Nigel Short MBE, Britain’s most famous chess Grandmaster takes on 25 of Lancaster’s top chess players at once
Local top local chess players and rising stars of the game got the opportunity of a lifetime on Saturday 21st June when they played one of the UK’s strongest ever players - Chess Grandmaster Nigel Short. Nigel played 25 of them at once in a simultaneous chess game at the Borough Hotel in Dalton Square. The event attracted a diverse set of players ranging in age from under 12s to over 70s most of who had never had the chance to play against a Grandmaster before.
Nigel earned the title of Grandmaster when he was just 19 and was ranked third in the world just a few years later when he challenged Garry Kasparov for the World Title. Now, having just turned 60, Nigel is still a huge name in chess. Since 2022 he has been the Director for Chess Development for the World Chess Federation, FIDE, and only a couple of weeks ago played in the World Chess Teams Championships held in London.
Nigel beat 23 out of 25 with two draws. One draw was against Om Reddy Jayar who plays for the Lancaster Chess Club A team and is the current Lancashire Junior Chess Champion. The other one was against Richard Walsh who is Secretary of Lancaster Chess Club.
Richard Walsh said “It was a pleasure to welcome such a famous chess player to Lancaster and all the players enjoyed their games. Many had brought copies of Nigel’s latest acclaimed chess book “Winning” and Nigel signed copies for them. The event confirmed Lancaster as the top location in Lancashire for competitive chess.“
Nigel’s journey began in Bolton where he started playing chess at age 5 and rapidly became a chess prodigy beating some of the world’s strongest players. He focused on chess full time from age 17. Although Nigel now lives in Greece, he always remembers his roots in Lancashire and it was fantastic news that he agreed to do this event.