Nigel Short vs Nils Grandelius (2009) "Shortlisted"

Nigel Short vs Nils Grandelius
"Shortlisted" (game of the day Sep-19-09)
Sigeman & Co (2009) · Sicilian Defense: Najdorf Variation (B90) · 1-0

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Jun-07-09		ToTheDeath: Great overview of the game, and a spot on rant by Greg Shahade on the stupidity of spending 30 minutes on 6...Nbd7. He left himself no time to work out the complications just as Greg predicted. http://www.chessvideos.tv/forum/vie...

Jun-07-09		Ezzy: Nigel Short (2674) - Nils Grandelius (2491) [B90] Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament 2009 Malmö/Sweden (3), 05.06.2009 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Qf3 <Again Nigel keeps away from the main lines of the Nadjorf. Any preperation Grandelius worked on has probably stopped right here.> 6...Nbd7 7.Be2 g6 <Novelty. When Nils decided to play the Sicilian Nadjorf, I bet he didn't expect to be playing a novelty on move 7.> 8.Be3 Bg7 9.h3 Ne5 10.Qg3 b5 11.f4 Nc4 12.Bxc4 <Just like Nyback did in yesterdays game, Short uses a lot time to make the bishop takes knight on c4 move.> 12...bxc4 13.f5 <This starts to create immediate complications. A good way to try to unnerve your young opponent. >13...Bb7 14.Qh4 Qa5< Threatening 15...Nxe4> 15.0–0 0–0 16.Rad1 Rae8< Don't understand this move. >17.fxg6 hxg6 18.Nf5! <Gives Grandelius a lot to think about. White has the potential for a deadly attack, and black has to make accurate moves to avoid immediate defeat.> 18...gxf5 19.Rxf5 d5 <Only move. It's all to do with whites threat of Bh6 because black can now defend with ...Qb6+ and defend along the 6th rank.> 20.exd5 <20 e5 objectively makes it more difficult for black to defend 20.e5 Nd7 21.Qg4 Nc5 (21...Nxe5 22.Rxe5 f6 23.Qe6+ Rf7 24.Rh5 whites lookiing pretty good.) 22.Rg5 Ne6 23.Rh5 Bc8 24.Nxd5 Qa4 25.Qf5 Ng5 26.Qxc8 Qxc2 (26...Rxc8 27.Nxe7#) 27.Qg4 Nh7 28.Bc5 With a winning attack; 20.Rg5 Nh7 21.Rh5 Nf6 22.Rg5 > 20...Qb4??< With about 10 minutes left for his next 20 moves, Grandelius misses the danger of 21 Bh6 [20...Nh7 Seems to be a good defence. Stops 21 Bh6 because of 21...Qb6+ when the bishop on h6 is hit.> 21.Bh6 Qb6+ 22.Kh1 Nh7 <Too late for this now.> 23.Bxg7 Kxg7 24.Rd4 Rh8 25.Rg4+ Kf8 26.Qh5 Bxd5 27.Nxd5 Qe6 28.Nc7 <Or 28.Rxf7+ Qxf7 29.Qh6+ Qg7 30.Qxg7mate> 1–0 Blimey Nigel, steady on, I'm having no time to calm down. I'm running out of superlatives. What in heaven's name have you been eating on your South America trip. Whatever it is, it's producing some scintillating chess. What an attack with 18 Nf5! This is so entertaining to watch. 3 wins, and 3 superb games. It's just like watching Brazil. On a sour note. England have just lost there opening 20/20 cricket match against the Netherlands. Thank god we have Nigel Short to cheer on. Brilliant play!!

Aug-18-09		technical draw: Writing in New In Chess (5/2009) Nigel Short says in ref. to move 16..Rae8: "This was criticised (sic) by some of the amateurs on chessgames.com. In fact it is a perfectly reasonable move. Unluckily for Black, the storm is about to break" I agree with Nigel. You guys are a bunch of amateurs . 16..Rae8 wasn't the losing move. It was move 20...Qb4 that loses. C'mon, Nigel, let's You and I go out for a beer and get away from these woodpushing amateurs.

Aug-18-09		technical draw: A nicer finish: 28.Rxf7+ Qxf7, 28.Qh6+ mate next.

