Short's best achievement was in the World Candidates matches of 1992, when he beat world-class players Boris Gelfand, Anatoly Karpov and Jan Timman to reach the final. In the World Championship match, London 1993, he was decisively beaten by the reigning World Champion, Gary Kasparov. The match caused controversy because the two players broke away from FIDE, for reasons mostly to do with the prize money.