Boris Becker

Country	West Germany (1983–1990) Germany (from 1990)
Residence	Schwyz, Switzerland
Born	(1967-11-22) 22 November 1967 (age 44) Leimen, West Germany
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	85 kg (190 lb; 13.4 st)
Turned pro	1984
Retired	30 June 1999
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Career prize money	US $25,080,956 6th All-time leader in earnings
Int. Tennis HOF	2003 (member page)
Singles
Career record	713–214 (76.91%)
Career titles	49
Highest ranking	No. 1 (28 January 1991)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	W (1991, 1996)
French Open	SF (1987, 1989, 1991)
Wimbledon	W (1985, 1986, 1989)
US Open	W (1989)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	W (1988, 1992, 1995) WCT(1988)
Olympic Games	3R (1992)
Doubles
Career record	254–136
Career titles	15
Highest ranking	6 (22 September 1986)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	QF (1985)
Other Doubles tournaments
Olympic Games	W (1992)
Last updated on: N/A.

Boris Franz Becker (born 22 November 1967) is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player from Germany. He is a six-time Grand Slam singles champion, an Olympic gold medalist, and the youngest-ever winner of the men's singles title at Wimbledon at the age of 17. Becker also won five major indoor championships titles including three ATP Masters World Tour Finals (played eight finals, second all-time to Ivan Lendl, who played nine) and one WCT Finals and one Grand Slam Cup. He also won five Masters 1000 series titles and eight Championship Series titles. Tennis Magazine put Becker in 18th place on its list of the 40 greatest tennis players from 1965 to 2005.^[1]

Early life[link]

Becker was born in Leimen, West Germany, the only son of Elvira (née Pisch), who was raised in Czechoslovakia. His parents were Catholic, and part of his mother's family were Jewish.^[2][3][4] His father Karl-Heinz, an architect, founded the tennis centre (Tennis-Club Blau-Weiß 1964 Leimen e. V.) in Leimen, where Becker learned the game.

Tennis career[link]

Becker turned professional in 1984, under the guidance of Romanian-born coach, Günther Bosch, and with Ion Ţiriac as manager and won his first professional doubles title that year in Munich. As a West German teenager, Becker won his first top-level singles title in June 1985 at Queen's Club and two weeks later on 7 July, became the first unseeded player and the first German to win the Wimbledon singles title, defeating Kevin Curren in four sets. At the time, he was the youngest ever male Grand Slam singles champion at &1000000000000001700000017 years, &10000000000000227000000227 days (a record later broken by Michael Chang in 1989, who won the French Open when he was &1000000000000001700000017 years, &10000000000000110000000110 days). Two months after his triumph, Becker became the youngest winner of the Cincinnati Open.

In 1986, Becker successfully defended his Wimbledon title, defeating world no. 1 Ivan Lendl in straight sets in the final. Becker, then ranked world no. 2, was upset in the second round of Wimbledon in 1987 by the world no. 70 player, Peter Doohan. In the Davis Cup that year, Becker and John McEnroe played one of the longest matches in tennis history. Becker won, 4–6, 15–13, 8–10, 6–2, 6–2 (at that time, there were no tiebreaks in the Davis Cup). The match lasted 6 hours and 22 minutes.

Becker was back in the Wimbledon final in 1988, where he lost in four sets to Stefan Edberg in a match that marked the start of one of Wimbledon's great rivalries. Becker also helped West Germany win its first Davis Cup in 1988. He won the year-end Masters title in New York City, defeating five-time champion Lendl in the final. The same year he also won season ending WCT Finals for the rival World Championship Tennis tour defeating Stefan Edberg in four sets.

In 1989, Becker won two Grand Slam singles titles, the only year he won more than one. After losing to Edberg in the French Open semifinals, he defeated Edberg in the Wimbledon final, and then beat Lendl in the US Open final. He also helped West Germany retain the Davis Cup, defeating Andre Agassi in the semifinal round. As a result, Becker was named Player of The Year by the ATP Tour. The world no. 1 ranking, however, still eluded him.

