Don't call it a comeback!
 |
Things are looking up for Nigel |
Nigel Short has been a busy man lately. In the past year the former world
championship challenger has played in China, the Dominican Republic, and Iran.
The
popular
columnist for the Sunday Telegraph even played in his native England. This
isn't exactly the supertournament circuit but the Greece-based Short is steadily
moving back up the rating list and may soon crack 2700 for the first time in his
storied career.
Winning first place in the Hunguest Tournament in Budapest would be a big step
in that direction and Short put himself on course with a win over Boris Gelfand
in the sixth round. The win gave him a half-point lead over Judit Polgar with
three rounds to go.
Polgar stormed out of the gate by winning her first three games but was brought
down by her countryman Peter Leko in the fifth round. That was the only win
so far by the top seed but it was a critical one. Yet again Leko proved how
deadly he is on the black side of the Sveshnikov Sicilian.
The most important game of the tournament is still in the future. Short has
a terrible career score against Polgar and their encounter is likely to decide
the tournament winner. He will have his only remaining game with the white pieces
against her in the eighth round on the 19th.
A quick look at the crosstable might mislead you into thinking that there has
been a lack of fighting spirit in Budapest. A whopping 74 percent of the games
have been drawn, that's just eight decisive games from 30. Seven of those eight
games involved Polgar or Short! There are four players with five draws and a
loss. A closer look reveals that there have been very few short, boring "GM"
draws. The shortest game of the tournament, Korchnoi-Movsesian, was an incredibly
sharp and complicated battle that ended in a forced repetition after 22 moves!

Standings after round six
Official
site – Game
replay and download page
To win a tournament it can be as important to hold your bad positions
as to win your good ones. Short saved a nasty-looking endgame against Acs in
the fifth with some fine technique. Technique means knowing which positions
to head for, not just finding the best moves one at a time. Short went down
two pawns and had his king up against the wall, but the opposite-colored bishops
gave him excellent chances.
In
this position from that game White has to worry about the c-pawn and, not to
be overlooked, the mate in one on a2! Short had it all under control and managed
to trade down into a drawn bishop vs rook ending. An instructive conclusion
worth learning.
63.Rb3 Re2 64.Bb6+ Ka6 65.Be3 Bxb3 66.Kxb3 c2 67.Bc1 Rxf2 68.Kc3 Kb5 69.Bd2
Rg2 70.Kxc2 Kc4 71.Kc1 Kd3 72.Bb4 Ra2 73.Kb1 Rc2 74.Be1 Re2 75.Ba5 Re5 76.Bd8
Rb5+ ½-½
Peter Leko may have other things on his mind, although he's not finding this
field any easier than Linares so far. This was the week we were told we would
absolutely hear something from Einstein about the Kramnik-Leko classical world
championship match. Some have theorized that he might be hiding his opening
preparation in Budapest, but he brought his A game for Polgar.
Leko's Sveshnikov drew yet another chalk line around a chess body when he knocked
Polgar out of clear first in the fifth round. Polgar introduced a new move by
grabbing a pawn on move 16 only to lose the iniative and come under a brutal
counterattack. She defended resolutely until Leko's pawns smashed through in
the center.
This
set up a nice finish in which all of Black's pieces homed in on the white king
like sharks with lasers.
39...Qc4+ 40.Rd3 [40.Kg2 Be3+ 41.Kh2 Bxb6; 40.Ke1 exf3+ 41.Re3 Rxe3+]
40...exd3 41.Qxd6+ Be7 42.Qh6+ Rg7 43.Rg3 dxc2+ 44.Kg2 Qc3 0-1
Polgar has two turns with the white pieces to try and bounce back. For Leko
a +1 score after a win in Linares can't be seen as a success, so he will be
trying hard to add at least one more win.
For Nigel Short it will likely all come down to his game against Polgar on
Saturday. A sharp Sicilian is almost guaranteed, so let's hope the fighting
spirit in Budapest continues.