Nigel Short

Nigel Short
Full name	Nigel David Short
Country	England
Title	Grandmaster
FIDE rating	2674 (No. 56 on the April 2009 FIDE ratings list)
Peak rating	2712 (April 2004)

Nigel David Short MBE (born 1 June 1965 in Leigh, Lancashire) is often regarded as the strongest British chess player of the 20th century. He became a Grandmaster at age 19, and challenged for the World Chess Championship against Garry Kasparov at London 1993. Still active, Short continues to enjoy international success. He is also a chess columnist, coach and commentator.

Early life

He grew up in Atherton, going to the St Philips primary school on Bolton Old Road. He studied at the independent Bolton School and Leigh College. He was a member both of Atherton Chess Club, which was founded by his father, David, and later of Bolton Chess Club, which had initially rejected him, aged seven, for being too young.

Prodigy to Grandmaster

A chess prodigy, Short first attracted significant media attention, as a 10-year-old, by defeating Viktor Korchnoi in a simultaneous exhibition. In 1977 he became the youngest ever participant in the British Chess Championship by qualifying three days before his twelfth birthday. Two years later, at the British Championship in Chester 1979, the 14-year-old tied for first place with John Nunn and Robert Bellin, earning his first IM norm. He became the second youngest International Master in chess history, after Henrique Mecking, by scoring 8/15 in the Hastings Premier in 1979/80. Participating in four World Junior Championships (1980–1983), Short achieved his best result during his first attempt in which he placed second to Garry Kasparov in 1980 at Dortmund. He was awarded the grandmaster title in 1984, aged nineteen — becoming the youngest grandmaster in the world at that time.

World Championship candidate

Short's assaults on the World Chess Championship title began in earnest in 1985 when he narrowly qualified from the Biel Interzonal to become the Britain's first-ever candidate. He needed a playoff to advance past John van der Wiel and Eugenio Torre for the last berth, after the three had tied in regulation play. The Montpellier Candidates Tournament brought Short little success, however, as he scored 7/15 to finish in tenth place. In the next cycle, he again qualified by winning the 1987 Subotica Interzonal with Jon Speelman. The Candidates stage had by this time reverted to its traditional match format: Short defeated Gyula Sax (+2=3) in Saint John, Canada, in 1988, but then unexpectedly lost (−2=3) to his countryman, Jon Speelman, in London.

His next attempt was to prove his most successful. A last round victory over Mikhail Gurevich enabled Short to finish equal third with Vishwanathan Anand, behind Vassily Ivanchuk and Boris Gelfand, at the Manila Interzonal, thus qualifying as a Candidate for the third successive time. Defeating Gelfand (+4=2−2) in the 8/Final, he progressed to meet his former nemesis, Jon Speelman, in the quarters. This oscillating struggle went into extra-time in which the younger man eventually prevailed. In the semi-final the Englishman overcame the legendary Russian Anatoly Karpov (+4=4−2) in a match that was described as "the end of an era." In the final, in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Short defeated Dutchman Jan Timman (+5=5−3) to earn the right to meet defending World Champion, Garry Kasparov.

According to Short and Kasparov, the head of the chess world's governing body FIDE, Florencio Campomanes, decided on the venue of the match (Manchester) and the prize fund without consulting them, in breach of FIDE rules. The British WIM and author Cathy Forbes, in her book Nigel Short: Quest for the Crown (Cadogan 1993), wrote that at no time in the 1993 bidding process was a conforming World Championship match bid actually received by FIDE. In response, Short and Kasparov promptly formed a rival organisation - the Professional Chess Association. The resulting match – sponsored by The Times newspaper – was held under the auspices of the new body in London, from September to October 1993. Kasparov won convincingly (+6−1=13)- the largest margin of victory in a world title contest since Botvinnik defeated Tal in 1961. Short's play came in for heavy criticism from BBC commentators Bill Hartston and Tony Miles, somewhat ironically, perhaps, in view of the latter's 5.5-0.5 defeat at Kasparov's hands in Basel 1986.

