel Short Black: E. Preisstnann Geneva Ruy Lopez

(Round 7J

1. e4 es 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bbs f$ This is known as the Schliemann Defence, though there is really nothing defensive about it. One cannot help feeling that one day it will be shown to be unsound. But so far no completely convincing refutation has been produced. 4- d3

A very sane reply avoiding all the wild complications that ensue after

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THE EIGHTH SAMURAI

4. Nc3 fxe4 5. Nxe4 dj or 4. d4 fxe4 5. Nxes Nxes 6. dxe5 c6 7. Ncjl? cxbs 8. Nxe4—all very unclear.

4 ... fxe4 5. dxeq Nf6 6. Qez Here 6. 0-0 is perfectly playable and probably stronger. For example, after 6 ... d6 7. Nc3 Bg4 8.113 Bxf3 9. Qxf3 White would save a tempo in comparison with the game.

6 ... d6 7. NC3 Bg4 8.113 Bxf3 9. Qxf3 Be7 10. Qe2 a6

Black could not play to ... 0-0 because of 11. Bxc6 and QC4 + , winning a pawn. But to ... Qdy was worth considering. 11. Bxc6+ bxc6 12. 0-0 C5?

It cannot be right to play like this, accentuating his own weaknesses on the light squares. 12 ... Qdy was better. 13. £4 Nd7

Evidently not liking 13 ... exf4 14. Bxf4 0-0 15. e$. 14- Qh5 + g6

Qg4 exf4 16. Bxf4 0-0 17. Qe6 +

Even stronger was 17. Bh6! after which Black would quickly succumb to the invasion down the f-file. 17 ... Kg7 18. Nds BI14 (Diagram 55)

19. NXC7!

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NIGEL AT FOURTEEN

In return for his knight and his bishop Nigel gets rook and two pawns plus a tremendous attack. 19 ... Qxc7 20. Bxd6 Qd8 . 20.. .Rae8wasnobetter:2i.Bxf8+ Rxf8 22. Radi Rxfi + 23. Rxfi or 22. Rxf8 Nxf8 23. Qxa6 are both pretty hopeless for Black.

21. Bxf8 + NxfB 22. Qf7 + Kh8 23. Radi Qe7 23. ... Qe8 was more tenacious.

24. Qd$ Ra7 Fending off the invasion of his second rank by 25. Rf7) but instead running into a back-rank combination.

25. Qd8! The main point is that after 25 ... Qxd8 26. Rxd8 Bxd8 27. Rxf8 + and 28. Rxd8 the ending is an easy win for White. 25 ... Kg7 26. Rxf8

The subsidiary point is that Black’s queen is pinned on the diagonal: if 26 ... Qxf8 27. Qxh4.

26 ... Qxe4 27. Rg8 + Kh6 28. Qf8-I- 1-0.

After 28 . . . Kh5 29. Qxc5 4- he loses the rook as well.

GAME 45 White: Joel Benjamin Black: Nigel Short World Under-17 Champion­ ship, July 1979 French Defence, Tarrasch Variation

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d§ 3. Nd2 Nc6 This move of Guimard’s never seems quite right because it is hard to believe that in the long run Black will be able to get by without... c7-c5Time and again, however, dissatisfaction with the more popular 3 ... c5 and 3 ... Nf6 prompts French defenders to have another look at 3 ... Nc6.

4. Ngf3 Nf6 5. eg Nd7 6. Bd3

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167

White has many moves here. Most common, and probably best, is 6. blb3, although the quiet 6. Be2 is also quite a headache for Black.

6 ... Nb4 More in the spirit of the Guimard is the immediate attack on the head of White’s pawn-chain with 6 ... f6!?, although this leads to obscure complications after 7. Ngs!?, e.g.: (a) 7 ... fxg5 8. Qh5+ g6 9. Bxg6 + hxg6 10. Qxg6+ Ke7 11. Ne4! ± Chiburdanidze-Zatulovskaya, Tbilisi 1976. (b) 7 ... Ndxesl? 8. dxe5 fxg5 9. Qh5 + g6! 10. Bxg6+ Kd7 11. f4 gxf4 12. Bd3 Nb4, as in Faibisovich-Monin, USSR 1979, seems playable for Black.

