Scottish Chess Championships – Round 1

You Tube report available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbZVQhdG5Js

Welcome chess friends to the first round of the Scottish Championships.  The magnificent venue of the Edinburgh City Chambers did not disappoint as the players tried to adjust from their usual hard wooden chairs and wobbly boards to the plush new surroundings.  Even the walk to the playing rooms is dramatic as the display cases present some amazing art work and treasure. 

Unfortunately, the statue shown here of the Walter Scott Monument is part of the permanent collection and not, as rumour had it, the best blunder trophy supplied by Geoff Chandler.

Such a prestigious venue demands the highest security and I was alarmed to find out that I had to hand over the keys to Ruxton mansion before they would allow me entry.  However, they were well looked after, even being given a special cushion all of their own…

Accelerated pairings rules are being applied for the first three rounds and this had the effect of producing some very tasty match-ups in the first round.  One of Scotland’s finest juniors, Andrew Green was up against the mighty top seed, GM Jonathan Rowson.  Here’s Andrew starting confidently with his killer king pawn.

This seemed to come as a shock to the tournament favourite, was he expecting something else?

Alas, Jonathan didn’t remain shocked for long and managed to win his game before the first time control.

Another exciting pairing for the home crowd was the reigning Scottish Champion, Alan Tate, who was up against the Indian Grandmaster Prasad.  In the early middlegame, the Indian player set a sneaky trap…

In this position White played 14. Bf4 !!? – certainly not the first move that would come to mind as it looks like a blunder.  The point is that after 14…Bxc3, 15. bxc3 Qxb5 16. Bh6 g6 White need not grab the rook immediately but has the diabolical 17. Qh4! when the threat of infiltrating to the f6 square forces Black to play 17…f6 and only then does White capture the rook, leaving the Black king dangerously exposed – clever stuff.  Alan is used to such tricky business and carefully dodged all the traps, eventually reaching a slightly worse endgame.  After White’s 45th move the following position arose…

Now Black has to take his chances in the rook endgame after 45…Rxb6, 46.Rxd7+ Ke6 47. Rxg7 Rxd6 which will not be much fun, but offers some chances of a draw.  Alas our hero slipped up at this point with 45…g5? And after 46. Bc7 the Black rook is shut out of play (1-0).

The masters did not have it all their own way however.  GM Keti Arakhamia-Grant was held to a draw by Paul Roberts, Martin Mitchell managed to neutralise GM Colin McNab’s King’s Indian Defence, GM John Shaw’s Philidor’s defence didn’t generate enough chances to beat Danny McGowan, and seasoned campaigner George Neave shut out the English GM Aaron Summerscale.

With the 10 grandmasters conceding 4 draws between them could the only International Master in the field, Andrew Greet, do any better?  The answer is no, he could only do worse as he crashed to local player Graeme Kafka.  While Graeme is only rated around 2100 he is a dangerous competitor and has come close to gaining an IM norm at previous Scottish Championships.  Could this be his year? Stay tuned…