Interview with "celebrity oldie" Nigel Short

Interview: Nigel Short

Junior Tay caught up with the 2016 British Knockout Champion shortly after his triumph at Olympia

Junior Tay: Daniel Fernandez, the lowest-rated player in the event, dragged you to a tie-break in the quarter-finals. He did say, though, that he didn’t have any chance to smell the advantage throughout the match.

Nigel Short: My expected score against Daniel Fernandez is 1½/2; I scored 1. Margins are narrow. I had a big advantage in the first game, but not enough and was pressing in the second, although the computer thinks White was fine, which he was if he played accurately. What you have to consider is that we played two games [classical – J.T.] that day not to mention the tie-break. That is a huge disadvantage for someone of my age. I always knew the first round was going to be far harder than outsiders would assume.

JT: Your third game with Luke McShane and the first of your second tie-break. What were your thoughts when McShane walked right into that famous Short-Seirawan game all the way up to move 12? Were you concerned that it was some massive preparation you were getting into?

NS: That was funny. Obviously he hadn’t bought my DVDs!

Were you concerned or fazed that it might be some massive preparation?

Fazed? I was delighted.

JT: Your next and final game with Luke saw another win in the Steinitz Deferred. I notice that you score very well with this line (‘+6’ according to my base, including a win over MVL), as well as with the Cozio. Do you have any comment on this or is it a trade secret?

NS: The Steinitz Deferred is a proper opening. It is interesting to check which top players have played it historically and there a lot of big names: Keres, Smyslov, Spassky, etc. I like the fact it is not particularly fashionable. It is real chess. Anyway, much more interesting than the opening is the fact that I had only a draw from four encounters against Luke in the games immediately prior to this match. That was far more relevant than which pawn I decided to push.

Your second game in the final with David Howell. Afraid I must ask: why the quick draw? You could have played 9 Qe2 like Aronian did the day before instead of repeating moves.

I had spent the morning and early afternoon getting a visa, which I could not delay. I was tired. It is relevant because it is the only reason why I made a quick draw.

I was very impressed with the fourth game of the final. Your 13 Kf1 provoked Howell to sacrifice a pawn with 13...e5 and you kept the material advantage right until the end of the game. How did you arrive at the decision to play the king move and did you anticipate his risky counter?

I wanted to play 13 h4 which I thought might be met by 13...e5!?. The computer does not agree with this assessment, but, interestingly, when I discussed things with Caruana the next day, he had the identical thought process and the fact of the matter is I expected David to play 13...e5 after 13 Kf1.

How are you going to spend the £20,000 first prize?

Drugs and hookers.

What is your opinion of the format of the British Knockout event? I noticed on your Twitter feed you wrote: ‘A long and difficult day. Double rounds should be banned. No joke. But at least I pulled through.’

There is a dearth of well-remunerated chess events for British players. This goes some way to redressing the balance, so I am delighted that it exists. It is strongly supporting professionalism in the UK. However, I think the format itself needs to be tweaked. Double rounds, four different starting times for the games, excluding the tie-breaks, and two different time controls in the same event! It is a real dog’s breakfast I’m afraid. Two different classical time controls I even mean!

Somehow the oldie outlasted the youngsters... Did the fact that you would be up against your team-mates from the England Olympiad team motivate you?

I think the £20,000 first prize had more to do with it. Although, it is true, I was a little surprised to find myself on board 5 in the Olympiad.

Even after the big five-o you are clearly able to stay ahead of your younger GM compatriots. How does it feel to be the oldest player in the world top-100?

I am very happy with my status as celebrity oldie. I suppose now that Viktor has gone, someone had to step up.

The above article appeared in the March 2017 of the British magazine CHESS. Matthew Lunn pays further tribute to Nigel later in those pages and CHESS also has the full story behind the qualifier which produced two players for the British Knockout Championship.

CHESS Magazine was established in 1935 by B.H. Wood who ran it for over fifty years. It is published each month by the London Chess Centre and is edited by IM Richard Palliser and Matt Read. The Executive Editor is Malcolm Pein, who organises the London Chess Classic.

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