7. Bez cj 8. C3NC6 9. o-ocxd4 10. cxd4Qb6 n.Nbjas 12. a4 Be7 13. Be3 0-0 14. Rci (Diagram 56)

14 ... Nb4

Preventing the bishop’s return to the attacking diagonal bi-h7. Nigel does not think that any good will come of playing ... f7~f6. White has more space and the freer development that goes with it. But since the black position is very solid a long struggle is in prospect. 15. Nfd2 In such positions Nigel is fond of playing h2-h4, and that would not be a bad idea here. Benjamin decides to advance his f-pawn instead, but

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NIGEL AT FOURTEEN

thereby only succeeds in stodging up the king’s side and reducing White’s potential for active play.

15 • • • Qd8 16. £4 fs 17. Nfj b6 18. Bd2 Nb8 19. Bbj Bdy 20. Qe2 Nbc6 Black has equalized. The prognosis is: exchange of major pieces in the c-file and a drawish endgame. 21. Bxbq Nxb4 22. Nei Rc8 23. Nf3 Nc6 24. Nbd2 Na7 25. Bxdy Qxd7 26. Qa6 Rxci 27. Rxci Rc8 28. Rxc8 + Nxc8 Here we have that drawish ending. The fact that White’s queen is further up the board makes it look as if he is on the attack. But this is deceptive. In fact White has to be careful lest the black queen should invade his position down the c-file.

29. Nbi Bbq!

Thwarting the idea of Nc3~b5. 30. Kfz h6 31. h4?!

This does nothing to strengthen his position, nor was there any point to discouraging ... g7-g5, a move that is more likely to help White than Black. The top priority was to get the Nbi back into the game, and so he should have played 31. Ngi! to be followed by Ne2 and Nbc3. 31 ... Kfy 32. h§ Qc6 33. Nc3?

Losing a pawn, and although there are various tricks there is ultimately no compensation. White had to play 33. Nbd2. His position was no longer pleasant, however, and Benjamin was probably afraid of 33. Nbd2 Qci 34. Ke2 Ney! with threats of ... Qxb2 and ... Qhi. 33 ... Bxc3 34. bxc3 Qxc3 35. Qby + (Diagram 57) 35 ... Ney Certainly not 35 ... Kf8? or Kg8? 36. Qdy when Black loses his most important pawn (e6),

36. Qxb6 Qc2 + 37. Kg3 Qxa4 White has to do something dramatic now before Black’s a-pawn begins a decisive march down the board. The only thing to do is to try to exploit a pin along the seventh rank, but the exposed position of White’s own king enables Nigel to defeat this attempt.

169

THE EIGHTH SAMURAI

Diagram 57 35. Qb7 +

abcdefgh

38. NI14 Qb4 39. Qa7 Qei + 40. KI13 Qhi 4- 41. Kg3 Qei + 42. KI13 Qe3 +

Unfortunately the white knight has to call off its excursion to g6 since 43- g3 Qf3! and 43- Kh2 Qxf4+ both win quickly for Black. The rest is not difficult. 43. Nf3 Qxf'4 44. Qxas Qg4 + 45. Kha Qxhj + 46. Kg3 g$ 47. Qd8 £4 + 48. Kfz g4 49. Nei g3 + 50. Kfi Qdi 51. Qh8 Qd2 52. QI17+ Ke8 53. Nd3 Qdi + 54. Nei Qxdq 0-1.

GAME 46 Two young rivals produce a decidedly off-beat game.

White: Julian Hodgson Black: Nigel Short Chester 1979 (Round 6) King's Indian Defence (Well, sort of!)

