Games: Chess
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Your support makes all the difference.Both Nigel Short and Jonathan Speelman were undefeated in the Goodricke Grandmasters tournament in India - but sometimes simply not losing is not enough. They ended up sharing second place with 71/2 points out of 11, half a point behind the winner, Alexander Nenashev of Uzbekistan. Nenashev himself took a curious route to first place, arriving too late for the first round, in which he was given a half-point bye, then scoring six wins and two draws in his next eight games. In the final round, he played solidly as Black to hold Short to a draw and deny the English grandmaster a chance of winning the tournament.
Short's best game was a powerful win with Black in the second round. After the exchange of two pairs of pawns in the opening, a dreary draw looked the most likely outcome, but the character of the game changes when White was tempted by 18.Nxd7 and 19.Bxf6. With 20.e4 (the immediate 20.Qg4+ is better) he seemed to overestimate his attacking prospects, perhaps intending 22.e5+ f5 23.Bxf5+, but then noticing 22...Rxd3! 23.Rxd3 Rg8.
Once Black's 25...e5 had shut the white bishop out of the game, he was well on top, and Short cleverly exploted the inability of White's queen the return to defend the Q-side by invading with his own queen on b4. The end came suddenly. After 31...Bg4, White has no reply: 32.Rd2 b5 loses a piece.
White: G Prakash
Black: N Short
1 d4 Nf6 17 Nfe5 Qb7
2 Nf3 e6 18 Nxd7 Rxd7
3 c4 b6 19 Bxf6 gxf6
4 e3 Bb7 20 e4 Bc6
5 Bd3 d5 21 Qg4+ Kh7
6 0-0 dxc4 22 Bc2 Rg8
7 Bxc4 a6 23 Qf4 Rg6
8 b3 Nbd7 24 Rxd7 Bxd7
9 Bb2 Be7 25 Rd1 e5
10 Nbd2 0-0 26 Qh4 Qc7
11 Qe2 c5 27 Bb1 Be6
12 a4 Qb8 28 Rc1 Bd4
13 Rfd1 Rd8 29 Rc2 Qe7
14 dxc5 Bxc5 30 Re2 Qb4
15 Bd3 h6 31 Bc2 Bg4
16 Nc4 Bd5 White resigned
Seven of the world's top eight players have just begun a tournament in Linares, Spain. Only Karpov is absent. Full coverage from tomorrow.
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