Nigel Short

Nigel David Short (born 1 June 1965) is an English chess grandmaster, columnist, coach and commentator who has been the FIDE Director for Chess Development since September 2022.

Short was born 1 June 1965 in Leigh, Lancashire.

He is the second of three children (all boys) of David and Jean Short.

His father was a journalist and his mother was a school secretary.

He grew up in Atherton, going to St Philip's Primary School on Bolton Old Road.

He studied at the independent Bolton School and Leigh College.

Short began playing chess at the age of five after watching his father teach his older brother Martin.

He was a member both of Atherton Chess Club, which was founded by his father, and later of Bolton Chess Club, which had initially rejected him (aged seven) for being too young.

His parents divorced when he was 13 years old.

Short left school at age 17, having completed four O-levels, to focus on chess full-time.

Short learned chess at age five from his father.

A chess prodigy, Short first attracted significant media attention as a 10-year-old by defeating Viktor Korchnoi, then ranked No. 2 in the world, in a simultaneous exhibition in London over 31 boards, where Short was the only victor.

He was virtually self-taught.

In 1977, he became the youngest-ever participant in the British Chess Championship by qualifying through the North West Zonal three days before his 12th birthday.

In the event itself, he defeated ten-time British champion Jonathan Penrose, and finished with 5/11, an excellent showing for a debutant.

Short dominated British youth chess during this period, and earned a Master rating with his showing in the 1977 British finals.

In 1978 he won his first adult national title when he won the British Lightning Championship aged 13 years 5 months 11 days, a title which he won again in 1980.

In 1979, in the British Championship at Chester, Short tied for first place with John Nunn and Robert Bellin, earning his first International Master norm; Bellin won the title on tiebreak.

Later in 1979, Short tied for first place in the World Championship for players under age 16, the World Cadet Championship, at Belfort, France, but lost to Argentinian Marcello Tempone on tiebreak.

He became (at the time) the youngest International Master in chess history by scoring 8/15 in the Hastings Premier in 1979/80, breaking Bobby Fischer's record from 1958.

Participating in four World Junior Championships (1980–83), Short achieved his best result during his first attempt, when he placed second to Garry Kasparov in 1980 at Dortmund.

Short represented England in international team play for the first time at the 1983 European Team finals in Plovdiv.

He was awarded the grandmaster title in 1984, aged 19—becoming the youngest grandmaster in the world at the time, being later supplanted by Simen Agdestein.

Short's arrival on the World Chess Championship title began in earnest in 1985 when he narrowly qualified from the Biel Interzonal to become Britain's first-ever candidate.

He needed a playoff to advance past John van der Wiel and Eugenio Torre for the last berth, after the three had tied in regulation play.

In the next cycle, he again qualified by winning the 1987 Subotica Interzonal with Jon Speelman.

Short earned the title of grandmaster at the age of 19 and was ranked third in the world by FIDE from July 1988 to July 1989.

The Candidates stage had by this time reverted to its traditional match format: Short defeated Gyula Sax (+2=3) in Saint John, Canada, in 1988, but then unexpectedly lost (−2=3) to Speelman in London.

Short's next attempt proved his most successful.

He defeated Mikhail Gurevich in the last round of the Manila Interzonal and finished equal third with Viswanathan Anand, behind Vassily Ivanchuk and Boris Gelfand, qualifying him as a Candidate for the third successive time.

Meeting Speelman again in the 8/Final, in London, he tied a close match (+2-2=4) before edging his older opponent 1.5-0.5 in the tie-break.

The 1/4 final, against Gelfand, in Brussels, was a bloodthirsty affair in which Short eventually prevailed (+4-2=2).

The King walk, perhaps the most famous in recent history, where Nigel Short defeated Jan Timman in Tilburg in 1991, was voted as one of the hundred greatest chess games in a list compiled by FM Graham Burgess, and GMs John Nunn and John Emms.

According to Short and Kasparov, the head of the chess world's governing body FIDE, Florencio Campomanes, in breach of FIDE rules, decided the location of the match (Manchester) and the prize fund without consulting them.

In the semifinal, in 1992, the Englishman overcame former World Champion Anatoly Karpov (+4−2=4) in a match that was described as "the end of an era".

In the final, in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Short defeated Dutchman Jan Timman (+5−3=5) to earn the right to meet defending World Champion Garry Kasparov.

In 1993, he became the first English player to play a World Chess Championship match, when he qualified to play Garry Kasparov in the PCA world championship in London, where Kasparov won 12½ to 7½.

In her book Nigel Short: Quest for the Crown (Cadogan 1993), the British WIM and author Cathy Forbes wrote that at no time in the 1993 bidding process did FIDE actually receive a conforming world championship match bid.

He was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1999 Birthday Honours for services to chess.

But the Montpellier Candidates Tournament brought Short little success, as he scored 7/15 to finish in 10th place.