Chess

BEFORE beating Anatoly Karpov last April, Nigel Short's previous result had been to take last place in the Linares tournament. Last week, Jan Timman, Short's opponent in the Candidates final, finished last in Moscow. It can be a good idea to get some bad chess out of your system before an important event, so neither man will be taking the Moscow result too seriously.

The result in Moscow was another confirmation of the changing order of world chess with Gelfand and Anand sharing first place on 4 1/2/7, followed by Kamsky on 4, all ahead of the old men, Karpov, Yusupov and Salov, who scored 3 1/2 ; Shirov was next on 3, with Timman hobbling home on 1 1/2.

The following game was a candidate for worst of the tournament, but great fun for the spectators. Shirov must have overlooked 17. Nb1 entirely, but after being forced to give up his queen for a bishop, played on as though nothing had happened.

Yusupov returned some material, but Shirov's initiative grew very dangerous. At such moments, when you have been a queen up for most of the game, it is easy to panic, but Yusupov stayed calm and threaded his way through the complications with 34. Nxh5], returning his queen to reach a won endgame.