THE "grandmaster of disaster", Julian Hodgson, fresh from his first place at the Las Vegas Open, lived up to his reputation at the weekend, taking the Turnkey Open first prize of #500 at the 9th East Kilbride Congress. In the past the East Kilbride Congress has proved to be a happy hunting ground for the popular London GM. In 1996 Hodgson took first place after defeating the computer programme Fritz, entered by tournament sponsors Turnkey, in the final round. The top-spot at East Kilbride this year completes the first leg of his Scottish "world tour". This weekend he's one of the favourites to win the #600 first prize at the Aberdeen Congress. In between the two congresses, Hodgson will be "working" his way up to Aberdeen by playing in three club simultaneouses. His first port of call was at Stirling Chess Club on Monday; Wednesday he appears at Glasgow Polytechnic and finally Bon Accord on Thursday. For further information on the Aberdeen Congress, contact Donald Grassie on 01224-744393. Turnkey Open - 1 GM J Hodgson (Streatham) 4.5/5; 2-4 GM B Lalic (Slough), GM C McNab (Dundee) & FM J Shaw (Kilmarnock 4. Lanarkshire Supercounty Major - 1-4 J Parks (Kilmarnock), S Robinson (Ardrossan), D Gillespie (Crowwood) & J Docherty (Kilmarnock) 4/5. Bank of Scotland Minor - 1 F Murray (Cambuslang) 4.5/5; 2-4 J McCall (Giffnock), G Thompson (Livingston) & A Goodall (Bearsden) 4. President's - 1 G Kerr (Livingston) 4.5/5; 2-5 D Watt (Balerno), P Girdwood (Wester Hails), G Proctor (Holy Cross) & J Fay (Cathcart) 4. Playing against fellow GM, Bogdan Lalic in the last round, Hodgson was fortuitous to receive the full-point after Lalic, who had been in a difficult position, committed the chess equivalent of hara-kiri. Hodgson was expecting the stunning drawing retort of 23 Nxh5 gxh5 24 e5 Bg4 25 exf6 Bxd1 26 Rxd1 e6 27 Kb2 a4 28 Ba2 Rc5 29 Rd4 Rf5 30 c4. Instead, Lalic blundered badly with 23 e5 gifting Hodgson first place. B Lalic - J Hodgson Turnkey Open (5) Sicilian Dragon 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 g6 6 Be3 Bg7 7 f3 Nc6 8 Qd2 Bd7 9 Bc4 Rc8 10 Bb3 Ne5 11 0-0-0 Qa5 12 Kb1 Rxc3 13 Qxc3 Qxc3 14 bxc3 0-0 15 Bf4 Rc8 16 Bxe5 dxe5 17 Ne2 b5 18 Rd3 h5 19 Rhd1 Rc7 20 Ng3 a5 21 a3 Bf8 22 f4 exf4 23 e5 fxg3 24 exf6 gxh2 25 Rh1 exf6 26 Rxh2 Bxa3 27 c4 bxc4 28 Bxc4 Bb4 29 Rh4 Bg4 30 Bd5 Bf5 31 Be4 Rc4 32 Re3 Bd2 33 Re2 Rb4+ 0:1
John Henderson - "Scotsman"