FIRST started in 1962 and now reaching its 40th edition, the Glasgow Congress, Scotland's longest running weekend tournament, took place at its new-found home of Glasgow Caledonian University. Five titled players, including past winners Jonathan Rowson, Colin McNab, Steve Mannion and long-time Glasgow favourite Roddy McKay, making a much-welcomed return to the tournament scene, were among the line-up looking to win the £550 first prizes in the Open.

However, the player making all the early running was second seed IM Alexander Chernaiev, a notoriously tough Russian professional now based in London. After successive wins over Rowson and Mannion he halved out in five move "GM draw" with McNab to take a half point lead over the field going into the final round.

Having done all the hard work, Chernaiev found the going got tougher when he was paired against the weakest titled player in the final round: Edinburgh's Elaine Rutherford, the former Women's World Amateur champion.

Gambling all by spurning a repetition to take a share of first, the Russian found himself being outplayed by Rutherford, who won the game for a highly creditable share of first place - the second time she has won an elite tournament on the Terence Chapman Grand Prix circuit.

Now 18, Rutherford has become one of Scotland's best home-grown female talents. In 1999 she became the first Scottish female to play in the Scottish Championships. Later that year she was the first Scottish woman to win a national Grand Prix Open when she shared first equal at Perth with GM Colin McNab.

However, unquestionably the highlight of her successful year was victory in the Woman's World Amateur Championships at Hastings, which in the process made her only the second Scot to lift a world title.

Prizewinners Open: 1-4 GM J Rowson (Bon Accord), IM S Mannion (Cathcart), WFM E Rutherford (Edinburgh), GM C McNab (Dundee) 4/5. Major: 1-2 G Ashcroft (Preston), M Cavanagh (Bon Accord) 4.5/5. Minor: 1-2 J Watson (Paisley), D Logue (Inverclyde) 4.5/5. President's: 1 K McGeoch (Stirling) 5/5.

J Rowson - A Chernaiev Glasgow Congress (3) Sicilian Rossilimo

1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 e6 4 0-0 Nge7 5 Re1 Nd4 6 Nxd4 cxd4 7 d3 g6 8 c3 Bg7 9 cxd4 Bxd4 10 Nc3 a6 11 Ba4 b5 12 Bb3 Qb6 13 Be3 0-0 14 Qd2 Bb7 15 Bxd4 Qxd4 16 a4 Qb4 17 Bd1 Nc6 18 h4 f6 19 Rc1 Nd4 20 Re3 Rf7 21 Nb1 Qd6 22 Nc3 f5 23 e5 Qe7 24 Rh3 f4 25 Ne4 Bxe4 26 dxe4 Nc6 27 Qd6 Kg7 28 axb5 axb5 29 h5 Qg5 30 Rc5 Ra1 31 Kh2 f3 32 h6+ [A nice piece of interference theme - the pawn on f3 can't be taken: 32 Bxf3? Qf4+ 33 Rg3 Qh4+ 34 Rh3 Qxf2 wins; 32 gxf3 Rb1! 33 b3 (33 Rxb5 Qc1!; 33 hxg6 Rxb2! 34 Rxh7+ Kxg6 wins) 33 ..Rb2 34 Bc2 Qc1! 35 Qd3 Nb4 36 Qd1 Qxd1 37 Bxd1 Rd2] 32 ..Kg8 33 g3 Rc1 34 Bc2 Rf1 35 Rxc6 Rxf2+ 36 Kg1 Rg2+ 37 Kf1 dxc6 0-1

E Rutherford - A Chernaiev Glasgow Congress (5) Grand Prix Attack

1 e4 c5 2 Nc3 Nc6 3 f4 g6 4 Nf3 Bg7 5 Bb5 Nd4 6 0-0 e6 7 d3 Ne7 8 Nxd4 cxd4 9 Ne2 0-0 10 Ba4 d6 11 Kh1 Bd7 12 Bb3 f5 13 Qe1 Kh8 14 Ng1 Nc6 15 exf5 gxf5 16 Bd2 Qf6 17 Nf3 e5 18 Ng5 Rae8 19 Qh4 h6 20 Qh5 e4 21 Nf7+ Kh7 22 Ng5+ Kh8 23 Nf7+ Rxf7 24 Qxf7 Qxf7 25 Bxf7 Rf8 26 Bh5 d5 27 a3 Be6 28 Rae1 Kh7 29 Bc1 b5 30 Rf2 a5 31 Rg1 b4 32 b3 Ne7 33 axb4 axb4 34 Bd2 Nc6 35 Ra1 Rc8 36 Be1 Bf8 37 g3 Kg7 38 h3 Bd6 39 Ra6 Kf6 40 Be8 Rxe8 41 Rxc6 Bf8 42 Rb6 Ra8 43 Bxb4 Ra1+ 44 Kg2 Bxb4 45 Rxb4 Bf7 46 g4 Be6 47 Rxd4 Re1 48 dxe4 dxe4 49 Kg3 e3 50 Rg2 Bc8 51 Rd6+ Ke7 52 Rxh6 Be6 53 c4 Rb1 54 Ra2 Rh1 55 Ra7+ Bd7 56 Rh7+ 1-0