Nigel Short - World Championship Candidate

World Championship Candidate

Short's assaults 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. The Montpellier Candidates Tournament brought Short little success, however, as he scored 7/15 to finish in tenth place. In the next cycle, he again qualified by winning the 1987 Subotica Interzonal with Jon Speelman. 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 his countryman, Jon Speelman, in London.

His next attempt was to prove his most successful. A last round victory over Mikhail Gurevich enabled Short to finish equal third with Vishwanathan Anand, behind Vassily Ivanchuk and Boris Gelfand, at the Manila Interzonal, thus qualifying as a Candidate for the third successive time. Defeating Gelfand (+4=2–2) in the 8/Final, he progressed to meet his former nemesis, Jon Speelman, in the quarters. This oscillating struggle went into extra-time in which the younger man eventually prevailed. In the semi-final, in 1992, the Englishman overcame the legendary Russian Anatoly Karpov (+4=4–2) 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=5–3) to earn the right to meet defending World Champion Garry Kasparov.

According to Short and Kasparov, the head of the chess world's governing body FIDE, Florencio Campomanes, decided on the venue of the match (Manchester) and the prize fund without consulting them, in breach of FIDE rules. The British WIM and author Cathy Forbes, in her book Nigel Short: Quest for the Crown (Cadogan 1993), wrote that at no time in the 1993 bidding process was a conforming World Championship match bid actually received by FIDE. In response, Short and Kasparov promptly formed a rival organisation, the Professional Chess Association. The resulting match—sponsored by The Times newspaper—was held under the auspices of the new body in London, from September to October 1993. Kasparov won convincingly (+6−1=13)- the largest margin of victory in a world title contest since Botvinnik defeated Tal in 1961. Short's play came in for heavy criticism from BBC commentators Bill Hartston and Tony Miles.