Mr Hundred Per Cent

Nigel Short has distinguished himself by scoring 100 per cent, winning all six games, in the Bunratty tournament which finished towards the end of last month in Ireland. Anyone who has competed in a chess tournament of almost any strength will realise how hard it is to win all the games.
In Short’s case he played consistently solid yet aggressive classical chess and in the process defeated two grandmasters, Peter Wells and Alexander Baburin, the victim of this week’s game.
 
Next year sees Bunratty’s silver jubilee and they are hoping to attract as many previous winners as possible. Nigel will surely be high on the list.
 
Short-Baburin: Bunratty Masters 2017, Slav Defence
 
1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 Nf3 Nf6 4 Qc2 dxc4 5 Qxc4 Bg4 6 Nc3 Bxf3 7 gxf3 g6 Via a circuitous route a position from a main line Grünfeld Defence has appeared on the board. However, by committing himself to an early … c6, Black has arrived at a seriously passive sub-variation of an otherwise active defence. 8 e4 Bg7 9 Be3 0-0 10 Be2 Nbd7 11 Qb3 This appears to be an improvement on 11 f4 b5 12 Qb3 as played in the game Feldtman-Keller, Wunsiedel 2013. 11 … Qb6 12 Qc2 Short avoids the exchange of queens which would alleviate the mild disconnect in the co-ordination of Black’s forces. 12 … Qa5 13 f4 Now this is very strong. Short’s intention is to block Black’s king’s bishop out of play with e5, cementing the central zone. 13 … c5 14 0-0-0 cxd4 15 Rxd4 e5 16 fxe5 Nxe5 17 h3 (see diagram 1) 17 … a6 Often a useful precaution, this is perhaps too slow. Stronger is 17 … Nc6 18 Ra4 Qc7. 18 f4 Nc6 19 Ra4 Qd8 20 e5 Nd5 21 Nxd5 Qxd5 22 Rd1 White’s strategy has been a complete success.