[Event "London Chess Classic"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2011.12.09"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Howell, David"]
[Black "Short, Nigel"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]
[ECO "C09"]
[WhiteElo "2633"]
[BlackElo "2698"]
[Annotator "Saunders,John"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "r3r1k1/p3nppp/1qp5/3p4/8/1NP2Q1P/PP3PP1/R3R1K1 w - - 0 17"]
[PlyCount "40"]
[EventDate "2011.12.03"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[EventCategory "20"]
[SourceDate "2011.11.29"]

{[diag]} 17. Re2 ({It was interesting to see how Magnus preferred to handle
this position in the commentary room. His suggestion was} 17. h4 {with the
idea of h4-h5 to restrict the knight's scope (it would like to go to g6 if
possible). "White, if he plays accurately, might still find a way to get a
slight edge here - but it's not easy. Levon Aronian in the VIP room thought
the text move 17 Re2 would be quite unpleasant for Black but Nigel Short
solved his problems quite easily.} h6 (17... Ng6 18. h5 Ne5 19. Qg3 {and
Magnus looked forward to getting in h5-h6. "That should be quite an
achievement for White." Dan King suggested} Nc4 20. h6 g6 {and now Magnus
played} 21. Qf4 c5 22. Rad1) (17... c5 18. h5 c4 19. Nd4 Qxb2 {"This has to be
bad" (Magnus)} 20. Rab1 Qxa2 21. h6 {or 21 Rb7: "... give up everything we
have and rely on activity" (MC)}) 18. h5 {"maybe David needed to be more
prophylactic here. (Magnus) Chris Ward now suggested} a5 {but Magnus answered}
19. Qe3 {, exploiting the queen's lack of stability on b6.}) 17... Ng6 18. Rae1
Rxe2 19. Rxe2 Rd8 20. Nd4 c5 21. Nf5 d4 22. Qe4 {As Magnus pointed out, White
is threatening the same back rank mate that occurs in one of the tactical
lines of McShane-Nakamura.} h6 ({In the VIP room, Magnus and Malcolm Pein
looked at} 22... d3 23. Qe8+ Nf8 24. Ne7+ Kh8 25. Qxf7 Ne6 26. Rd2 $1 (26. Rxe6
d2 27. Rxb6 d1=Q+ 28. Kh2 axb6 {"and this must be OK for Black" (MC)}) 26... c4
27. Nd5 {"and with the knight coming to e3 next, White is probably better" (MC)
}) 23. cxd4 cxd4 24. Rd2 Qa5 25. Rxd4 Rxd4 26. Nxd4 Qxa2 27. b3 Nf8 28. g3 {
White has a symbolic positional advantage but nothing that can be converted
into a decisive one.} g6 29. Kg2 a5 30. Qc6 Qd2 31. Qa4 Qd3 32. Nf3 Qd5 33. b4
axb4 34. Qxb4 Ne6 35. Qd2 Qxd2 36. Nxd2 Kg7 1/2-1/2

