Scottish Chess Championships – Round 6

One of the magnificent, giant paintings that line the main room. This one is called “Interrogation of the White Knight Caught on the Rim.” 

Our very own knights in shining armour, Alex McFarlane, Andy Howie and Dave Clayton, wonder what problems the players can possibly cause them today.  Notice that they have 5 laptops between them! That means they each have 2 laptops to…oh no wait a minute…they each have one and a half la…no, hold on…they each have…a lot of work to do.  Anyway, surely nothing unexpected will happen today, we’ve had 5 rounds to iron out any problems…

“Hello, this is Vodafone calling.  We are delighted to offer you a free upgrade…”.  This is what was heard by the hapless Jim O’Neill approximately two seconds after he had been defaulted for his phone going off during the game.  The board 13 (unlucky for some!) game was the first to suffer such a fate during the tournament.  Word of advice to all competitors – switch off your mobile phone – and, in case you didn’t follow that, please let me rephrase…actually I’ll just repeat it: SWITCH OFF YOUR MOBILE PHONE.  A tragic way to lose a game of chess and not much fun for the opponent either.

Amongst the players who have solved the mystery of how to de-activate electronic devices, GM Prasad won a very instructive game against the joint leader, GM Markos.  This game is commentated at…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExtTEiKQ3Qw

On board two, the top seed and Scottish favourite, Jonathan Rowson crashed to his second loss of the tournament – this time to English rival Mark Hebden.  This win (and the fact that GM Markos lost today) puts GM Hebden in clear first place with only three rounds remaining and could possibly have ruined Rowson’s chances of a home soil victory.  Jonathan had fought well to recover from a awkward opening but levelling the position had cost him a lot of time on the clock. In the following position

Black played 33…Bd5 but after 34. Nd4! White was well on top again.

This was a mixed day for the home players with Keti just holding onto a draw on board 3 and Thomson losing on board 4.  There was a brief respite as Motwani and McNab both won on 5 and 6 but the local amateur player, Neil Farrell, holding International Master Andrew Greet on board 7, eventually reaching his position

In trouble here, White found the fantastic 36. Bc5! And after 36…bxc5 37. Nd3! Black should continue 37…Bb5 with a probable draw.  Alas, Neil chose 37…cxd4 and after 38. Nb4+ he was soon mated.