Kasparov narrowly beats Short in blitz match with classy final game win

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Kasparov - Short Exhibition Chess Match 2011 (1-8)

Kasparov narrowly beats Short in blitz match with classy final game win

Mark Crowther - Sunday 9th October 2011

Short lost to an intense Garry Kasparov in the final game. Photo:

Short lost to an intense Garry Kasparov in the final game. Photo: | http://www.exqisport.be/

The "Your Next Move" 8 game blitz match took place in Leuven, Belgium on 9th October 2011. Garry Kasparov beat Nigel Short 4.5-3.5 in an entertaining blitz match that went down to the final game all square. This blitz match saw the first three games drawn, Kasparov win the next two, Short win the two after that before a noticably determined Kasparov won the final game to win the match.

First three games drawn

Short-Kasparov Game 2. Photo of live coverage at: http://ynm.novotea.com/

The first three games were drawn.

Gm1 Kasparov-Short: 1/2 Nimzo-Indian drawn in 66 moves. Kasparov had the better coordinated pieces but they reached a drawn rook and pawn ending.

Kasparov-Short Game 1. Photo of live coverage at: http://ynm.novotea.com/

Gm2 Short-Kasparov: 1/2 Modern Defence agreed drawn in a terrible time scramble. Short had to give up the exchange for a pawn but his was the easier position to play and he was better but probably worse on the clock when the draw was agreed.

Garry Kasparov

Nigel Short

Final Position after 51.Bxb5. Draw agreed.

Gm3 Kasparov-Short: 1/2 Queens Gambit Declined 5.Bf4 drawn in 58 moves. Short got a small initiative but game drawn in a rook and pawn ending.

Kasparov wins two in a row

Kasparov-Short Game 5 Photo of live coverage at: http://ynm.novotea.com/

Then Kasparov won the next two.

Gm4 Short-Kasparov: 0-1 Evans Gambit Accepted. Short got some initiative for a sacrificed piece. 24.Nxf6 would have been interesting but then Kasparov got an initiative. 34.Rac1 was a better defence, but Short did later get an almost equal position but defence was difficult and Kasparov won in 59 moves.

Garry Kasparov

Nigel Short

Position after 23...Bf7. 24.Nxf6 was interesting here as the knight definitely can't be captured.

24. Ng3 Bb6 25. a3 Qd6 26. Ngf5 Nxf5 27. Bxf5 Rae8 28. Bg4 Qf4 29. Nf3 f5 30. Qxf5 Qxf5 31. Bxf5 Re2 32. Bd4 Nxd4 33. Nxd4 Rb2 34. Bg4 Bg6 35. Bf3 Be4 36. a4 Bxf3 37. Nxf3 Bxf2+ 38. Kh1 Rf5 39. Rd3 Rb4 40. a5 g6 41. g4 Rff4 42. Rf1 Rb2 43. Ne5 Kg7 44. Rxd5 Bg3 45. Rxf4 Bxf4 46. Rd7+ Kf6 47. Nd3 Rd2 48. Rd5 Be3 49. h4 b5 50. axb6 Bxb6 51. g5+ Ke7 52. Nf4 Rxd5 53. Nxd5+ Ke6 54. Nc3 Bd4 55. Ne2 Be5 56. Kg2 a5 57. Kf3 Kf5 58. Ke3 a4 59. Nc1 Bf4+ 0-1

Kasparov Game 5 Photo of live coverage at: http://ynm.novotea.com/

Kasparov-Short Game 5 Photo of live coverage at: http://ynm.novotea.com/

Gm5 Kasparov-Short: 1-0 English Opening. Short got a passive position and just couldn't find the right way to unwind and was ground down.

Nigel Short

Garry Kasparov

Position after 24.Nxd1 already a tricky position for Short to defend.

24... Ne4 25. Rb7 Nd6 26. Rc7 Nac8 27. c5 Ne4 28. Rxf7 Ra7 29. Rf4 Nf6 30. Ne3 Rc7 31. Rc4 Ne7 32. f4 Nc6 33. N3g4 Nd5 34. Nxc6 Rxc6 35. Kf3 Rc7 36. Ne5 Kd8 37. c6 Ke7 38. Ra4 Ra7 39. Kf2 Kd6 40. h4 a5 41. Kf3 Nc3 42. Rd4+ Nd5 43. Ke4 g6 44. g4 Kc7 45. Rd2 a4 46. f5 Nf6+ 47. Kf4 exf5 48. gxf5 Ra5 49. fxg6 hxg6 50. Rb2 Nd5+ 51. Ke4 Nb6 52. Rf2 a3 53. Rf7+ Kc8 54. Nxg6 Ra4+ 55. Ke5 Rb4 56. Ne7+ Kd8 57. c7+ Ke8 58. Rh7 Rc4 59. Nd5 Rc5 60. Rh8+ Kd7 61. Rd8+ 1-0

Short wins two in a row

Kasparov-Short Game 5 Photo of live coverage at: http://ynm.novotea.com/

Short then surprisingly won the next two. He was seen at the board early looking very determined.