British Championship,

1. C3

More popular than 1. Nh3, 1.I13 and 1. 34. No, but seriously, is this a respectable way to start a game in a national championship? Modem opening theory is certainly permissive, but isn’t this just a waste of the privilege of first move? This is, as usual, not so clear. If the Caro-Kann and the Slav are viable defences for Black, why not 1. C3 for White? Nigel does not succeed in showing that White thereby forfeits the

NIGEL AT FOURTEEN

170

initiative. Incidentally, his opponent in this game is another one of the pride of English lion-cubs, though Nigel’s senior by a couple of years.

i.. . Nf6 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. d4 0-0 6. Nez eg 7. 0-0 Qe7 8 £3 Curiouser and curiouser. This creates an impression of contrived eccentricity. But if there is something wrong with it we do not find out what it is in this game. Perhaps Black should counter with 8 ... Nbd7 and 9 ... c6, preparing to challenge in the centre with ... d6-d5.

8 ... b6 9. Be3 05 10. Ndz Bb7 In King’s Indian positions the bishop is as a rule singularly ineffective here, biting on the granite of the f3~e4-d5 pawn-chain. The present instance is no exception. 11. dj Nbd7 12. 04 By an exceedingly devious route White has reached a characteristic, and quite promising, King’s Indian position. Amazingly he has not lost tempi with his knights, just switched them around, as normally it would be the KN that goes to d2 (Diagram 58).

Diagram 58 12. c4 a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

12 ... Ne8 13. NC3 f$ 14. exf$ gxfj 15. £4

A standard response to Black’s f7-f5 thrust. White’s plan is to induce ... e5-eq and then break up the black centre with g3~g415 ... Kh8

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171

Another possibility was 15 ... exf4 16. Bxf4 Nej intending ... Ng6. But in that case Black would have problems over his weaknesses at f5 and e6. 16. Qcz e4 17. Rae 1 Nc7?!

Black ignores White’s project. He has his own ideas about undermin­ ing a pawn-chain— . . . b6-bs with pressure against d$. Even so, 17 . . . Ndf6 was surely better. 18. g4! Here it is—the ‘flanking blow’, as Keene would say. After 18 ... fxg4 19. Ndxe4 White has a wonderful game. 18 ... Nf6!?

Sensing that the strategic tide has turned and is on the point of inundating him, Nigel goes in for an obscure multiple pawns-sacrifice. See Clarke-Short, British Championship 1978 (Game 40) and Christiansen-Short, Hastings 1979-80 (Game 57) for other examples of Nigel’s willingness to surrender several pawns for the 'sake of active counterplay. Here he gives up two pawns—or perhaps one should count it at a pawn-and-a-half, since White will emerge doubled f-pawns up— in order to eliminate that vital piece, White’s dark-squared bishop. Verdict: enterprising, but hardly convincing. 19. gxfj Ng4 20. Ndi Qh4 21.113 Nxej 22. Nxej Rg8 23. Nxe4 Bd4 24. Khi Raf8 (Diagram 59)

25. Qf2

NIGEL AT FOURTEEN

172

Why not 25. Nxd6? If 25 . . . Rg3 26. Nxby Bxe3 27. d6 Black’s attack is not quick enough. 25 ... Qh6 26. Qf3 Ne8 27. Ng4

27. Ng5 was strong, leaving the other knight to guard the £5 pawn and threatening to come in at e6. Of course Black does not want to play ... Bxej, since that would involve not only the departure of his best minor piece but also mortal danger to the black king on the ai-h8 diagonal. 27 ... QI14 28. Ng5 Bc8

The bishop rejoins the game just in time to meet 29. Re7 with 29 ... Bxf5 and 29. Re6 with 29 ... Bxe6 30. fxe6 Rxgj.

29. Ne6?! Unfortunately this move simply does not achieve anything. 29. Re6!? was quite playable since 29 ... Bxe6 30. dxe6! ought to win for White: e.g. 30. . .Rxf5 3i.Nf7+ Kg7 32.Qb7(oreven32.Ngh6)Kf8 33.Nfh6 and it is all up with Black. Also very strong was 29. Rxe8 Rxe8 30. Nfy + Kg7 31. Nxd6 Rd8 32. Nxc8 Rxc8 33. d6. 29 ... Rxf$ 30. Nxd4?

