A very impressive rout took place Thursday night at the Ballarat Library meeting rooms, where visiting British chess grandmaster Nigel Short took on 31 members of the Chess Club and defeated each of them in just under three-and-a-half hours.
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Without pausing to take a break, eat or drink, the former world championship candidate methodically despatched each opponent.
Ballarat Chess Club legend Kevin Perrin lasted until the end and said it was amazing to watch him go about his demolition job.
“Some players got close to achieving a draw but his technique was just far too good for us,” said Mr Perrin.
Mr Short spoke to The Courier before starting the exhibition match, saying that the first matches he had ever played in Australia were earlier in the week in Perth. Asked if the Australian players resembled their cricketing counterparts and were aggressive opponents, the grandmaster was diplomatic.
“You get a lot of different styles. There were some players who were very aggressive – but I wouldn’t like to generalise.
“I think some people – one or two people have an intimidating presence, other people don’t and it makes a difference. Here it’s not quite the same because it’s an exhibition, but when you’re sitting in a tournament in close proximity to someone. So those very small things you tend to notice unconsciously or otherwise.”
Mr Short drew parallels between two curiously disparate pursuits to describe his love for chess: art and cricket.
“It’s a very beautiful game. That’s maybe something that people who are unfamiliar with chess don’t appreciate, that some combinations have exquisite beauty, and I think the primary purpose of chess is to win; you’re not an artist as such, but some people consider it such. Marcel Duchamp, for example, he said ‘not every artist is a chess player, but every chess player is an artist.’ That was his view and he played for France in the Olympiads as well as being a famous artist.
“I do like cricket, a lot. I’ve had a passion for it for about 25 years. It was not something from my childhood; it was just one day it really clicked and I’ve been a convert ever since. It’s a game that appeals to the statistically-minded, and I think that chess players like studying that aspect of things. I love Test cricket.”
There is a time-lapse of Mr Short’s match at www.thecourier.com.au