[3] Short began playing chess at the age of five after watching his father teach his older brother Martin.

[10] He became (at the time) the youngest International Master in chess history by scoring 8/15 in the Hastings Premier in 1979/80, breaking Bobby Fischer's record from 1958.

[11] Participating in four World Junior Championships (1980–83), Short achieved his best result during his first attempt, when he placed second to Garry Kasparov in 1980 at Dortmund.

[citation needed] Short's arrival 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 Candidates stage had by this time reverted to its traditional match format: Short defeated Gyula Sax (+2=3) in Saint John, Canada, in 1988,[13] but then unexpectedly lost (−2=3) to Speelman in London.

He defeated Mikhail Gurevich in the last round of the Manila Interzonal and finished equal third with Viswanathan Anand, behind Vassily Ivanchuk and Boris Gelfand, qualifying him as a Candidate for the third successive time.

In the final, in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Short defeated Dutchman Jan Timman (+5−3=5) to earn the right to meet defending World Champion Garry Kasparov.

[16][17] Kasparov won convincingly (+6−1=13) – the largest margin of victory in a world title contest since Botvinnik defeated Tal in 1961.

[18] Short and Kasparov were both sanctioned by FIDE, and the situation led to enormous controversy and upheaval in the chess world for the next several years.

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), British Rapidplay Chess Championship (1986), 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), Isle of Man Monarch Assurance 1998, Dhaka United Insurance (1999), Shymkent (1999), Pamplona (1999/2000), Linares Open (2000), Tan Chin Nam Cup, Beijing (2000), Sigeman and Co. Malmö (2002, 2009, 2013 joint first shared with Richárd Rapport and Nils Grandelius), Gibraltar (2003, 2004, 2012), Budapest Hunguest Hotels (2003), Samba Cup, Skanderborg (2003), Taiyuan (2004), the Politiken Cup (2006), Bazna (2008), the Staunton Memorial (2009), Bangkok Chess Club Open (2011, 2012, 2015, 2017), Luanda (2011), 7th Edmonton International (2012), Bunratty (2012, 2016, 2017, 2020), RA Club Ottawa (2012), Pühajärve Rapid Chess Tournament (2012), Spicenet Tanzania Open (2013), PokerStars Isle of Man (2014), Zaw Win Lay Memorial Yangon (2014), the South African Open (2015) the 1st Stars Cup in Anzali (2016), the British Knockout Championship (2016), the Bacolod Negros Open (2017), the Pre-League Blitz Open in Kampala (2018), the GM Nigel Short Blitz in Lagos (2018), and the Moja GM Tournament, in Kimberley, (2022).

[22][23][24] In addition to World Championship cycle results already mentioned above, Short has enjoyed other success as a match player, beating US Champion Lev Alburt in Foxborough, Massachusetts in 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 (+3−1=2), Hannes Stefánsson in Reykjavík 2002 (+4−1=1), Ehsan Ghaem Maghami in Tehran 2003 (+2=4) Zahar Efimenko in Mukachevo 2009 (+2−1=3) and Hou Yifan in Hoogeveen 2016 (+2-1=3).

[citation needed] In a return to Tehran in March 2013, Short played a second match against the Iranian player Ehsan Ghaem Maghami.

[27] He has individually coached young prodigies Pentala Harikrishna, Sergey Karjakin, David Howell and Parimarjan Negi.

[citation needed] During important chess events in recent years, Short is often engaged for commentary as part of live broadcasts on the Internet.

[35] 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.

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".

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".