Gamesters of Triskelion | 28 September 2017

The triskelion, or three-legged emblem, has been on the coat of arms of the Isle of Man since the late 13th century. The Isle of Man has now attracted one of the strongest ever lineups for an open competition in the history of formal chess tournaments. The lists include world champion Magnus Carlsen, former champions Vladimir Kramnik and Viswanathan Anand, and Hikaru Nakamura as well as the former world title challengers Boris Gelfand and Nigel Short. The British contingent is joined by Michael Adams, the newly minted British champion Gawain Jones, and David Howell. Doubtless the munificent prize fund of £133,000 is a lure.
 
The first round saw the following impressive strategic performance by Nigel Short, who first gains control of the dark squares in his opponent’s camp, then converts this into material gain, finally infiltrating his opponent’s lines of defence and strangling him to death.
 
Short-Osmanodja: chess.com Masters Isle of Man 2017; Catalan Defence
 
1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 d5 3 c4 e6 4 g3 In former times Short was a strict adherent of 1 e4.