In 1990, Becker met Edberg for the third consecutive year in the Wimbledon final, but this time was on the losing end of a long five-set match. He also failed to defend his US Open title, losing to Agassi in the semifinals. Becker reached the final of the Australian Open for the first time in his career in 1991, where he defeated Lendl to claim the world no. 1 ranking. Another loss to Agassi in the French Open semifinals kept him from winning the first two Grand Slam tournaments of the year. He was ranked world no. 1 for twelve weeks during 1991, though he never managed to finish a year with that ranking.

In 1992 Becker won seven tour titles including his second ATP Tour World Championships defeating Jim Courier in four sets.

By 1993, issues back home over his courtship of and marriage to Barbara Feltus, whose mother was German and father was African-American, and tax problems with the German Government, had caused Becker to slide into a severe mid-career decline. Becker was ranked world no. 2 during Wimbledon in 1991 and reached his fourth consecutive final there. However, he lost in straight sets to fellow German compatriot and world no. 7 Michael Stich. Becker and Stich developed a fierce rivalry, with the media often comparing a passionate Becker to a more stoic Stich.^{[citation needed]} However, Becker and Stich teamed in 1992 to win the men's doubles gold medal at the Olympic Games in Barcelona. Becker defeated Jim Courier in straight sets to win the 1992 year-end ATP Tour World Championships in Frankfurt.

In 1995, Becker reached the Wimbledon final for the seventh time, by defeating Agassi in the semifinals. In the final however, the years past-his-prime Becker, further fatigued after grueling baseline contests with Cédric Pioline and then with Agassi, ran out of gas after winning the first set in a tiebreak, and lost in four sets to Pete Sampras. He won the year-end ATP Tour World Championships for the third and last time in Frankfurt with a straight-set win over Michael Chang in the final. Becker's sixth and final Grand Slam title came in 1996 when he defeated Chang in the final of the Australian Open. In that tournament, Becker delivered a humorous victory speech.^{[citation needed]} When he mentioned his sponsors, he cut himself short, by saying that he did not have the whole day left. He then consoled Chang, by saying that his (Becker's) days were numbered, while Chang was still young. After winning the Queen's Club Championships for the fourth time, Becker was widely expected to mount a serious challenge for the Wimbledon title in 1996, but his bid ended abruptly when he damaged his right wrist during a third-round match against Neville Godwin and was forced to withdraw.

Becker in 1994

Becker defeated Sampras in October 1996 in a five-set final in Stuttgart. "Becker is the best indoor player I've ever played", said Sampras after the match.^[5] Becker lost to Sampras in the final of the 1996 ATP Tour World Championships in Hanover. Becker saved two match points in the fourth set and held serve 27 consecutive times until he was broken in the penultimate game. Later that year he won the Grand Slam Cup defeating Goran Ivanisevic in the final. In 1997, Becker lost to Sampras in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. After that match, he vowed that he would never play at Wimbledon again. However, Becker played Wimbledon one more time in 1999, this time losing in the fourth round to Patrick Rafter.

Becker was most comfortable playing on fast-playing surfaces, particularly grass courts and indoor carpet (on which he won 26 titles). He reached a few finals playing on clay courts, but never won a clay-court tournament in his professional career. His best performances at the French Open were when he reached the semifinals in 1987, 1989, and 1991.

Over the course of his career, Becker won 49 singles titles and 15 doubles titles. Besides his six Grand Slam titles, he was also a singles winner in the year-end Masters / ATP Tour World Championships in 1988, 1992, and 1995, the WCT Finals in 1988 and at the Grand Slam Cup in 1996. He won a record-equalling four singles titles at London's Queen's Club. In Davis Cup, his career win-loss record was 54–12, including 38–3 in singles. He also won the other two major international team titles playing for Germany, the Hopman Cup (in 1995) and the World Team Cup (in 1989 and '98).

