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Nigel Down Under
January 11, 2016
Nigel Short has been playing in the New Zealand Open, which finished yesterday.
He was the subject of an interesting article by Steve Kilgallon at stuff.co
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment...e-good-at-game
Some extracts from that article:
- NIGEL SHORT is nowhere to be found at the imposing 19th century deconsecrated church in Devonport where the New Zealand Chess Championship is being played. He's just lost to a Chinese female grandmaster, Wenjun Ju. The custom is to stay back and analyse your game with your opponent, but he's taken off. The worried-looking tournament organiser, Murray Chandler, admits the result could be interpreted as a shock upset.
But it emerges that Short, former world title challenger, trenchant chess critic and latterly, most famous for the suggestion that women might not be "hard-wired" for chess success, isn't perturbed. In his ordered logician's brain, there's no irony to be found in losing to a female player: Ju's ranking is similar to his, so of course, defeat is conceivable. He's back at his rented villa, "disappointed but not angry", feet on the coffee table, glass of red in his right hand, tweeting with his left, and his remaining attention concerned with whether Angelo Matthews can see Sri Lanka to victory over New Zealand in the cricket.
- There's always been a theory that chess players peak in their early thirties, then slowly decline. Short agrees. He had about a decade in the top 10, but hasn't been ranked that high since he was 32. At 50, he says, he's the oldest player in the world's top 100: "I am the dinosaur". Outsiders, he says, would assume that your knowledge store continues to grow, but don't account for the gradual impacts of pressure and tension. He lost today, he says, because of making poor calculations.
And yet he continues on, a mid-30s flirtation with the idea of becoming a Conservative MP long since dismissed. To keep fresh, he says, he varies his openings, takes some risks, and takes himself to different corners of the chess world. And so here he is in New Zealand, escaping the European winter (his wife Rhea and two children are at home in Greece, where Short has a small olive grove), and because he's never won a tournament in Oceania, although he admits this is "hardly the most lucrative" to pursue (the top prize is a mere $2,000).
- "For me, chess has been a blessing, because I have had a life which has been fascinating," he explains. "There are jobs which would make more money, but it's not everything in life. I have so much of my identity wrapped up in chess: it's nice actually, to come here, to the other end of the earth, and people are still familiar with you. There is something which is very satisfying about that and it's always nice to be recognised."
He wouldn't, he thinks, like the anonymity of a regular job. "People ask what I'd be if I wasn't a chess player, and I think I'd probably be like my elder brother - a lawyer - which is a good job, but I think the world has enough lawyers. I give more to the world as a chess player than being yet another of that great profession."
- A shared loathing of Ilyumzhinov has healed relations between Short and Kasparov - who together once formed a breakaway governing body. These days, Short says, he "gets on fine" with his former nemesis, and they talk from time to time; Short campaigned unsuccessfully for Kasparov in the FIDE presidential elections two years ago.
________
The game and the final standing of the Open:
New Zealand Open 2016, Auckland
Round 4, Jan. 5, 2016
Ju, Wenjun (2548) – Short, Nigel (2648)
A40 Queen’s Pawn, Keres Defence
1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.e4 Bb7 4.Bd3 Bb4+ 5.Kf1 c5 6.a3 Ba5 7.Nf3 Ne7 8.Bf4 Na6 9.d5 O-O 10.Bd6 Re8 11.h4 Nc8 12.Bg3 exd5 13.exd5 Qf6 14.Qc2 h6 15.Nbd2 Nd6 16.h5 Bxd2 17.Nxd2 b5 18.cxb5 Nc7 19.Qc3 Qg5 20.Bxd6 Qxd5 21.Ne4 Nxb5 22.Qc4 Qxc4 23.Bxc4 Nxa3 24.Bxf7+ Kxf7 25.Nxc5 Bxg2+ 26.Kxg2 Nc4 27.Bg3 Nxb2 28.Nxd7 a5 29.Ne5+ Kg8 30.Rhb1 1-0
Final Standing
1. Jones, Gawain 7.5
2. Ju, Wenjun 7
3. Ma, Qun 7
4. Short, Nigel 7
5. Fier, Alexandr 6.5
6. Cornette, Matthieu 6.5
7. Daulyte, Delmante 6.5
(64 players)
January 11, 2016
Nigel Short has been playing in the New Zealand Open, which finished yesterday.
