Aberdeen Photos by Mike Shepherd
The 1998 Aberdeen Open, held 8th to the 10th May, proved to be one of the strongest opens ever to take place in Scotland. John Shaw of Kilmarnock, Scotland took the £600 first prize after his last round opponent Aaron Summerscale dropped a rook. John thus finished ahead of four GMs, including Julian Hodgson and Bogdan Lalic. The congress was sponsored jointly by the social clubs of BP and Shell. With added extras like free lunches on Saturday and Sunday and free coffee laid on, the tournament has become one of the most popular on the Scottish circuit. Open: 1. J.Shaw (fm) SCO 4.5/5 2-5 K.Arakhamia-Grant (wgm) GEO 4/5 J.Hodgson (gm) ENG C.McNab (gm) SCO B.Lalic (gm) CRO 6-7 D.Bryson (im) SCO 3.5/5 A.Norris SCO 8-16 N.Berry SCO 3/5 J.Grant SCO J.Henderson SCO A.Minnican SCO K.Neil SCO G.Nolan SCO J.Rowson (im) SCO A.Summerscale (gm) ENG B.Whyte SCO Major: 1st= Gavin Saxton, Kirkcaldy Sam Collins, Glasgow Minor: 1st Stewart McKay, E.Kilbride Junior: 1st= Chris MacDonald, Dollar Keith Williamson, Edinburgh Aberdeen Open - round 5 [White "Lalic, B."] [Black "Hodgson, J."] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [PlyCount "18"] 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. e3 a6 5. Qc2 b5 6. b3 Bg4 7. Bd3 e6 8. Nge2 Bxe2 9. Bxe2 Nbd7 1/2-1/2
Report by Mike Shepherd
A rock-solid performance in the Granite City from Kilmarnock's John Shaw saw him picking up the first prize of 600(UK), ahead of a star-studded field, in the Aberdeen Congress played over the weekend at the BP Exploration offices in Dyce.
The tournament, which proved to be one of the strongest weekend opens ever to take place in Scotland, attracted an illustrious international field including four grandmasters, GMs Bogdan Lalic, Julian Hodgson, Aaron Summerscale and Colin McNab alongside four International masters, Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant, Douglas Bryson, Steve Mannion and local hero Jonathon Rowson.
Following a nine-move draw on the top board between Lalic and Hodgson in the final round, the expectations where that they'd be a five-way tie for first place on 4/5. Shaw, playing on board two against Summerscale, found himself to be the tournaments centre of attraction in more ways than one.
In a highly entertaining game, given below, which enthralled a large number of spectators at the tournament, Shaw capitalised to the tune of 600(UK) as his opponent blundered and lost from a winning position. The imaginative way in which Summerscale unravels his pieces should have lead to the following study-like win., worthy of Kasparyan himself.
Instead of 41..Nf5+ as played in the game, 41 ..Nxe3 forces the following continuation 42 Qf8 (If 42 Qa7+ Kc6 walks the king out of the perpetual and sets up a mating net around the white king 43 Qa6+ Kc5 44 Qa7+ Kc4 45 Qc7+ Kd3 46 Qxf7 Ndf5+ 47 Kh3 Rf2) 42 ..Nf1+ 43 Kg4 Rg2+ 44 Kf4 (44 Kh3 Rxh2+ 45 Kg4 Rg2+ 46 Kf4 Rf2+ 47 Kg4 h5+ 48 gxh6 Rg2+ 49 Kf4 g5 mate) 44 ..Rf2+ 45 Kg4 Ne3+ 46 Kg3 Rf3+ 47 Kh4 Ndf5 mate.
JBH Scotsman