Nigel Short is competing at Malmo this weekend as the 51-year-old former world title challenger continues what is proving a remarkable Indian summer in his long career. The current England No2’s latest results were victory in the Bangkok Open and then the top board gold medal, achieved with 8/9, in the world over-50 senior team championship in Crete.
Short could, if he does well in his final two games in Sweden, which start at 1pm and are available to watch live and free online, become the first over-50 ever to achieve an official Fide 2700 elite grandmaster rating. There are caveats – past legends like Emanuel Lasker and Mikhail Botvinnik would have been 2700 had official ratings existed in their era and Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi narrowly missed it when arguably ratings were deflated – but it would still be a sizeable achievement at a time when GMs are peaking in their early 20s.
The outcome is by no means a done deal. Short’s victory in round one at Malmo advanced his live rating to 2699, before an endgame error led to defeat against the wily Georgian Baadur Jobava. Then Short had a 69-move game against Sweden’s Nils Grandelius which was drawn after he missed a forced win late on. White on Saturday (1pm start) against the Ukrainian top seed, Pavel Eljanov, his chance has become slim. The tournament is virtually a sprint, with only five rounds.
In an interview before the before the Sigeman & Co event Short said that he now trains only during a tournament and not beforehand. He took a wise decision a few years ago to avoid elite tournaments against the strongest GMs, where every game is a grind, and has become instead a specialist in opens, team competitions and second-line tournaments, where flair and experience count. His lifetime best result, 6-4 against Anatoly Karpov in the 1992 candidates final, is also the best ever performance by an Englishman.
Short’s first round win at Malmo against a Swedish master was a textbook lesson of recurring themes in the Ruy Lopez, one of the oldest chess openings and still one of the best. The game was theory until 14 Bg5 when h6 is usual. Blomqvist’s Nc5 queen’s side plan was met by the active 17 b4! and 18 a4! Black’s 23...Qxb5? (Nxg4) was strategically fatal, allowing Short to double Black’s f pawns, then take total white square control with Nf5, Qh5 and Bb3. Seeing that 31...Kh8 would be met by 32 Bxe6 fxe6 33 Qf7 Black tried a desperate counter which Short elegantly dispatched in the puzzle diagram.
Nigel Short v Erik Blomqvist
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 d6 8 c3 0-0 9 h3 Bb7 10 d4 Re8 11 Nbd2 Bf8 12 d5 Nb8 13 Nf1 Nbd7 14 Bg5 Nc5?! 15 Bc2 c6 16 Ne3 a5 17 b4! Ncd7 18 a4! Qc7 19 dxc6 Qxc6 20 axb5 Qxc3 21 bxa5 Rxa5 22 Rc1 Qb4 23 Ng4 Qxb5? 24 Rb1 Qa6 25 Bxf6 Nxf6 26 Nxf6+ gxf6 27 Nh4! Bc8 28 Bb3! Be6 29 Qh5 Rc8 30 Nf5! Ra3 31 Re3 Rxb3 32 Rexb3 Bxb3 33 Rxb3 Rc1+ 34 Kh2 Qf1 See the puzzle diagram for the finish.
3494 35 Qg4+ Kh8 36 Qg7+! 1-0 because of Bxg7 37 Rb8+ and mates.
