Chess

Nigel Short has made a bad start in Dos Hermanas, Spain, where he is back in contention against many of the world's top players. In the first round, he lost to Boris Gelfand in the only game not to end in a draw. With a field including Karpov, Kramnik, Anand, Topalov and Polgar, the event will provide a good guide to the form of those grandmasters jostling for second place in the world rankings behind Garry Kasparov.

Gelfand's plan of first creating a distraction by weakening b6, then getting on with the main business of attacking down the h-file, is a model of how such positions should be played. The strategy began to reap its rewards with 30.Qh2! when 30...cxd3 31.Rxh6 would leave Black helpless against an invasion of White's major pieces. At the end, an exchange of queens leaves the white g-pawn romping home to victory.

White: Boris Gelfand

Black: Nigel Short

1 d4 Nf6 14 exf5 Bd7 27 Be3 b5

2 c4 e6 15 Bd2 Kg7 28 axb5 axb5

3 Nc3 Bb4 16 g4 Rh8 29 Kg3 bxc4

4 e3 0-0 17 Rb1 Rb8 30 Qh2 Nf7

5 Bd3 c5 18 Kg2 a6 31 Bxh6+ Kg8

6 Nf3 Nc6 19 a4 b6 32 Be4 Be8

7 0-0 Bxc3 20 Rh1 Nh7 33 Be3 Rxh4

8 bxc3 d6 21 Qc2 Rb7 34 Qxh4 Kf8

9 e4 e5 22 Be3 Qf6 35 Bh6+ Ke7

10 d5 Ne7 23 h4 gxh4 36 Bg7 Kd7

11 Nh4 h6 24 Bf2 Ng5 37 Qxf6 resigns

12 f3 g5 25 Rxh4 Qd8

13 Nf5 Nxf5 26 Rbh1 f6