Becker won singles titles in 14 different countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Qatar, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, United States. In 2003, Becker was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. He occasionally plays on the senior tour and in World Team Tennis. He is also sometimes a commentator at Wimbledon for the BBC.

Playing style[link]

Becker's game was based on a fast and well-placed serve, that earned him the nicknames "Boom Boom",^[6] "Der Bomber" and "Baron von Slam", and great volleying skills at the net. He could supplement his pure serve-and-volley game with brilliant athleticism at the net, which included the diving volley that was considered a trademark of the young German, and which endeared him to his fans. His heavy forehand and return of serve were also very significant factors in his game.

Becker occasionally deviated from his serve-and-volley style to try to out-hit, from the baseline, opponents who normally were at their best while remaining near the baseline. Even though Becker possessed powerful shots from both wings, this strategy was often criticized by commentators.

Becker had frequent emotional outbursts on court. Whenever he considered himself to be playing badly, he often swore at himself and occasionally smashed his rackets. In contrast to John McEnroe, Becker rarely showed aggression toward his opponents or officials. Also in contrast to McEnroe, his level of play and focus tended to be diminished rather than enhanced following these outbursts. Becker's highly dramatic play spawned new expressions such as the Becker Blocker (his trademark early return shot), the Becker Hecht (a flying lunge), the Becker Faust ("Becker Fist"), the Becker Shuffle (the dance he sometimes performed after making important points), and Becker Säge ("Becker Saw" – referring to the way in which he pumped his fists in a sawing motion).

Becker, one of the most effective players in his era on grass courts and carpet courts, had less success on clay. He never won a top-level singles title on clay, coming closest when holding two match points against Thomas Muster in the final of the 1995 Monte Carlo Open. Becker did, however, team up with Michael Stich to win the 1992 men's doubles Olympic gold medal on clay.

Equipment[link]

Becker played most of his career with racquets from the German company Puma. After production of this racquet was discontinued, he bought the moulds and had them produced by the American company Estusa. He now has his own personal line of racquets and apparel.^[7]

Records[link]

• These records were attained in Open Era of tennis.
• Records in bold indicate peer-less achievements.
• ^ Denotes consecutive streak.

Professional Awards[link]

• ITF World Champion: 1989.
• ATP Player of the Year: 1989.
• ATP Most Improved Player: 1985.

Career statistics[link]

In Grand Slam singles tournaments, Becker's match record is 163–40, an 80.3 winning percentage. The other male players in the open era with winning percentages over 80 are Björn Borg (89.8), Rafael Nadal (87.6), Roger Federer (87.4), Pete Sampras (84.2), Jimmy Connors (82.6), Ivan Lendl (81.9), John McEnroe (81.5), Novak Djokovic (81.1) and Andre Agassi (80.9).^[9]

Post-retirement career[link]

Since 2000, Becker has been the principal owner of the tennis division of Völkl Inc.,^[10] a tennis racquet and clothing manufacturer. He published a tell-all autobiography Augenblick, verweile doch... (English title: The Player) in 2003. From October 2005 to June 2006, Becker was a team captain on the British TV sports quiz show They Think It's All Over.

In October 2006, Becker signed a two-year deal with Vodafone to answer selected text messages from fans. The terms were his answering around 300 messages per year. These were predominantly questions about his career and trivia about the men's ATP tour. Becker has visited several places in Europe promoting the service, including Moscow and Airdrie.

In November 2007, Becker joined the Team PokerStars group of poker players sponsored by the PokerStars online poker cardroom.^[11] As part of the Team, Becker played in major poker tournaments like the European Poker Tour.