White finally rids himself of the troublesome priest. But at this moment it is not at all good to do so because the c8-h3 diagonal is cleared for Black’s other bishop. 30. Qd3 was better. 30 ... cxdq 31. Qdi Nf6!

Suddenly White is in trouble, with all sorts of nastiness threatening on the g- and h-files and along the C8-I13 diagonal. Hodgson now makes an outright blunder, but it is doubtful if there was a sufficient defence. E.g. 32. Nxf6 Rxf6 33. Rf3 Rxg2 (or 33 . . . Bgq) 34. Kxg2 Bxh3 +! 35. Rxh3 Rg6 + and wins.

32. Qxd4?? Rxg4 33. Re8+ Rg8 Hodgson must have missed this simple retreat, only reckoning on the more complex 33 ... Kg7 34. Rxc8 and if then 34 ... Rxg2 35. Kxg2 Rg5+ 36. fxgj! is winning for White.

34. Re? Rh§ 35. Rf3 BXI13! 36. Kgi 0-1.

the eighth samurai

173

GAME 47

The next game caused an even greater sensation than Nigel’s win against Penrose in the 1977 British Championship. Tony Miles was playing at Chester by way of a warm-up for his participation in the Riga Interzonal. Since the last time that an English player had even qualified for the interzonal stage of the world championship cycle was no less than twenty-seven years earlier (Golombek back in 1952) it seemed reasonable to expect that Tony would outclass the rest of the field.

White: Tony Miles Black: Nigel Short British Championship, Chester 1979 (Round 8) French Defence 1. Qg4 15. h3 "•'ins a whole piece.

198

NIGEL AT FOURTEEN

ii

... Bxes! 12. dxes Ng4 13. Rxf8 +

13 Qb3+ does not transpose into the previous variation. Black responds 13 ... Be6 14. Qxe6 + Kh8 and it is White who loses: e.g. 15, Nf3 Rxf3 16. Rxf3 Qxh2+ 17. Kfi Qhi+ 18. Ke2 Qxg2+ etc. 13 ... Kxf8 14. Qfi + Kg8 15. Nf3 Qe7

Black now manages to recover his pawn. But he still stands worse, partly because of his doubled c-pawns, partly because he lags in development.

16. Bf4 Qc$ + 17. Nd4 Nxe$ 18. b4 Tempting, but it was more accurate to play 18. Bxes! Qxe5 19. Qc4 + Kh8 20. Rfi Bg4 21. Qb4.' with simultaneous attack on both by and f8. 18 ... Qey 19. Nfs

19. Bxes Qxes 20. Qc4+ Kh8 21. Rfi is still the most natural way for White to continue. If then 21... Bdy? White wins immediately with 22. Qfy Qe8 23.es!. But it is not so clear how White is to defeat 21... Bg4— certainly not with 22. h3 Bxh3!. This shows why White would have done better to have dispensed with the move b2-b419 ... Bxf$?!

Really rather feeble: 19 ... Qf6 was much more sensible. After the efile is opened he loses his blockading strength on es. 20. exf$ Re8 21. Bg3 Naturally not at once 21. Rei?? Nf3 + . 21 ... Nfy 22. Rei Qdy 23. Bxcy! Rf8

Once again Black is able to regain his pawn. But the resulting endgame favours White since the bishop is clearly a better piece than the knight on an open board with play on both wings.

24. Bg3 Nh6 25. QC4 4- Qd$ 26. Qxd$ + cxd$ 27. Bf2 27. Bd6 may seem the obvious move, but after 27 ... Rc8 or 27 ... Rd8 it turns out to be less strong than it looks.

27 ... b6? On principle this is bound to be a bad idea. On black squares the

199

the eighth samurai

pawns are easy prey for the white bishop. 27 ... a6 was also losing because of 28. Bc5 Rxf5 29. Re8 + Kfy 30. Rey + etc., and 27 ... Nxfs 28. Res! is bleak too. The best defence lay in 27 ... Rc8! (Diagram 76).

Diagram 76 27...b6

a

28.

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

bj!

Fixing the pawns on the dark squares, where they are doomed to die.

28.

