Short in squabble over Chess Olympics

(First Edition) A SQUABBLE between Britain's leading chess player and the national chess federation came into the open yesterday when Nigel Short accused the federation in an open letter of being irresponsible.

The argument is over the selection of the English team for the Chess Olympics, which will be held later this year in Moscow. The background, however, is connected with rivalry between Fide (the International Chess Federation) and the PCA (the Professional Chess Association), which Short and Garry Kasparov founded last year.

The Olympics are a Fide event and, when the English team was selected, were to take place in Greece, where Fide has its headquarters. Short, feeling this was like playing in the enemy's back yard, told the selectors he was unavailable.

Problems then forced Fide to cancel and appeal for a sponsor. Enter Kasparov with cheque book and the Russian Chess Federation in tow. It was announced that the event would be held in Moscow under the joint auspices of Fide and the PCA, apparently sealing a reconciliation.

Short then told the British Chess Federation that he would like to play, but not under the captaincy of Murray Chandler, a grandmaster and editor of the British Chess Magazine, which has been publishing revelations by Short's former trainer, Lubosh Kavalek.

Short maintains that the Moscow Olympics are a different event from the Greece Olympics, and that the selectors should reconvene.