Chess: Short sprints back
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Your support makes all the difference.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
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