... Rxf$ 29. aq Kf8 30. Bg3

Black finds himself faced with not only the threat of Bb8xay, but also of 31. Bd6+ followed by a rook-check picking up the a-pawn. He surrenders a pawn, but fails to complicate White’s task. 30

... d4 31. cxd4 a6

Desperately trying to undo the damage done by 27 ... b6.

32.

Rbi axb§ 33. axb§ Ke8 34. Bey Rf6 35. Be; Rfy 36. Rei

Winning a second pawn.

36 ... Ng4 37. Rc8 + Kdy 38. Rcy + Ke8 39. Rxfy Kxfy 40. Bey i—o.

GAME 54

After a drastic defeat at the hands of Jonathan Speelman in the first

194

NIGEL AT FOURTEEN ii

... Bg7 12. Raci h$ 13. b4 g4 14. Ndz Bh6

To prevent f2-f4, whilst incidentally annoying White with the pin on the Nd2. The position has become quite intriguing. Despite his strong initiative on the K-side Black has difficulty in opening lines because the white pawns have remained, in the best Steinitzian tradition, on their original squares (h2, g2, f2).

15. Rcz I14 16. Nb3 Nes 17. Khi

There is no safe square for the white king, but getting out of the way of a possible . .. Nf3 + is desirable. 17 . .h3

Although he hereby creates a juicy hole on f3, this is a decision tinged with regret since it seals the K-side files, something that White could hardly do in his own defence. But Black has to get on with things because White is ready to start his own attack with the push C4-C5, which would be a powerful rejoinder to any attempt on Black’s part (... 0-0-0, ... Kdy or ... Key) to connect his rooks for use on the king’s side.

18. g3 (Diagram 73)

Diagram 73 18. g3

18 ... c6!

Nigel strives mightily to activate the Bby. The position of White’s king on the long diagonal, exposed by 17 . . . h3, provides justification. But at the same time Black incurs obvious risks since he is pulling the centre open whilst his king is still there. At first sight the game now

201

the eighth samurai

15

... Rfe8 16. Ng3 axb3 17. axbj Rxai 18. Rxai Bxg3?!

Black regrets the absence of this bishop later. Maybe 18 ... Nc8 was better, although 19. Qd3 would still be very strong. Black’s game is so horribly lifeless that it is difficult to think of useful moves for him.

19. hxg3 Nc8 (Diagram 77) 8 7

6 5 4 3

2 Diagram 77 19 ... Nc8'

1 abcdefgh

20.

Qd3

The beginning of a decisive and very pretty diagonal attack. Black is forced to weaken the wall of pawns in front of his king. 20

... fj 2i. g4! Ne? 22. Bb4!

Very neat—the threat of 23. Bxey and 24. gxfs forces a further weakening, after which the bishop returns to the long diagonal.

22 ... g6 23. BC3!

Threatening immediate destruction with 24. ds and 25. Qd4. 23 ... f6 24. gs’ The final line-opening idea.

24 ... fxgj 25. ds Nxd$ If he does not give up the piece White plays 26. Qd4 and mates quickly. 26. cxd$ Qxds 27. Qe3 Black has three pawns, which is sometimes more than enough for a

202

NIGEL AT FOURTEEN

piece. But not here, where one of the pawns is doubled, none of them is passed, and every move of the white pieces creates a new threat.

27 ... £4 28. Qb6 cs 29. Rei Qc6 The ending is hopeless with another pair of doubled pawns, but he had to do something about the threat of 30. Qcy.

30. Qxc6 bxc6 31. Bf6 g4 32. Bg$ £3 33. gxf3 gxf3 34- Re3 Bfy 35. Rxe8 + Bxe8 36. Be7

The rest is elementary. 36.. . Bf7 37. fixes Bd$ 38. Kh2 Kg7 39. Kg3 Kf6 40. Bd4 + Kg5 4i.b4hs 42.863+ Kf6 43. IQ14 Bf7 44. Bd4 + Ke7 45. Be4 Be8 46. Bxf3 Kd6 47. Kgs Ke6 48. Be4 Kd6 49. £4 1-0.