In May 2009, Becker announced the launch of online media platform Boris Becker TV. The website, in English and German, features clips from his career and footage of his daily life.^[12]

Since 2009, Becker has been a commentator for the BBC at Wimbledon [and has continued to do so every year to date (2011)]. He was also the first former tennis player to appear on BBC's car show Top Gear as the "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car". He posted a lap time of 1 minute 45.9 seconds, driving the Kia Cee'd. Due to his popularity with British audiences, he has been christened "Britain's favourite German" (with slightly ironic reference to stereotypical British attitudes towards Germany).^[13]

In 2012, Becker appeared in the eighth edition of the European Poker Tour in Barcelona. He won over 8000 Euros at the event before busting out just within the prize range. It was his first cash prize in a main event in the European Poker Tour.

Personal life[link]

Becker lives in Schwyz, Switzerland. He is a fan of German football club Bayern Munich and serves on its advisory board alongside former Bavarian Premier Edmund Stoiber.

In addition to Munich, Monaco, and Schwyz, Becker has or has had apartments in London, in or near Wimbledon, and Miami, to be near his children.^[14]

Relationships[link]

Becker with Barbara Feltus in 1992

On 17 December 1993, Becker married actress and designer Barbara Feltus. In January 1994, their son Noah Gabriel, named after Becker's friends Yannick Noah and Peter Gabriel, was born. Their second child, Elias, was born in September 1999. Before the marriage, they shocked some in Germany by posing nude for the cover of Stern in a picture taken by her father.

After Becker asked Barbara for a separation in December 2000, she flew to Miami, Florida with Noah and Elias, and filed a divorce petition in Miami-Dade County Court, sidestepping their prenuptial agreement, which had entitled her to a single $2.5 million payoff. The January 2001 pretrial hearing was broadcast live to Germany. Becker was granted a divorce on 15 January 2001. She got a $14.4 million settlement, their condo on the exclusive Fisher Island, and custody of Noah and Elias.^{[citation needed]}

In February 2001, Becker acknowledged paternity of a daughter, Anna (born 22 March 2000), with Russian model Angela Ermakova. In October 2009, he confirmed media reports that the child was the result of an encounter in 1999 at a London restaurant.^[15][16] He had been out drinking following losing a main draw singles match at the Wimbledon Championships, in what had been a come-back to the venue of his greatest success. Becker initially denied paternity, but admitted he was the child's father after a DNA test. In November 2007, he obtained joint custody of Anna after expressing concerns over how her mother was raising her.^[17]

Becker was engaged to Alessandra Meyer-Wölden briefly in 2008. Her father, Axel Meyer-Wölden, was Becker's advisor and manager in the 1990s.^[18] The couple broke up in November 2008.^[19]

In February 2009 on the German ZDF TV show Wetten, dass..?, Becker announced that he and Dutch model Sharlely "Lilly" Kerssenberg would be getting married on 12 June 2009 in St Moritz, Switzerland.^[20][21] In August 2009 they announced that they were expecting a child.^[22] In February 2010, Becker and wife welcomed a son, Amadeus Benedict Edley Luis Becker.^[23] The name Edley is for his wife's uncle Edley, and Luis is for his friend, Mexican-Cuban millionaire Luis Garcia Fanjul, who is also the child's godfather.

Footnotes[link]

• ^a The World No. 1 players who Becker defeated include Ivan Lendl (7 times),^[24] Pete Sampras (4 times),^[25] Jim Courier and Stefan Edberg (both 3 times)^[26][27] and Mats Wilander and Andre Agassi (1 time each)^[28][29]

See also[link]

Tennis portal

• Becker–Edberg rivalry

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Becker, Boris (2005). Player, The. London: Bantam. ISBN 0-553-81716-7. 
• Kaiser, Ulrich; Breskvar, Boris (1987). Boris Becker's Tennis: The Making of a Champion. New York: Leisure Press. ISBN 0-88011-290-5. 