Gm6 Short-Kasparov: 1-0 A King's Gambit from Short can hardly have come as a surprise to Kasparov but he got a long way behind on the clock early on. Short played positionally and got a very acceptable position. Kasparov's 26...g5 rebounded on him and once Short took the initiative Kasparov couldn't defend.

Garry Kasparov

Nigel Short

Position after 26...g5

26... g5 27. Bg3 Bxg3 28. hxg3 Qc5 29. Qf2 Rf8 30. Rd5 Qb6 31. Nxf5 Qxf2 32. Rxf2 e3 33. Ne7+ Kg7 34. Rxg5+ Kh6 35. Rxf8 1-0

Gm7 Kasparov-Short: 0-1 The Polish, a Tony Miles speciality. A long manoeuvring game where Kasparov dropped the exchange with an error on move 29. Sosonko specualated that Kasparov was getting tired.

Nigel Short

Garry Kasparov

Position after 29.Bg5

29.... Bxg5 30. hxg5 Nd2

Netting the exchange for nothing.

31. Qe3 Nxb1 32. Bxb1 Ke7 33. Qf3 Rg7 34. Nd3 Kf8 35. Nc5 Kg8 36. Qf6 Bc6 37. Bd3 Kh7 38. Kg2 Rg8 39. Be2 Ra8 40. Bd3 Be8 41. Qf3 Kg8 42. Bc2 Ra3 43. Bb3 Qa5 44. Qf6 Qc7 45. Qf4 Qe7 46. Qc1 Ra8 47. Bc2 Rb8 48. Qd2 Qd8 49. Bd3 Qa5 50. Nb3 Qa3 51. Nc5 b4 52. cxb4 Qxb4 53. Qf4 Qb6 54. Qf6 Qd8 55. Qf4 Rb4 56. Qe3 Bb5 57. Bxb5 Rxb5 58. Qf4 Rb4 59. Kh2 Rc4 60. Kg2 Qb6 61. Nd7 Qxd4 62. Qf6 Qe4+ 63. Kh2 Rc8 64. Qe7 Qf5 65. Nf6+ Kg7 0-1

Kasparov wins the final game

Short-Kasparov Game 8. Photo of live coverage at: http://ynm.novotea.com/

Kasparov won the final game. Kasparov left the stage shaking his head after allowing Short to equalise the match in game 7. He did not emerge on time for the final game and was several minutes late. But once the game started his absolute determination was there to see. He produced the game of the match to beat Short with black.

I believe Sosonko in commentary said that Spassky was seriously ill with a stroke (he had another one a few months ago) in a Paris hospital news I haven't seen elsewhere so I would like some confirmation of that.

Short-Kasparov Game 8. Photo of live coverage at: http://ynm.novotea.com/

Gm8 Short-Kasparov: 0-1 Two Knights Defence. Short allowed the shattering of his pawn structure in a position still known to theory. By move 21 Short's pieces were totally uncoordinated and Kasparov won the game and the match rather quickly after that. Kasparov played 27.Nf4 in the position below which seems to win in all variations, if so, a very nice idea indeed.

Garry Kasparov

Nigel Short

Position after 27...Nf4

27. Kh1 Nf4 28. Qxd8 Raxd8 29. Rxf4 Rd1 30. Re2 Bg3 31. Kg1 Bxf4 32. g4 Red8 33. Bb4 R8d4 34. Ba5 Rd5 35. Bb4 a5 36. Bxa5 Rxc5 37. Bb6 Rcc1 38. Bxe3 Rxf1+ 39. Kg2 Bxe3 40. Rxe3 Rfe1 41. Rd3 f4 0-1

Review of the Live Coverage

Short-Kasparov Game 8 you could click on the various windows and make one large. Worked fine on my HD TV but there was lag every now and again. Photo of live coverage at: http://ynm.novotea.com/

The live games coverage worked reasonably well. The live board updated very quickly but did have a fault in not dealing with en-passant properly but the position was corrected quickly enough. The video feed had several windows which was a good thing, the quality was sufficient for watching but certainly wasn't HD. It did hang at various points (including during the Spassky comment above so I want confirmation of that). Genna Sosonko did very reasonably in what is a very difficult job of commentating on blitz games. You had to download a program to get the video coverage, something that was hard to get working in the time between the start of the broadcast page and the first game, and I imagine many people didn't bother.

The match was part of Your Next Move 2011 and raised money for the Kasparov Chess Foundation Europe and was broadcast by http://www.exqisport.be/

Blitz Match Leuven
Kasparov, Garry	-	Short, Nigel D	½-½	66	E21	Nimzo Indian 4.Nf3
Short, Nigel D	-	Kasparov, Garry	½-½	51	B06	Modern Defence
Kasparov, Garry	-	Short, Nigel D	½-½	58	D37	QGD 5.Bf4
Short, Nigel D	-	Kasparov, Garry	0-1	59	C52	Evans Gambit
Kasparov, Garry	-	Short, Nigel D	1-0	61	A30	English Symmetrical
Short, Nigel D	-	Kasparov, Garry	1-0	35	C33	Kings Bishops Gambit
Kasparov, Garry	-	Short, Nigel D	0-1	65	A04	Dutch System
Short, Nigel D	-	Kasparov, Garry	0-1	41	C58	Two Knights Defence