Tournament and match titles

Short at the 2005 Corus chess tournament

Short won the British Chess Championship in 1984, 1987, and 1998, and the English Championship in 1991. He was the Commonwealth Champion in 2004, 2006 (both Mumbai) and 2008 (Nagpur). He won the 2006 EU Individual Open Chess Championship in Liverpool and took a share of second place in the 2008 edition, when it was held there again. He has finished outright first, or tied for first, in dozens of other international tournaments including Geneva 1979, the BBC Master Game (1981), Amsterdam OHRA (1982), Baku 1983, Esbjerg 1984, Wijk aan Zee (1986, 1987), Reykjavík (1987), Amsterdam VSB (1988, 1991, 1992, 1993), Hastings (1987/88, 1988/89), Pärnu (1996), Groningen (1996), Tallinn/Parnu 1998, Dhaka United Insurance 1999, Shymkent 1999, Pamplona (1999/00), Tan Chin Nam Cup, Beijing 2000, Sigeman and Co. Malmö 2002, Gibraltar (2003, 2004), Budapest Hunguest Hotels 2003, Samba Cup, Skanderborg 2003, Taiyuan (2004), the Politiken Cup 2006 and Bazna 2008. Arguably Short's finest performance came at the Amsterdam VSB tournament in 1991 when he tied for first place with Valery Salov ahead of both Kasparov and Karpov.

Short has enjoyed considerable success as a matchplayer, crushing the US Champion Lev Alburt in Foxboro 1985 by the score of 7-1 (+6=2). He has also defeated Utut Adianto (+3=3) in Jakarta 1995, Etienne Bacrot in Albert 2000 (+3=2−1), Hannes Stefansson in Reykjavík 2002 (+4=1−1) and Ehsan Ghaem Maghami in Tehran 2003 (+2=4). Short lost to Joel Benjamin by 2.5-1.5 at London 1983, drew with Timman (3-3) in an exhibition match at Hilversum in 1989, defeated Boris Gulko in extra games in the PCA Candidates' quarter-finals at New York 1994, and lost to Gata Kamsky by (5.5-1.5) in the PCA semi-finals at Linares 1995.

International team record

A perennial fixture on the English national team, Short made his international team debut in the Euroteams at age seventeen at Plovdiv 1983, and has represented England continuously ever since. Short's main highlights are: team silver medals in the chess Olympiads of Thessaloniki 1984, Dubai 1986 (where he also took gold medal for the best individual performance on board three) and Thessaloniki 1988. He took a team bronze in the Novi Sad Olympiad of 1990, and led England to fourth place finishes in both 1994 and 1996. He led the English team to victory in the 1997 Euroteams at Pula, and was a member of the bronze winning team in 1992, and of fourth place teams in 1983 and 2001. He was a member of three English teams in the World Team Championships of 1985 (team bronze), 1989 (team bronze), and 1997 (team fourth). His complete log when representing England in major team events follows.

Olympiads:

• Thessaloniki 1984 2nd reserve, 3/6 (+1 =4 -1);
• Dubai 1986 board 3, 10/13 (+8 =4 -1), gold medal on board 3;
• Thessaloniki 1988 board 1, 7/12 (+3 =8 -1);
• Novi Sad 1990 board 1, 6/12 (+2 =8 -2);
• Manila 1992, board 1, 6/11 (+3 =6 -2);
• Moscow 1994, board 1, 8.5/13 (+6 =5 -2);
• Yerevan 1996, board 1, 7/12 (+3 =8 -1);
• Elista 1998, board 2, 6.5/11 (+2 =9 -0);
• Istanbul 2000, board 2, 7/12 (+3 =8 -1);
• Bled 2002, board 2, 8.5/13 (+5 =7 -1);
• Calvià 2004, board 2, 1.5/4 (+1 =1 -2);
• Turin 2006, board 2, 8/11 (+5 =6 -0);
• Dresden 2008, board 2, 7/10 (+6 =2 -2).