Video[link]

• Wimbledon Record Breakers (2005) Starring: Andre Agassi, Boris Becker; Standing Room Only, DVD Release Date: 16 August 2005, Run Time: 52 minutes, ASIN: B000A3XYYQ.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Boris Becker

• Official Site of Boris Becker Sports & Boris Becker Tennis
• Boris Becker at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Boris Becker at the International Tennis Federation
• Boris Becker at the Davis Cup
• Boris Becker at the International Tennis Hall of Fame
• Boris-Becker.TV
• BBC Profile
• Boris Becker's victories

Nigel Short
Full name	Nigel David Short
Country	England
Born	(1965-06-01) 1 June 1965 (age 47) Leigh, England
Title	Grandmaster
FIDE rating	2705 (May 2012) (No. 49 in the March 2012 FIDE World Rankings)
Peak rating	2712 (April 2004)

Nigel David Short MBE (born 1 June 1965 in Leigh, Lancashire) is an English chess grandmaster earning the title at the age of 19. Short is often regarded as the strongest English player of the 20th century as he was ranked third in the world, from January 1988 to July 1989. In 1993, he challenged Garry Kasparov for the World Chess Championship in London. He has defeated 12 of the 19 officially recognised World Champions since 1886. Currently the second oldest player in the world top 100, Short is also a chess columnist, coach and commentator.

Early life[link]

He grew up in Atherton, going to the St Philip's Primary School on Bolton Old Road. He studied at the independent Bolton School and Leigh College. He was a member both of Atherton Chess Club, which was founded by his father, David, and later of Bolton Chess Club,^[1] which had initially rejected him, aged seven, for being too young.

Prodigy to Grandmaster[link]

A chess prodigy, Short first attracted significant media attention, as a 10-year-old, by defeating Viktor Korchnoi in a simultaneous exhibition. In 1977 he became the youngest ever participant in the British Chess Championship by qualifying three days before his twelfth birthday. Two years later, at the British Championship in Chester 1979, the 14-year-old tied for first place with John Nunn and Robert Bellin, earning his first IM norm. He became (at the time) the youngest International Master in chess history, by scoring 8/15 in the Hastings Premier in 1979/80 and thus breaking Bobby Fischer's record of 1958.^[2] Participating in four World Junior Championships (1980–1983), Short achieved his best result during his first attempt in which he placed second to Garry Kasparov in 1980 at Dortmund. He was awarded the grandmaster title in 1984, aged nineteen—becoming the youngest grandmaster in the world at that time.

World Championship candidate[link]

Short's assaults on the World Chess Championship title began in earnest in 1985 when he narrowly qualified from the Biel Interzonal to become Britain's first-ever candidate. He needed a playoff to advance past John van der Wiel and Eugenio Torre for the last berth, after the three had tied in regulation play. The Montpellier Candidates Tournament brought Short little success, however, as he scored 7/15 to finish in tenth place. In the next cycle, he again qualified by winning the 1987 Subotica Interzonal with Jon Speelman. The Candidates stage had by this time reverted to its traditional match format: Short defeated Gyula Sax (+2=3) in Saint John, Canada, in 1988, but then unexpectedly lost (−2=3) to his countryman, Jon Speelman, in London.

His next attempt was to prove his most successful. A last round victory over Mikhail Gurevich enabled Short to finish equal third with Vishwanathan Anand, behind Vassily Ivanchuk and Boris Gelfand, at the Manila Interzonal, thus qualifying as a Candidate for the third successive time. Defeating Gelfand (+4=2–2) in the 8/Final, he progressed to meet his former nemesis, Jon Speelman, in the quarters. This oscillating struggle went into extra-time in which the younger man eventually prevailed. In the semi-final, in 1992, the Englishman overcame the legendary Russian Anatoly Karpov (+4=4–2) in a match that was described as "the end of an era." In the final, in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Short defeated Dutchman Jan Timman (+5=5–3) to earn the right to meet defending World Champion Garry Kasparov.