GAME 55

In the next round Nigel’s opponent was the reigning world junior champion. White: Yasser Seiratvan (Round 3) English Opening

Black: Nigel Short

Hastings lyypSo

1. C4 cs 2. g3 Nc6 3. Bg2 g6 4. NC3 Bg7 5. 33

John Watson, high-priest of English Opening theory, describes this as ‘a poisonous little move’. There are many others—5. Nf3, 5. e3,5. e4, 5. d3, 5. b3—and of course many possible transpositions too.

5.. . d6 Black also has a rich, if not embarrassing, choice. 5 ... es?l 6. b4l is known to favour White. But 5 ... Nf6, 5 ... e6, 5 ... b6, 5 ... 35,5 ...a6 and 5 ... Rb8 all have something to be said for them.

6. 63 Nh6 On 6 ... es Watson lets fantasy loose with the remarkable variation 7.' b4l? cxb4 8. axb4 Nxb4 9. Ba3 Nd3 + 10. Ke2 Nc5 11. d4 and Black has; serious, perhaps insoluble, problems. Nigel’s move looks better than the; routine 5 ... Nf6. The knight is heading for f5 where it will inhibit ■ d2-d4 and reinforce the action of the Bgy.

THE EIGHTH SAMURAI

203

7. Ngez Nfg 6. Rbi as 9. bj Castle for both sides here (9. 0-0 0-0) and we get, by transposition, into the game Fraguela-Karpov, Montilla 1976, which was very satisfactory for Black after 10. d3 Rb8 11. Bd2 e6 12. Nf4 Nfey! (a funny little knight tour) 13. Qc2 b6 14. Rbdi Bby followed by ... Qdy,.. . Nes and ... ds. 9 • • • h5!? Most people would play 9 ... 0-0 here without too much thought. The daring idea of softening up White’s K-side with ... h5~h4 gives the game an original flavour. Operations on the flank are justified by the fact that the centre, although not closed, is held under long-range restraint by pieces.

10. h3 In Informator 29 Ugrinovic suggests 10. h4 with Bb2 and Nb$ to follow. Of course nobody really knows which is better, 10. h.3 or 10.114. if Seirawan had played 10.114 and lost, 10. h3 would have been suggested as an improvement!

10 ... eg 11. Bb2. ‘Seirawan likes ultra-positional formations, which by conventional lore should be a good approach against an inexperienced boy. But manoeuvre play is one of Nigel’s strengths, and his next gains dark­ square space and sets up White’s g-pawn as a target for the black fpawn’s later line-opening advance.’ From Barden’s notes in his column in the Guardian. 11 ... h4 12. g4 Nfe7

The knight has repeated the Karpov trip, taking three moves to get from g8 to ey (Diagram 78). 13-d4 White starts to expand in the centre. Is Black after all to be punished for his early flank activity? Questions like this plague the uncertainty of a game in process. 13 ... cxd4

13 . . . exd4? 14. exd4 Nxd4 15. Nxd4 Bxd4 16. Nbg is horrid for Black.

204

NIGEL AT FOURTEEN

Diagram 78 12... Nfe7 a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

14. exd4 0-0 Again 14 ... exd4 was bad because of 15. Nby. If a paradox can exist, this position is one. Seirawan fights shy of castling for fear of a black attack starting with . .. fy-fy. Instead he advances in the centre—or rather slightly left of centre, like the Social Democrats—even though that is where his king has to stay. Meanwhile Nigel opens up the position around his own king!

15. ds 15. dxe5 dxey 16. Qxd8 Rxd8 was safer for both sides, though possibly a shade better for White after 17. Ndy. 15 ... Nb8 16. b4 £5 17. gxfj

This is a very difficult game. What about 17. g5, for example? Would that pawn just get surrounded and drop off without compensation? Not obvious that it would after 17 ... f4 18. Be4 Nf'5 19. Rgi. Or would White succeed in cramping Black’s pieces long enough to engineer a central breakthrough with C4-C5 and Nbj? Seirawan’s move is more natural, if that is a virtue. 17 ... gxfs 18. Rgi Na6 19. Bai

Ugrinovic suggests 19. Bci and if 19 ... f4 20. Qd3!?. Quite probably that was better as the bishop is not really doing all that much on the long diagonal, whereas in the game Black’s control of the h6-ci diagonal proves to be all-important.