Euroteams:

• Plovdiv 1983 board 7, 4.5/7 (+3 =3 -1);
• Debrecen 1992 board 1, 5.5/8 (+4 =3 -1), bronze medal on board 1;
• Pula 1997, board 1, 4/7 (+2 =4 -1);
• Batumi 1999 board 1, 5/8 (+3 =4 -1);
• León 2001 board 2, 6/9 (+3 =6 -0).

World Team Championships:

• Lucerne 1985 board 4, 4/8 (+1 =6 -1);
• Lucerne 1989, board 1, 4.5/8 (+3 =3 -2), silver medal on board 1;
• Lucerne 1997, board 1, 4/8 (+0 =8 -0).

Further achievements

Short's highest world ranking (third) was attained during January 1988-July 1989. He reached his numerical peak Elo rating of 2712 in April 2004. On the April 2009 FIDE rating list, Short is ranked number 56 in the world with an Elo rating of 2663, making him England's number two behind Michael Adams.

As well as his playing activities, Short is a chess writer. He has written columns and book reviews for the British newspapers The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail and The Spectator. He wrote the The Sunday Telegraph chess column for a decade. He most recently wrote for The Guardian, with his final column appearing on 19 October 2006. He also reported on the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005 in San Luis, Argentina, for the ChessBase website.

He has individually coached young prodigies Pentala Harikrishna, Sergey Karjakin, David Howell and Parimarjan Negi. He worked as national coach of the Islamic Republic of Iran from 2006-2007. His first assignment led to them unexpectedly capturing a team bronze medal at the Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, in 2006. In the nine chess events at the Asian Indoor Games in Macau 2007, Iran took a silver and two bronze medals.

Short is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Bolton. In 1999 he was appointed MBE, in recognition of his chess accomplishments. In August 2005, he was unanimously elected Secretary General of the Commonwealth Chess Association. In June 2006 he became its President, until stepping down in January 2008. He resides in Athens and is married to drama-therapist Rhea Argyro Karageorgiou (Ρέα Αργυρώ Καραγεωργίου). The couple have two children: Kyveli Aliki (Κυβέλη Αλίκη) (born 7 July 1991) and Nicholas Darwin (Νικόλαος Δαρβίνος)(born 18 December 1998).

Controversies

Following the death of Tony Miles in 2001, Short wrote an obituary in the Sunday Telegraph in which he claimed that during the 27th Chess Olympiad in Dubai he had slept with Miles' then-girlfriend. Also in 2001, Short was in the news as the story broke that he had been secretly playing the reclusive former chess champion Bobby Fischer online in speed chess matches. Short later retracted the claim after Fischer himself had denied it.

In January 2007, Short gave an interview to the Indian newspaper DNA in which he called for an inquiry to examine allegations that Veselin Topalov cheated during the World Championship in San Luis. During this interview, he was critical of the role of members of the Appeals Committee, in particular FIDE Vice President Zurab Azmaiparashvili whom he described as "singularly inappropriate for such work having, by his own admission, cheated in winning the 2003 European Championship." Azmaiparashvili filed a formal complaint to the FIDE Ethics Commission, which convened in July 2007. While dismissing the main complaints against Short, the Commission sanctioned him for a minor violation of the FIDE Code of Ethics for his use of the word "dunderhead". This decision was met with derision from the British Chess Magazine.

See also: Ivan Cheparinov § Handshake controversy

Further reading

• Short, David (1982). Nigel Short, Chess Prodigy: His Career and Best Games. Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-571-11786-4.
• Forbes, Cathy (1993). Nigel Short: Quest for the Crown. Cadogan. ISBN 1-85744-048X.

External links

• Nigel Short rating card at FIDE
• Nigel Short player profile and games at Chessgames.com
• Interview with Nigel Short by LatestChess.com, year 2007.
• Nigel Short download 1146 of his games in pgn format.
• Nigel Short turns forty (chessbase.com news)
• [1] Short speaks of his mistaken belief he had played Fischer.
• Audio Interview of Nigel Short speaking of his supposed (now repudiated) online games with Bobby Fischer
• Interview with indian newspaper which caused the controversy
• Chessbase article on the FIDE ethics Commission decision
• Full text of the FIDE Ethics Commission report