chess
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Your support makes all the difference.Nigel Short's first place at the Keres Memorial tournament in Parnu, Estonia, was an encouraging improvement in form for England's top player, who seems at last to have regained his confidence following that unhappy experience against Kasparov two and a half years ago. The Parnu tournament comprised six grandmasters whose ratings, all in the mid-2600s, put them in the group ranked between 10th and 20th in the world. Each played two games against each of the others, and Short's tally of four wins, one loss and five draws left him a point clear of the runner- up, Alexander Khalifman.
The major ingredients in Short's victory were quick draws and slow wins. He even won one game with the Sicilian Defence - a notable achievement for a life-long defender of the Ruy Lopez and French.
The shortest win of the tournament, however, came from the Bosnian grandmaster, Ivan Sokolov, against the Estonian, Lembit Oll. White's third move is a curious gambit, based on the logic that 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 is almost playable for Black, so with the extra move Bg5 thrown in, it ought to be worth a fling.
Black's play with 7...Bg7 (7...h6 must be better) and 8...Bxh6 (8...0- 0 is more natural) created the conditions for a dangerous White attack; 11.d6! and 12.Ng5 left Black struggling against the threat of Ncxe4 followed by Nxd6+.
In 16.Rd8+! Solkov found a neat way to make decisive gains.
White: Ivan Sokolov
Black: Lembit Oll
1 d4 d5 12 Ng5 d5
2 Bg5 c5 13 Nxd5 Nxd5
3 e4 dxe4 14 Rxd5 Qf4+
4 d5 Nd7 15 Kb1 Nf6
5 Nc3 Ngf6 16 Rd8+ Kxd8
6 Qd2 g6 17 Nxf7+ Ke7
7 0-0-0 Bg7 18 Qxf4 Kxf7
8 Bh6 Bxh6 19 Bc4+ Kg7
9 Qxh6 a6 20 Rd1 Bf5
10 Nh3 Qc7 21 Qc7+ Kh6
11 d6 exd6 22 h3 resigns
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