205

THE EIGHTH SAMURAI

19 ... axb4 20. axb4 Rf6 21. £4!? Very bold, very risky. Barden gives 21. Bf3 Ng6 22. Bh5 Kfy as a safer continuation. But what then? 23. Qc2? Nxb41 indicates one of the disadvantages of 19. Bai.

21 ... Ng6 22. Bf3 KI17 23. BI15 Bh6! 24. Bxg6 + Rxg6 25. Rxg6 Kxg6 26. fxes dxe$ 27. d6 27. Nb$!? is an interesting try that would justify his decisions at moves 19 and 21, if it worked. Maybe then 27 ... Qgs 28. Bxes Qg2 29. Qd4. Black has 29 . . . Qxh3 or 29 . . . Nxb4l? 30. Rxb4 Rai + 31. Qxai Qhi + 32. Ngi Qxgi+ 33. Ke2 Qe3+ 34. Kfi Qf3+ with perpetual check. Sorry, we shall just have to label all that ‘unclear’.

27 ... Be6 (Diagram 79)

Diagram 79 27 ... Be6 abode

f

g

h

28. bs?

This is the culprit move, the losing mistake, since it lets Nigel activate his QN and QR, pieces that otherwise had rather problematic futures. Instead 28. Nds! was a good move, e.g.: (a) 28 . . . Qxd6?? 29. Nsf4 + (b) 28 . . . Qgs 29. Bxes is not good enough for Black since the potential knight-fork at f4 prevents his Q from penetrating via g2. (c) 28 . . . Bxds 29. Qxds Nxb4 30. Qe6+ Qf6 31. Qxf6+ Kxf6 32. Bxes + Kxes 33. Rxb4= ,says Ugrinovic. But here 30. Rxb4Rxai + 31. Kfz seems stronger since the threats of Qxes and Rxby are hard to cope with. 28 ... Nc§ 29. Nds Ra3! 30. Bc3 Qg$ 31. Rai (Diagram 80)

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NIGEL AT FOURTEEh

Diagram 80 31. Ra1

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

31 ... Qgz!

Absolutely devastating. There is no defence to the terrible threat of 32 . . . Qhi +.

32. Rxa3 Qhi + 33. Ngi

Forced: 33. Kf2 Ne4 is mate.

. 33.. Qxgi + 34. Ke2 Qg2 +35. Kei Qg3 + 36. Ke2 Ne4 37. Qd3 Qgi + 38. Ke 1 Bxd$ Not the only way. There was also 38 ... Qf2 + 39. Kdi Qgi 4- with a fatal fork after both 40. Bet Nf2+ and 40. Kc2 Qci + 41. Kb3 Ncs + . 39.

cxds

It all comes to the same thing now: (a) 39. Qxds Qgi+ 40. Ke2 Ng3 + 41. Kd3 Qbi is mate. (b) 39. d7 Qf2 + 40. Kdi Nxc3 + 41. Rxc3 Bf3 + and mate next move. 39 ... Qgi + 40. Qfr Qe3 + 0-1. After 41. Qe2 Qci + Black picks up the rook. Seirawan versus Short ... is this the shape of things to come? That would indeed be a prospect that pleases if it means more games like this one.

THE EIGHTH SAMURAI

207

GAME 56 White: Nigel Short Black: Anatoly Lein Hastings 1979-80 (Round 4) Caro-Kann Defence

1. e4 c6 2. Nez ds 3. e$ c$ 4. d4 e6 It seems a shame to block the development of his QB like this. For 4 .. . Nc6 5. C3 Bfs see Short-Speelman, British Championship 1979 (Game 48).

