Across the Board from Sir Nigel Short: A Memory to Cherish
Across the Board from Sir Nigel Short: A Memory to Cherish
Meeting Grandmaster Nigel Short again during my recent visit to Samarkand, after more than sixteen years, brought back some wonderful memories. Here was a legendary player, a former World No. 2, whom I had first met in 2006—and against whom I had the unforgettable opportunity to play four years later!
Our renewed meeting took me back to an airport arrival, a conversation about cricket, and a chess game whose result has always mattered far less to me than the words that followed it.
An airport welcome and a shared love of cricket
My first meeting with Sir Nigel was during the Commonwealth Chess Championship in 2006. I had been assigned to receive him at the airport and assist with his transportation arrangements throughout the tournament.
I still remember sitting beside him in the cab, scarcely able to believe that I was travelling with a former World No. 2!
Any initial nervousness soon disappeared. We struck a chord almost immediately and discussed many things, especially cricket.
I can vouch for the depth of his knowledge of the game. His understanding, recollection and observations would hold their own in a conversation with some of the best-known cricket pundits. I remember telling him that he would make an excellent cricket commentator!
In the years that followed, I also enjoyed reading his Facebook posts. What particularly appealed to me was the clarity with which he expressed his thoughts. Whatever the subject, his writing gave me something to think about.
An unexpected invitation in Kuala Lumpur
Our paths crossed again in April 2010, when my late friend, FT Peter Long, invited me to join the organising and arbiters’ team for the KL Open in Malaysia.
On the morning of 10 April, a rest day, Peter asked whether I would like to participate in Sir Nigel’s clock simultaneous display.
I could hardly believe my ears.
“Is it possible?” I asked.
Peter assured me that it was. Suddenly, an opportunity I had never imagined was becoming a reality.
Sir Nigel would take on ten players simultaneously, almost all of us FIDE-rated, with each player having one hour on the clock. Peter wondered whether an hour would be enough for us!
As I discovered, his concern was well-founded!
Facing a great player—with the Dragon!
I had the black pieces. Sir Nigel opened with 1.e4, and I chose the Sicilian Defence, steering the game into the Dragon Variation.
I knew how formidable he could be against the Dragon. I had seen games in which he had dismantled Black’s position with remarkable force. Yet that was part of the attraction: if I was going to face such a great player, I wanted to play an opening I knew and give it my best.
As I wrote in my original notes, surviving twenty-five moves with something still to play for would itself feel like a bonus!
After 13.Kb1, I spent considerable time considering 13…Ne5, but hesitated and chose 13…a6 instead. Later, my young friend and roommate, Niranjan Navalgund, showed me that …Ne5 was indeed playable, with an exchange sacrifice offering Black active counterplay.
In the game, I managed to exchange queens and reach a position which, according to my subsequent Fritz analysis, was only slightly better for White. I had survived the opening battle—but was now struggling with the clock.
After 28.Nc4, believing that I could not avoid losing a pawn, I resigned.
The words I remember most
To my pleasant surprise, Sir Nigel felt that I had stopped too soon.
As I recorded in my notes, he told me:
“Praful, I feel it’s a premature resignation. There is still a lot of fight left!!”
Those words have stayed with me ever since.
Coming from a player of his stature, that observation meant a great deal. I had lost the game, but to hear him say that there was still a fight to be had was a compliment I would cherish for a lifetime.
When I met him again in the lift afterwards, I thanked him and told him that he had given me a wonderful memory to treasure.
Meeting him again in Samarkand brought it all back with remarkable freshness: the excitement of Peter’s invitation, the tension at the board, the ticking clock, and Sir Nigel’s generous assessment afterwards.
The score records a defeat. My memory holds something much richer—the privilege of playing a legendary grandmaster, and the encouragement he offered when the game was over!
The game
White: GM Nigel Short (2686)
Black: Praful Zaveri (2004)
Event: KL Clock Simultaneous Display
Venue: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Date: 10 April 2010
Opening: Sicilian Defence, Dragon Variation (B76)
Time control: One hour per player
Result: 1–0
- e4 c5
- Nf3 d6
- d4 cxd4
- Nxd4 Nf6
- Nc3 g6
- Be3 Bg7
- f3 O-O
- Qd2 Nc6
- g4 Bd7
- O-O-O Rc8
- h4 h5
- g5 Ne8
- Kb1 a6
- Nd5 e6
- Nxc6 Rxc6
- Nb4 Rc8
- Bd4 Bxd4
- Qxd4 Qc7
- c3 Qc5
- Be2 Qxd4
- Rxd4 a5
- Nc2 Bc6
- Ne3 Kg7
- a3 f6
- Rg1 f5
- exf5 gxf5
- Rd2 f4
- Nc4 1–0
Black resigned here. The following continuation appears in my annotated file as subsequent Fritz analysis; it was not played:
28…Bxf3 29.Nxd6 Bxe2 30.Nxc8 f3 31.Re1 Rf4 32.Rexe2 fxe2 33.Rxe2 Kf7 34.Rh2 e5 35.Kc2 a4.
Even the analysis leaves pieces on the board and a contest to be fought—a fitting reminder of Sir Nigel’s words!
—Praful Zaveri
Photograph captions
Kuala Lumpur, 2010: Sir Nigel Short during the clock simultaneous display on 10 April 2010—an unforgettable opportunity to face a legendary grandmaster.
