Cape Argus

MARK RUBERY CHESS

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During the World Championsh­ip cycle that began in 1991, the English grandmaste­r, Nigel Short defeated in match play such formidable opponents as: Speelman, Gelfand, Karpov (!) and Timman,to become the first British player to play for the World Championsh­ip (although some sticklers might say that Gunsberg’s match with Steinitz in 1890 was the first). There he faced, and ultimately lost, to Kasparov in London in 1993. Due to FIDE’s unsatisfac­tory conditions, the players contested the match outside the auspices of world chess body, the effects of which resonated decades later.

His win over Timman in Tilburg 1991 is one of the classic games of modern chess. Short – Timman Tilburg, 1991

1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 g6 5.Bc4 Nb6 6.Bb3 Bg7 7.Qe2 Nc6 8.0-0 0-0 9.h3 a5 10.a4 dxe5 11.dxe5 Nd4 12.Nxd4 Qxd4 13.Re1 e6 14.Nd2 Nd5 15.Nf3 Qc5 16.Qe4 Qb4 17.Bc4 Nb6 18.b3 Nxc4 19.bxc4 (Short’s grip on the position more than compensate­s for his broken pawn structure)... Re8 20.Rd1 Qc5 21.Qh4 b6 22.Be3 Qc6 23.Bh6 Bh8 24.Rd8 Bb7 25.Rad1 Bg7 26.R8d7 Rf8 27.Bxg7 Kxg7 28.R1d4 Rae8 29.Qf6+ Kg8 30.h4 h5 (And it is White to play and win-some lateral thinking is required here)

31.Kh2!! (The king simply strolls up the board to assist in mating his opposite number, and Timman can do nothing about it. A most remarkable concept and one that even now a computer struggles to get to grips with!)... Rc8 32.Kg3 Rce8

33.Kf4 Bc8 34.Kg5 (Chess is beautiful enough to waste your life for-Hans Ree) 1-0 Befitting his monumental stature and imposing appearance, he is what may be called a stately walker. He walks in slow and measured step, his hands invariably folded behind his broad back, and his magnificen­tly large head slightly bent, as if he were deeply in thought (and he probably is). He never stirs very far from his board, hardly ever more than some twelve or fifteen measured paces, which he will slowly, very slowly, take to and fro, up and down. And no one has ever seen him hurry back if he happens to be at the far end when his opponent punches his clock. – Unknown Source (on Smyslov)

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