5. Nd2 Nc6 6. Nf3 Nge7 Perhaps he should have played 6 ... cxd4 before White gets round to defending d4 with C3.

7. 03 Bd7

7 ... Nfs was more energetic. As played Lein never manages to put up any serious opposition on the dark squares. 8. h4 cxd4 9. cxd4 Nf$ 10. 33 h$ 11. g3 Now all White’s pawns are on black squares and most of Black’s are on white squares. The question is: Are Black’s black squares weaker than White’s white squares? 11 ... Qb6 12. Bh3 Na$

This looks quite promising, but turns out badly. The trouble is that Bxf5 really is a positional threat here since it drives Black’s QB to e6, where it is no better than a glorified pawn.

13. b4 Nc4 14. Bxf$ exf$ 15. Nf4 Be6 16.0-0 Be7 (Diagram 81) 17. Nd3

In order to achieve anything White must get his bishop to g517 ... a§

Black seems to have all the prerequisites for a successful Q-side attack, in particular an ideally placed knight at C4. It was not at all easy to foresee that White’s K-side play would prevail.

18. Bgs Bxgs He could hardly avoid the exchange: after 18 . . . Bf8 the black K.R would be permanently out of the game.

208

NIGEL AT FOURTEEN

Diagram 81 16 ... Be7

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

19. bxa$! A vital intermezzo. 19. Nxg5 at once loses the d-pawn, whilst 19. hxg5 would rob his knights of a square they need. 19 ... Rxa$ 20. Rbi Qa7 21. Nxg5 b6

The point of White’s 19th move is now apparent: 21 . . . Qxdq is refuted by 22. Rxby. Black could play 21 . . . Nxaj, but after 22. Ret Ncq 23. Nfq this does not improve on the game. 22. Nf4 Kd7 23. Nxhs Rxa3 24. Nxg7 Qas

With an obvious threat. However, White can afford to ignore it. 25. NI15 Nd2 Since this proves to be a fool’s errand it would seem better to play 25 . .. Qa4.

26. Nf6+ Ke7?I

Why did Lein play this, returning to a sector of the board in which he is clearly weaker, rather than 26 . . . Kc6, heading towards strength? Even after 26 ... Kc6 27. Ret + Kb7 28. Ret White has the advantage, but it was by no means so clear as in the game. 27. Rci! NC4 An admission of defeat. 27 .. . Nxfi was refuted by 28. Rcy + Kf8 (28 . . . Kd8 29. Qc2 wins) 29. Nxe6 + fxe6 30. Qci and Black is defenceless:

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209

e.g. 30 ... Rai 31. Rc8+ KT7 32. Qcy + Kg6 33. Rg8 + ! forces mate.

28. NI13! A beautiful move. It was easy to spoil everything by rushing things— 28. Rxc4? dxc4 29. d5 Rd31. But as soon as the knight reaches f4 White will be poised to strike.

28 ... b$ Notice that 28. NI13 also has a defensive function: it prevents ... f5~f4, which might have been troublesome. Also 28 . .. Qa4 can be met by 29. Nf4 (29 . .. Qxdi 30. N6xds+ etc.).

29. Nf4 b4 This creates the conditions for a decisive combination (Diagram 82). But if 29 . .. Rd8 White has 30. Qh.5! with unanswerable threats: e.g. 30 .. . Nd2 (to stop Qg5) 31. Qh71 and Ng6 mate is coming.

Diagram 82 29 ...b4

abcdefgh

30. RXC4! dxc4 31. d§ Qcg He might as well have resigned. 31 . . . Bdy 32. Nxdy Kxdy 33. e6 + Kd6 34. Qd4 is murderous.

32. dxe6 Rxg3 + 33. KI12 Rd3 Or 33 .. . Qxe5 34. Qd7+ Kxf6 35. Qxfy mate.

34. Nxd3 cxd3 35. £4! Qc2 + 36. Qxc2 dxc2 37. Nd$ + Kxe6 38.Nxb4Rxh4+ 39.Kg3Rg4 + 4O.Kf3f6 4t.exf6Rh4 42. Nxc2 RI13 + 43. Ke2 1-0.

NIGEL AT FOURTEEN

210

GAME 57

White: Larry Christiansen (Round 7) Dutch Defence

Black: Nigel Short

Hastings 1979-80

I.