Rock solid | 7 February 2013

The Gibraltar Masters, where I was last week, has been won by a quartet consisting of Vitiugov, Short, Sandipan and Vachier Lagrave. In the final knockout to determine who would receive the £20,000 first prize, Nigel Short lost out narrowly to Vitiugov. In my opinion, the British grandmaster’s display of fighting spirit after an early loss would have justified his winning top honours for a fourth time. Here is a sample of his uncompromising play.
 
Short-Nieto: Gibraltar Masters, Caleta 2013; Ruy Lopez
 
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Nd4 Named after the 19th-century English master Henry Bird, this knight sortie is strategically suspect but rich in tactical tricks. In Short-Kupreichik, Hastings 1981 white now preferred 4 Ba4 and won decisive material on move 14 with a neat combination: 4 Ba4 Bc5 5 d3 Qf6 6 Nbd2 b5 7 Bb3 d6 8 Nxd4 Bxd4 9 Nf3 Bg4 10 c3 Bb6 11 a4 bxa4 12 Bxa4+ Kf8 13 Be3 Ne7 14 Nxe5. In this game Short attempts a thematic refutation of Black’s bold play. 4 Nxd4 exd4 5 0-0 c6 6 Ba4 Nf6 7 Re1 d6 Black is a known Bird’s Defence aficionado, it seems. He played 7 … h5 8 e5 Ng4 9 g3 d3 in a Spanish Championship game in 2012. 8 d3 Bg4 Unusual. Black has played 8 … Be7 before. 9 f3 Be6 10 c4 g6 11 f4 Bg4 12 Qd2 Bc8 13 b4 (see diagram 1) Short is gaining space on both sides of the board while Black’s pawn structure remains inflexible. 13 … Bg7 14 h3 Nd7 15 Bd1 Qb6 16 Na3 0-0 17 Rb1 f5 This looks suspicious as White is able to open up the a2-g8 diagonal to his advantage when the black kingside looks vulnerable. 18 exf5 gxf5 19 c5 A pawn sacrifice, which Black doesn’t accept, but the open lines gained would have been worth it for White.