According to Short and Kasparov, the head of the chess world's governing body FIDE, Florencio Campomanes, decided on the venue of the match (Manchester) and the prize fund without consulting them, in breach of FIDE rules. The British WIM and author Cathy Forbes, in her book Nigel Short: Quest for the Crown (Cadogan 1993), wrote that at no time in the 1993 bidding process was a conforming World Championship match bid actually received by FIDE. In response, Short and Kasparov promptly formed a rival organisation, the Professional Chess Association. The resulting match—sponsored by The Times newspaper—was held under the auspices of the new body in London, from September to October 1993. Kasparov won convincingly (+6−1=13)- the largest margin of victory in a world title contest since Botvinnik defeated Tal in 1961. Short's play came in for heavy criticism from BBC commentators Bill Hartston and Tony Miles.

Tournament and match titles[link]

Short at the 2005 Corus chess tournament

Short won the British Chess Championship in 1984, 1987, and 1998, and the English Championship in 1991. He was the Commonwealth Champion in 2004, 2006 (both Mumbai) and 2008 (Nagpur). He won the 2006 EU Individual Open Chess Championship in Liverpool and took a share of second place in the 2008 edition, when it was held there again. He has finished outright first, or tied for first, in dozens of other international tournaments including Geneva (1979), Belfort, World Under 16 (1979), the BBC Master Game (1981), Amsterdam OHRA (1982), Baku (1983), Esbjerg (1984), Wijk aan Zee (1986, 1987), Reykjavík (1987), Amsterdam VSB (1988, 1991, 1992, 1993), Hastings (1987/88, 1988/89), Pärnu (1996), Groningen (1996), Tallinn/Pärnu (1998), Dhaka United Insurance (1999), Shymkent (1999), Pamplona (1999/2000), Tan Chin Nam Cup, Beijing (2000), Sigeman and Co. Malmö (2002, 2009), Gibraltar (2003, 2004, 2012), Budapest Hunguest Hotels (2003), Samba Cup, Skanderborg (2003), Taiyuan (2004), the Politiken Cup (2006), Bazna (2008), the Staunton Memorial (2009) Thailand Open (2011, 2012) and Luanda (2011). Arguably Short's finest performance came at the Amsterdam VSB tournament in 1991 when he tied for first place with Valery Salov ahead of both Kasparov and Karpov.

Short has enjoyed considerable success as a matchplayer, crushing the US Champion Lev Alburt in Foxboro 1985 by the score of 7–1 (+6=2). He has also defeated Utut Adianto (+3=3) in Jakarta 1995, Étienne Bacrot in Albert 2000 (+3=2–1), Hannes Stefansson in Reykjavík 2002 (+4=1–1), Ehsan Ghaem Maghami in Tehran 2003 (+2=4) and Zahar Efimenko in Mukachevo 2009 (+2=3–1). Short lost to Joel Benjamin by 2.5–1.5 at London 1983, drew with Eugenio Torre (+1=4–1) in Manila 1988, drew with Timman (3–3) in an exhibition match at Hilversum in 1989, defeated Boris Gulko in extra games in the PCA Candidates' quarter-finals at New York 1994, and lost to Gata Kamsky by (5.5–1.5) in the PCA semi-finals at Linares 1995.

International team record[link]

A perennial fixture on the English national team, Short made his international team debut in the Euroteams at age seventeen at Plovdiv 1983, and has represented England continuously ever since. Short's main highlights are: team silver medals in the chess Olympiads of Thessaloniki 1984, Dubai 1986 (where he also took gold medal for the best individual performance on board three) and Thessaloniki 1988. He took a team bronze in the Novi Sad Olympiad of 1990, and led England to fourth place finishes in both 1994 and 1996. He led the English team to victory in the 1997 Euroteams at Pula, and was a member of the bronze winning team in 1992, and of fourth place teams in 1983 and 2001. He was a member of three English teams in the World Team Championships of 1985 (team bronze), 1989 (team bronze), and 1997 (team fourth). His complete log when representing England in major team events follows.