Aug-20-09		Ragh: A Grandelius finish, rather.

Sep-19-09		whiteshark: Grand delusional play.

Sep-19-09		arnaud1959: A classical situation where the fight happens on the K-side and the Black Queen finds herself on a5 completely cut off from the battlefield. She cannot join it through the 5th rank. White can easily sacrify a piece without too much calculation to transform his advantage into win. That's what Short did brilliantly. IMO Black could have tried 14.-d5 15.e5 Ne4.

Sep-19-09		randomsac: Once the heavy artillery came in, black was just about washed up. Great finish.

Sep-19-09		lostgalaxy: I think [amateurishly] that Black had a bad plan. Qc7, Nc5, b5, Bb7 would have been better. Black lost since he had to recapture on c4 with a pawn. The Queen at f3 did a great illusion job.

Sep-19-09		RandomVisitor: 3 minutes per move: Nigel Short (2674) - Nils Grandelius (2491) [B90] Sigeman & Co Malmo SWE (3), 05.06.2009 [Rybka 3 ] 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Qf3 last book move 6...Nbd7 0.27/16 [Rybka 3 : 6...Qb6 7.Nb3 Nbd7 8.h3 g6 9.g4 h6 10.Bf4= 0.05/18 ] 7.Be2= 0.00/17 [Rybka 3 : 7.Be3 Ne5 8.Qg3 Neg4 9.h3 Nxe3 10.Qxe3 e5 11.Nf3 Bd7 12.0-0-0 Be7 0.27/16 ] 7...g6= 0.20/16 [Rybka 3 : 7...Qb6 8.Qe3 g6 9.0-0 Bg7 10.Rd1 0-0 11.h3 Re8 12.b3 Nc5 13.Nf3 Be6 14.Nd4 Bc8 15.Nf3 Be6 16.Nd4 Bc8 17.Nf3 Be6 18.Nd4 Bc8 19.Nf3 Be6 20.Nd4 Bc8 21.Nf3 Be6 22.Nd4 Bc8= 0.00/17 ] 8.Be3= -0.09/16 [Rybka 3 : 8.Bg5 h6 9.Be3 Ne5 10.Qg3 Neg4 11.0-0 Bg7 12.Bc1 0-0 13.h3 Ne5 14.Rd1 Bd7= 0.20/16 ] 8...Bg7= 0.23/16 [Rybka 3 : 8...Qc7 9.0-0 Bg7 10.Rad1 0-0 11.h3 Ne5 12.Qg3 b5 13.f3 Bb7= -0.09/16 ] 9.h3= -0.02/16 [Rybka 3 : 9.0-0-0 0-0 10.Kb1 Qc7 11.h4 Ne5 12.Qg3 Neg4 13.Bg5 Qc5 14.Rhf1 Bd7 15.Nb3= 0.23/16 ] 9...Ne5 -0.02/16 10.Qg3= -0.15/17 [Rybka 3 : 10.Qf4 Qc7 11.0-0 b5 12.a4 b4 13.Nb1 Bb7 14.Nd2 Ned7 15.Qh4= -0.02/16 ] 10...b5 0.00/15 11.f4= -0.15/18 [Rybka 3 : 11.0-0 Qc7 12.f4 Nc4 13.e5 dxe5 14.fxe5 0-0 15.a4 Nxb2 16.Bf4 Qc5 17.Qe3 Nh5 18.Bxh5 Nc4 19.Qf2 gxh5 20.axb5 Nxe5 21.Ne4 Qd5= 0.00/15 ] 11...Nc4 -0.15/15 12.Bxc4 -0.15/17 bxc4 0.00/15 13.f5 -0.38/18 [Rybka 3 : 13.e5 dxe5 14.fxe5 Qc7 15.0-0-0 0-0 16.Qg5 h6 17.Qh4 g5 18.Qg3 Rb8 19.Rhf1 Rb7 20.Qf3 Nd7 21.e6 fxe6= 0.00/15 ] 13...Bb7 -0.38/16 14.Qh4 -0.54/14 [Rybka 3 : 14.Qf3 0-0 15.0-0 Qa5 16.Bf2 Rab8 17.Rfd1 Ba8 18.Rab1 d5 19.exd5 Nxd5 20.Nxd5 Bxd5 21.Qe3 Qxa2 -0.38/16 ] 14...Qa5 -0.31/17 [Rybka 3 : 14...Qb6 15.Rb1 Nxe4 16.Nxe4 Bxd4 17.Nxd6+ Qxd6 18.Qxd4 Qxd4 19.Bxd4 Rg8 20.f6 0-0-0 21.Bc3 exf6 22.Kf2 f5 23.b3 Rge8 24.Rbc1 Bc6 25.Rhd1 -0.54/14 ] 15.0-0 -0.31/16 0-0= 0.19/15 [Rybka 3 : 15...Rb8 16.Rab1 Nd7 17.Qg4 Bf6 18.Qe2 Rc8 19.Qg4 Ba8 20.Qe2 0-0 21.Qg4 Ne5 22.Qg3 -0.31/16 ] 16.Rad1= -0.22/14 [Rybka 3 : 16.Nf3 Rfb8 17.fxg6 hxg6 18.Bd4 Qh5 19.Qxh5 Nxh5 20.Bxg7 Kxg7 21.Rae1 Ra7 22.Ng5 f6 23.Ne6+ Kg8 24.g4 Ng7 25.Nd4 e5= 0.19/15 ] 16...Rae8? 1.63/18 [Rybka 3 : 16...Rfb8 17.a3 Qc7 18.Rde1 Rd8 19.Nf3 Bc6 20.Nd4 Rab8 21.Nxc6 Qxc6 22.Rb1 Rd7 23.Qf4= -0.22/14 ] 17.fxg6 1.51/15 hxg6 1.66/18 18.Nf5 1.66/18 gxf5 1.48/17 19.Rxf5 1.08/17 d5 1.08/15 20.exd5 0.57/14 [Rybka 3 : 20.e5 Nd7 21.Qg3 Nxe5 22.Rxe5 f6 23.Re6 Qd8 24.Rb6 Qd7 25.Qg6 Rf7 26.h4 e5 27.Ne4 Ref8 28.Nd6 Qc7 29.Rxb7 Qxd6 30.Rxf7 Rxf7 31.h5 d4 32.h6 Qd5 33.hxg7 1.08/15 ] 20...Qb4? 5.06/17 [Rybka 3 : 20...Rd8 21.Bd4 Ne8 22.Qxe7 Qc7 23.Qe3 f6 24.Bb6 Qd7 25.Rf4 Rc8 26.Bc5 Rf7 27.Rxc4 Nd6 0.57/14 ] 21.Bh6 4.86/16 Qb6+ 5.06/17 22.Kh1 4.86/17 Nh7 5.26/17 23.Bxg7 4.86/17 Kxg7 5.06/16 24.Rd4 5.58/16 Rh8 5.84/15 25.Rg4+ 5.77/15 Kf8? 8.32/10 [Rybka 3 : 25...Qg6 26.Rxg6+ 5.77/15 ] 26.Qh5 8.99/12 Bxd5? #11/7 [Rybka 3 : 26...Qf6 27.Rxf6 8.99/12 ] 27.Nxd5 #11/7 Qe6 #3/3 28.Nc7 #6/7 1-0

Sep-19-09		RandomVisitor: 14...Qb6 would have been a good alternative move, possibly with black advantage.

Sep-19-09		WhiteRook48: does this look more like a Yugoslav?

Sep-19-09		slowcrawl: 29. Rxf7 Qxf7 30. Qh6+ wins quicker in my opinion.

Sep-19-09		RandomVisitor: After the proposed improvement 14...Qb6: 1: Nigel Short - Nils Grandelius, Sigeman & Co 2009 click for larger view Analysis by Rybka 3 : <[-0.31] d=20 15.0-0> Rb8 16.Rab1 Ba8 17.Rf2 Qa5 18.Nde2 0-0 19.Rff1 Rfc8 20.Ba7 Rb4 21.a3 Rb7 22.Qf2 Rf8 23.Bd4 Rbb8 24.Qe3 Bc6 25.g4 h6 02:27:32 459630kN

Jan-09-10		hedgeh0g: This game should have been called "Short and Swede". :P

May-12-10		libertyjack: Amazing attacking plan and game!

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