Nigel Short

Defeated in the 1993 World Championship Match

Highest FIDE Elo rating: 2712

Ranking: highest third in the world

Tournament Career: winner of 12 super-tournaments:

1993 Candidates Matches

4x winner of the Max Euwe Memorial Amsterdam

2x winner of Tata Steel Masters, Hastings International Chess Congress

and a few others…

Chess Olympiads: three silver and one bronze team medals, one gold individual medal

Why he deserved it:

Nigel Short played for the world championship title against Kasparov in 1993. It was, of course, a very controversial match, as these two decided to establish their own rival organization after disagreements with FIDE and played their match outside of FIDE’s patronage. This began a thirteen-year-long chess schism, which was only ended in 2006 by the unification match between Kramnik and Topalov.

It was Short who ended the era of Kasparov and Karpov’s dominance in 1992 when he eliminated Karpov in the Candidates Matches semifinals, ensuring that this duo would not add a sixth consecutive title match. It was confirmed to be the end of an era, as Karpov and Kasparov never played another match.

In the match against Kasparov, Short never really had much of a chance to win, as his lifetime score against Kasparov was always dismal. Nevertheless, he was one of the elite players of the planet at the time, and he did not qualify for the title match by chance. He won major tournaments in Wijk aan Zee, Hastings, and Amsterdam and was ranked third in the world.

Why he’s not higher:

Short is certainly a strong candidate for the best English chess player in history, but in the overall historical ranking, his results do not suffice for such a high placement.

Best Games:

Nigel Short vs Jan Timman

Tilburg 1991