2004 Back to the Future Award
GM Nigel Short

      Nigel writes interesting chess articles for the British paper The Telegraph. Nigel Short made an incredible comeback this year.  He regained most of the form he had when he got through a tough candidates process to earn the right to play Garry Kasparov for the 1993 Chess World Championship. On the road to his championship challenge, Nigel defeated Boris Gelfand, Anatoly Karpov, and Jan Timman in candidate matches to earn the right to meet Kasparov. Nigel came up short in an exciting 1993 world championship match. This past year Nigel climbed above the 2700 rating plateau.

  In 2004 Nigel took first prizes at the following tournaments:
1) Yai Yuan GM tournament in China in July
2) placed 2nd behind Kasparov at the Reykjavik rapid tournament. 
3) Gibraltar Open
4) Common wealth championship 

 Nigel also played in the 2004 Fide KO in Libya. He was KO by eventual winner Rustam Kasimdzhanov. In his match against Kasimdzhanov, Nigel uncharacteristically blundered a rook in a winning position. In a short KO match, such a mistake is deadly.

 One thing is certain, there is still some fire inside Nigel's veins. This reporter would liked to see Nigel get some more invitations to the super tournaments.

 

Short vs. Dreev at the 2004 Reykjavik Rapid  
Short on draws

Nigel Short - Chess Reporter

2003 Back to the future
Award