He was the subject of an interesting article by Steve Kilgallon at stuff.co
http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment...e-good-at-game
Some extracts from that article:
- NIGEL SHORT is nowhere to be found at the imposing 19th century deconsecrated church in Devonport where the New Zealand Chess Championship is being played. He's just lost to a Chinese female grandmaster, Wenjun Ju. The custom is to stay back and analyse your game with your opponent, but he's taken off. The worried-looking tournament organiser, Murray Chandler, admits the result could be interpreted as a shock upset.
But it emerges that Short, former world title challenger, trenchant chess critic and latterly, most famous for the suggestion that women might not be "hard-wired" for chess success, isn't perturbed. In his ordered logician's brain, there's no irony to be found in losing to a female player: Ju's ranking is similar to his, so of course, defeat is conceivable. He's back at his rented villa, "disappointed but not angry", feet on the coffee table, glass of red in his right hand, tweeting with his left, and his remaining attention concerned with whether Angelo Matthews can see Sri Lanka to victory over New Zealand in the cricket.
- There's always been a theory that chess players peak in their early thirties, then slowly decline. Short agrees. He had about a decade in the top 10, but hasn't been ranked that high since he was 32. At 50, he says, he's the oldest player in the world's top 100: "I am the dinosaur". Outsiders, he says, would assume that your knowledge store continues to grow, but don't account for the gradual impacts of pressure and tension. He lost today, he says, because of making poor calculations.
And yet he continues on, a mid-30s flirtation with the idea of becoming a Conservative MP long since dismissed. To keep fresh, he says, he varies his openings, takes some risks, and takes himself to different corners of the chess world. And so here he is in New Zealand, escaping the European winter (his wife Rhea and two children are at home in Greece, where Short has a small olive grove), and because he's never won a tournament in Oceania, although he admits this is "hardly the most lucrative" to pursue (the top prize is a mere $2,000).
- "For me, chess has been a blessing, because I have had a life which has been fascinating," he explains. "There are jobs which would make more money, but it's not everything in life. I have so much of my identity wrapped up in chess: it's nice actually, to come here, to the other end of the earth, and people are still familiar with you. There is something which is very satisfying about that and it's always nice to be recognised."
He wouldn't, he thinks, like the anonymity of a regular job. "People ask what I'd be if I wasn't a chess player, and I think I'd probably be like my elder brother - a lawyer - which is a good job, but I think the world has enough lawyers. I give more to the world as a chess player than being yet another of that great profession."
- A shared loathing of Ilyumzhinov has healed relations between Short and Kasparov - who together once formed a breakaway governing body. These days, Short says, he "gets on fine" with his former nemesis, and they talk from time to time; Short campaigned unsuccessfully for Kasparov in the FIDE presidential elections two years ago.
________
The game and the final standing of the Open:
New Zealand Open 2016, Auckland
Round 4, Jan. 5, 2016
Ju, Wenjun (2548) – Short, Nigel (2648)
A40 Queen’s Pawn, Keres Defence
1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.e4 Bb7 4.Bd3 Bb4+ 5.Kf1 c5 6.a3 Ba5 7.Nf3 Ne7 8.Bf4 Na6 9.d5 O-O 10.Bd6 Re8 11.h4 Nc8 12.Bg3 exd5 13.exd5 Qf6 14.Qc2 h6 15.Nbd2 Nd6 16.h5 Bxd2 17.Nxd2 b5 18.cxb5 Nc7 19.Qc3 Qg5 20.Bxd6 Qxd5 21.Ne4 Nxb5 22.Qc4 Qxc4 23.Bxc4 Nxa3 24.Bxf7+ Kxf7 25.Nxc5 Bxg2+ 26.Kxg2 Nc4 27.Bg3 Nxb2 28.Nxd7 a5 29.Ne5+ Kg8 30.Rhb1 1-0
Final Standing
1. Jones, Gawain 7.5
2. Ju, Wenjun 7
3. Ma, Qun 7
4. Short, Nigel 7
5. Fier, Alexandr 6.5
6. Cornette, Matthieu 6.5
7. Daulyte, Delmante 6.5
(64 players)