Chess: Short sprints back

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Kelly Rissman

US News Reporter

NIGEL SHORT, thanks to a sprint finish, managed to share first place in the Euwe Memorial Tournament in Amsterdam last week. It was one of his better tournament results for some time, though somewhat muted by the fact that only one of the four contestants failed to share first place.

After each of the grandmasters had played one game against each of the others, Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik were both ahead of Short, but the English player beat both of them in the second half of the event. The final scores were Short, Anand and Kramnik 31 2 , Piket 11 2 .

In the last round, Short produced just what was needed to beat Anand: an opening innovation, some imaginative middle-game play and a neat finish in the endgame.

With 12. Ne5, 13. g4 and 14. f4, he created an attacking position against a Black defence with a reputation for solidity. 19. d5] is a good sacrifice of the exchange, keeping White's pawns mobile before they can be blockaded by Bd5. With rook and two bishops against two rooks and knight, the material invested is slight, and the pawns keep rolling.

Anand must have felt that he was defending against an army of Space Invaders. Whenever he shot some down, there seemed to be more behind to replace them. In the end, he established some sort of blockade, but hastened the end with an ill-judged 37 . . . h6. At the end, 42. Bh5 wins easily.

White: Short

Black: Anand

1 e4 e5

2 Nf3 Nf6

3 Nxe5 d6

4 Nf3 Nxe4

5 d4 d5

6 Bd3 Nc6

7 0-0 Be7

8 c4 Nb4

9 Be2 Be6

10 Nc3 0-0

11 Be3 Bf5

12 Ne5 Bf6

13 g4 Be6

14 f4 Nxc3

15 bxc3 Nc6

16 Bf3 Bxe5

17 dxe5 d4

18 cxd4 Bxc4

19 d5 Ne7

20 Bc5 Bxf1

21 Kxf1 Qd7

22 Qb3 b6

23 Ba3 Rae8

24 Rd1 Ng6

25 e6 Qd8

26 f5 Ne5

27 Be2 Qh4

28 Qg3 Qxg3

29 hxg3 fxe6

30 Bxf8 Kxf8

31 dxe6 Ke7

32 g5 c6

33 g4 g6

34 Rd4 gxf5

35 gxf5 Rf8

36 Rf4 b5

37 Ke1 h6

38 gxh6 Rh8

39 Re4 Kf6

40 e7 Kxf5

41 Rxe5+Kxe5

Black resigns