Olympiads:

• Thessaloniki 1984 2nd reserve, 3/6 (+1 =4 -1);
• Dubai 1986 board 3, 10/13 (+8 =4 -1), gold medal on board 3;
• Thessaloniki 1988 board 1, 7/12 (+3 =8 -1);
• Novi Sad 1990 board 1, 6/12 (+2 =8 -2);
• Manila 1992, board 1, 6/11 (+3 =6 -2);
• Moscow 1994, board 1, 8.5/13 (+6 =5 -2);
• Yerevan 1996, board 1, 7/12 (+3 =8 -1);
• Elista 1998, board 2, 6.5/11 (+2 =9 -0);
• Istanbul 2000, board 2, 7/12 (+3 =8 -1);
• Bled 2002, board 2, 8.5/13 (+5 =7 -1);
• Calvià 2004, board 2, 1.5/4 (+1 =1 -2);
• Turin 2006, board 2, 8/11 (+5 =6 -0);
• Dresden 2008, board 2, 7/10 (+6 =2 -2).

Euroteams:

• Plovdiv 1983 board 7, 4.5/7 (+3 =3 -1);
• Debrecen 1992 board 1, 5.5/8 (+4 =3 -1), bronze medal on board 1;
• Pula 1997, board 1, 4/7 (+2 =4 -1);
• Batumi 1999 board 1, 5/8 (+3 =4 -1);
• León 2001 board 2, 6/9 (+3 =6 -0).

World Team Championships:

• Lucerne 1985 board 4, 4/8 (+1 =6 -1);
• Lucerne 1989, board 1, 4.5/8 (+3 =3 -2), silver medal on board 1;
• Lucerne 1997, board 1, 4/8 (+0 =8 -0).

Further achievements[link]

Short has written chess columns and book reviews for the British newspapers The Sunday Times, The Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail and The Spectator. He wrote for The Sunday Telegraph for a decade and for The Guardian between 2005 and 19 October 2006. He reported on the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005 in San Luis, Argentina, for the ChessBase website. He began a new column "Short Stories" for New in Chess magazine in January 2011.

He has individually coached young prodigies Pendyala Harikrishna, Sergey Karjakin, David Howell and Parimarjan Negi. He worked as national coach of the Islamic Republic of Iran from 2006–2007. His first assignment led to them unexpectedly capturing a team bronze medal at the Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, in 2006. In the nine chess events at the Asian Indoor Games in Macau 2007, Iran took a silver and two bronze medals.

Short was made an Honorary Fellow of the then Bolton Institute of Higher Education in 1993 and was admitted to the Honorary degree of Doctor of Science by the University of Bolton in 2010. In 1999 he was appointed MBE, in recognition of his chess accomplishments. In August 2005, he was unanimously elected Secretary General of the Commonwealth Chess Association. In June 2006 he became its President, until stepping down in January 2008.

Controversies[link]

Following the death of Tony Miles in 2001, Short wrote an obituary in the Sunday Telegraph in which he claimed that during the 27th Chess Olympiad in Dubai he had slept with Miles's then-girlfriend.^[3]

Also in 2001, Short was in the news as the story broke that he had been secretly playing the reclusive former chess champion Bobby Fischer online in speed chess matches. Short later retracted the claim after Fischer himself had denied it.

In January 2007, Short gave an interview to the Indian newspaper DNA, in which he called for an inquiry to examine allegations that Veselin Topalov cheated during the World Championship in San Luis.^[4]

In the same DNA interview, Short was critical of the role of members of the Appeals Committee at the 2005 and 2006 World Championships, in particular FIDE Vice President Zurab Azmaiparashvili whom he described as "singularly inappropriate for such work having, by his own admission, cheated in winning the 2003 European Championship." Azmaiparashvili filed a formal complaint to the FIDE Ethics Commission, which convened in July 2007. While dismissing the main complaints against Short, the Commission sanctioned him for a minor violation of the FIDE Code of Ethics for his use of the word "dunderhead".^[5][6] This decision was met with derision from the British Chess Magazine.