Editing Nigel Short (section)

== Incidents ==
{{See also|Ivan Cheparinov#Handshake controversy}}
[[File:Nigel Short 2013.jpg|thumb|Short in 2013]]
In 2001, Short told ''[[The Sunday Telegraph]]'' chess column that he believed he had been secretly playing the reclusive former chess champion [[Bobby Fischer]] on the online chess platform [[Internet Chess Club]] in speed chess matches.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1533946.stm |title=Chess legend 'plays the web' |publisher=BBC News |date=9 September 2001 |access-date=2015-03-05}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/4265656/Fischer-caught-out.html|title='Fischer' caught out|website=Telegraph.co.uk|date=16 September 2001 |access-date=2016-04-08}}</ref> Fischer denied ownership of the account.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://chess960frc.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/fischer-and-wild-variant-22.html|title=Chess960 (FRC): Fischer and 'Wild Variant 22'|website=chess960frc.blogspot.co.uk|date=21 December 2013|access-date=2016-04-08}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite news |first=Vijay |last=Tagore |url=http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1077079&pageid=2 |title=Short take: Veselin Topalov could have been cheating |work=DNA |date=30 January 2007 |publisher=Diligent Media Corporation Ltd. |access-date=2015-03-05}}</ref>

In the same ''DNA'' interview, Short was critical of the role of members of the Appeals Committee at the [[FIDE World Chess Championship 2005|2005]] and [[FIDE World Chess Championship 2006|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".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fide.com/news/download/Judgement02-07.pdf |title=Case N. 2/07 JUDGEMENT rendered by the FIDE ETHICS COMMISSION |date=29 July 2007|access-date=6 February 2008 |publisher=[[FIDE]] }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4083 |title=FIDE Ethics Commission rules on Short and Topalov/Danailov |work=Chess News |date=31 August 2007 |publisher=ChessBase GmbH |access-date=2015-03-05}}</ref>

In 2015, Short claimed that men are biologically better suited to chess than women, and that women have other skills, citing his wife's superior emotional intelligence as an example. In response to widespread criticism for these comments, Short reaffirmed his position, claiming in an interview that "it's quite easy to demonstrate there is a fairly substantial gap between men and women" and dismissing his repeated defeat by [[Judit Polgar]] as "irrelevant".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/nigel-short-slammed-by-leading-female-chess-players-for-saying-women-are-not-as-good-as-men-at-the-game-10188487.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220620/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/nigel-short-slammed-by-leading-female-chess-players-for-saying-women-are-not-as-good-as-men-at-the-game-10188487.html |archive-date=20 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Nigel Short slammed by leading female chess players for saying women are not as good as men at the game |work=The Independent |date=20 April 2015 |access-date=2015-04-20}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/20/nigel-short-uk-grandmaster-men-hardwired-better-chess-players-women|work=The Guardian|location=London|title=Nigel Short says men "hardwired" to be better chess players than women|date=20 April 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Watson |first1=Leon |title=Nigel Short: 'Girls just don't have the brains to play chess' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/chess/11548840/Nigel-Short-Girls-just-dont-have-the-brains-to-play-chess.html |access-date=17 July 2023 |work=www.telegraph.co.uk |date=20 April 2015}}</ref>