Chess
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The Credit Suisse Masters tournament, currently nearing its end in Horgen, Switzerland, has brought together most of the world's best players. The only notable absentees are Karpov and Kamsky, who are still waiting for Fide to organise their world championship match, and Anand, who dropped out just before the event began, needing more time to recover from his disappointing match with Kasparov.
Everyone else who is anyone is there, and the results so far are a triumph for the younger generation, with Vassily Ivan-chuk and Vladimir Kramnik a long way ahead of the field. After nine rounds the scores are: Ivanchuk 6; Kramnik 51/2; Short, Kasparov and Ehlvest 41/2; Yusupov, Gulko and Korchnoi 4; Vaganyan 3; Timman and Lautier 21/2. Kasparov and Yusupov each have one game left to play; the other players have two.
With Kasparov having no chance of finishing higher than third, this will rank as one of his worst results since he became world champion. He, too, may be suffering from the New York blues. In the latest game, he agreed a draw in 13 moves with White against Kramnik.
By contrast, Nigel Short has been showing his best form since his own match with Kasparov. He has been the only player to defeat Ivanchuk, he drew an entertaining game with Kasparov, and in the eighth round scored the following fine victory against Jan Timman.
Black's 6...Qf5!? broke all the rules about not bringing the queen out early, yet it was the queen on f5 that played the main role in Short's winning combination. When Timman played 14.Bd3, he invited the sacrifice that followed, but must have missed the strength of 16...Nc5! The threat of Ba4 gives Black enough time to mop up the K-side pawns, after which White was always struggling. At the end, nothing can stop 32...Rd1.
White: Jan Timman
Black: Nigel Short
1 d4 Nf6 17 a4 Qxg2
2 c4 e6 18 Re1 Qxh2
3 Nc3 Bb4 19 Be4 g6
4 Qc2 d5 20 Re2 Qg1+
5 cxd5 Qxd5 21 Re1 Qg3
6 Nf3 Qf5 22 Re3 Qd6
7 Qd1 c5 23 Nb5 Bxb5
8 e3 cxd4 24 axb5 0-0
9 exd4 Ne4 25 Rxa7 Rfd8
10 Bd2 Nc6 26 Ra2 Qf4
11 a3 Bxc3 27 Ke1 Qh4+
12 bxc3 Bd7 28 Ke2 Qh2+
13 Qc2 Rc8 29 Ke1 Rd7
14 Bd3 Nxd4 30 Bc1 Qg1+
15 Nxd4 Qxf2+ 31 Ke2 Rcd8
16 Kd1 Nc5 White resigns
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments