| May-26-13 | | luzhin: Short returns to the style of his younger years, when he was murderous on the White side of sharp open Sicilians. Van Wely was doomed after he missed 21...Ne5! --once the White Knight settles on f6 the attack pretty much plays itself. |
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| May-26-13 | | luzhin: ...although, come to think of it, Short had to find 32.Bd4!, which seems to be the only move to keep Van Wely in the box. |
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| May-26-13 | | pkkandel: beautiful game from Short. |
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| May-26-13 | | Gilmoy: <22.Nf6> indirectly paralyzes the Ne7, hence White wins access to d5. <24.Rxd5> untouchable: Nxd5 25.Bc5+ N(either)e7 26.Qg8#. <19.Nxc3> shows some brave patience. <luzhin: 21..Ne5!> 22.Nd6: Black returns the material to defuse White's attack? Maybe Black is returning a bit more than that ... |
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| May-27-13 | | hedgeh0g: I must confess: I had no idea what was going on in this game. |
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| May-29-13 | | RookFile: You put it well, sir. This is complex stuff. |
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| May-29-13 | | Just Another Master: when he wins the title, Nigel, will cry that ratings are soooooooooooooooooo inflated. LMAO. Even though the kid has destroyed him. |
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| May-29-13 | | Isilimela: I think I'm going to try this Kan Sicilian in a few blitz games! Early g4 is interesting and off the beaten track. |
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| May-29-13 | | sofouuk: this is a great game and could easily have gone either way - unfortumately for adventurous black players, white always seems to win far more of these sicilian slugfests then 'he' ought to. 'the reader is invited to seek psychological explanations'* *or something, i forget how the suba quote went exactly (and he was probably borrowing from somewhere else) |
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| May-29-13 | | Abdel Irada: Particularly fetching is the finish after 23. ...Na5: 24. Qxg7†, Kxg7 25. Rh7†, Kf8 26. Rxf7#. ∞ |
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May-29-13
 | | Honza Cervenka: <<luzhin: 21..Ne5!> 22.Nd6: Black returns the material to defuse White's attack? Maybe Black is returning a bit more than that ...> 22.Nd6 Bxg2 23.Nxc8 Raxc8 (diagram) and what now for white? 
click for larger view Black has three minor pieces for the Queen and white faces some problems to put it mildly. For example, 24.Rhe1 Nf3 25.Re2 Rc4 threatening to win the Queen after Rh4 with clear edge for black. Or 24.Rh2 Bf3 25.Rd2 Nf5 26.Qh3 Be4 (threatening Nf3) 27.Re2 Nf3 28.Rh1 Nxe3 29.fxe3 Nxg5 winning additional material with decisive advantage. Or 24.Bd4!? Nf5!? (simple 24...Bxh1 25.Qxh1 is playable but probably not too dangerous for white) 25.Bxe5 Rxe5 26.Rhe1 Rec5 27.c3 Bxc3! 28.bxc3 Rxc3+ 29.Kb2 Rh3 and the Queen is trapped again with some advantage of black. |
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| May-29-13 | | sfm: Pun, on scale 1-5: 0 |
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May-29-13
 | | Stonehenge: Short-sighted Loek |
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| May-29-13 | | kevin86: a quick mate follows as black cannot defend his pinned bishop. |
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| May-29-13 | | Touchdown: What happened if Short took the queen after 18...dxc3 19.Rxd8 Raxd8 ? It is not obvious that Black has sufficient compensation for her. |
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| May-29-13 | | ceebo: If 21...Ne5 then 22.Nf6 Bxg2 23.Bd4 and white has at least a perpetual from here. 23...Qf5 (the most forcing move), 23...Be4 and 23...Nf5 seem to hold for black but all other moves (including 23...Bxh1 and 23...Rd8) give the advantage to white: A) 23...Bxh1 24.Re1 Qe6 25.Rxe5 Bxf6 26.gxf6 Qxf6 27.Rf5 Nxf5 28.Bxf6 Re1+ 29.Kd2 Ke8 30.Kxe1 with queen for rook and knight. B) 23...Rd8 24.Bxe5 Bxh1 25.Re1 Qe6 26.Qxh1 Nd5 27.Bd4 and eventually the computer says that 27...Qxe1 is best and that white is better. |
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May-29-13
 | | offramp: Why not have a week of games with puns on Short's games. A month perhaps. A year... |
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| May-29-13 | | Abdel Irada: For the game: applause.
For the pun: Short shrift.
∞ |
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| May-29-13 | | thegoldenband: I'm intrigued by the forcing line 26. Qh8+ Bxh8 27. Rxh8+ Ng8 28. Rxg8+ Ke7 29. Bc5+ Ke6 30. Rd6+ Kf5 31. Rf6+ Kg4 32. Rxf3. But the net result seems to be a 1-pawn advantage in an opposite-colored bishop endgame, which looks drawish to me. |
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| May-29-13 | | Jambow: Great game by Nigel really creative. |
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| May-30-13 | | Isilimela: The pun is quite clever - at first you think this will be a miniature by Short (short work) but then actually van Wely's tough defence makes 'Short work'! |
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| May-30-13 | | Ezzy: Nigel Short (2681) - Loek Van Wely (2689)
(5), 26.05.2013
1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 e6 3.Nf3 a6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 d6 6.g4 Ne7 7.h4 b5 8.Bg2 Bb7 9.g5 Nbc6 10.a3< Novelty. 10 f4 has been played before.> 10...g6 11.h5 Bg7 12.Nde2 0–0 13.hxg6 hxg6 14.Qd3< Nigel's plan is straightforward. Attack the king.> 14...Re8 15.Qh3< Attack on the flanks......> 15...d5?! < .....Should be countered with a strike in the center. But computers find this move a bit risky, as it opens up a quagmire of complications which favour white>. 16.exd5 exd5 17.Be3 d4 18.0–0–0 <The computer likes whites position. Probably because of the scope of whites attacking chances. There are plenty of fantasy variations, my favourite being - 19 Qh7+ Kf8 20 Rh4 - f4 Nd4 - e6 Mate :-)> 18...dxc3 19.Nxc3? <The question mark is a bit unfair because the complications are difficult to assess, BUT Houdini's my guide and he/she says that white missed a chance. Just for the record Nigel, I wouldn't give it a question mark. :-) [19.Rxd8! cxb2+ 20.Kb1 Raxd8 21.Bc5 Kf8 22.Nf4 Na5 23.Bb4 Bc8 24.Qh7 Nc4 25.Nd5 Aiming for f6 with a winning attack.]> 19...Qc8 20.Qh7+ Kf8 21.Ne4< Threatening 22 Nf6 23 Bc5 with a mating attack.> 21...Qf5?< An error, but only computers can accurately assess that 21...Ne5! is the way to equality. [21...Ne5! 22.Nf6 Bxg2 23.Bd4 Bxh1 24.Bxe5 Rd8 25.Nd7+ Rxd7 26.Qxg7+ Ke8 27.Qh8+ Ng8 28.Rxh1 Ke7 29.Bf6+ Kd6 30.Rh3 White is way down in material BUT black's king is seriously exposed and subject to a mating attack unless he gives back material. Computer lines show it is eventually equal, BUT human's can't work out the complexity of lines in the minds eye.]> 22.Nf6< With the straightforward threat of 23 Nd7+ >22...Red8 23.Bd5 <Threatening 24 Qxg7+ Kxg7 25 Rh7+ Kf8 26 Rxf7 Mate!> 23...Rxd5 24.Rxd5 Qf3< [24...Qxd5 25.Nxd5 Nxd5 26.Bc5+ Nce7 27.Re1 Re8 Puts up a better fight, but is still lost.]> 25.Nd7+ Or 25 Rhd1 25...Ke8 26.Rdd1 Nf5 27.Nf6+ Ke7 28.Bc5+< [28.Rhe1 Threatening 29 Bc5 Mate is also fun.]> 28...Ke6 29.Rhe1+ Ne5 30.Qh2 Bxf6 31.gxf6 Be4< Black's doing all he can to block the lines of attack, but there are too many.> 32.Bd4 Nc6 33.Bc3 <Now with the devastating threat of 34 Rd3 Qg4 35 f3 Qh5 36 Rxe4 Mate.> 33...Rc8 34.Rd3 Qg4 35.f3 Qg5+ 36.Kb1< and black can't avoid heavy loss of material and mate.> 1–0 Van Wely ‘opened up a can of worms’ with 15…d5?! The complications were too difficult to assess by grey matter alone, and Nigel steered his way through the complexities in his usual proficient manner. It was a fantastic attack! Prising the black king from its defences and forcing it to the center of the board where it perished. Van Wely tried to surround his king with his pieces in a desperate defence, but there were too many avenues of attack and Nigel scored an impressive win. |
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| Jun-30-13 | | phil6875: There were a few strong alternatives on move 25, Rhd1 being the strongest. 25. Rhd1 Bxf6 26. gxf6 Qxf6 27. Bh6+ Ke8 28. Re1 Ne5 29. Rdxe5 Kd7 30. Rxe7+ Qxe7 31. Rxe7+ Kxe7 32. Bg5+ Ke6 33. Qh3+ |
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| Jun-30-13 | | onigorom: Instead of 27.Nf6+ I think this is even stronger:
27.Qg8+ Ke7 28.Bc5+ Ke6 29.Bf8! threatens Nc5+ and Rhe1+ and looks grim for Black (e.g. 29...Bxf8 30.Rhe1+), 29....Qxh1 is followed by 30.Nc5+ I haven't checked with an engine but prima facie it looks good for White. |
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Kibitzing
sac: 18.O-O-O