Chess

The Scottish Chess Championship ends tomorrow in Stockbridge, Edinburgh. A fortnight ago, I predicted GM Keti Arakhamia-Grant would win and I'll stick to that, but a late entry from veteran IM Craig Pritchett created a serious challenger. Pritchett was at his chess peak in the 1970s and 1980s, but recent appearances for Scotland in Seniors events have rekindled his interest.

Scotland has five GMs and eight IMs, so a turnout of just one of each is disappointing. One of the issues is that now none of Scotland's GMs are professional players. With three working in publishing, one teacher and one in a London think tank, playing in the Scottish Championship would use a valuable week of our holidays. In contrast, the British Championship starts two weeks from now with 12 GMs and a similar number of IMs already entered. Naturally, the British event has much more money for fees and prizes, but an equally significant factor is that England still has a pool of pro chess players. We Scots have, quite sensibly, turned amateur.

The favourite for the British Championship is World No. 28 Michael Adams, who warmed up by finishing first equal, though he lost the tiebreak, in the World Open in Philadelphia. Adams started the event with a stylish win:

White: A Getz; Black: M Adams. Opening: Queen's Indian Defence

1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nf3 b6 4 g3 Ba6 5 Qc2 c5 6 d5 In the first half of the game White is generous with his pawns, which is an appropriate choice to try to rattle a much stronger opponent. 6...exd5 7 cxd5 Bb7 8 Bg2 Nxd5 9 0–0 Be7 10 Rd1 Nc6 11 a3 Nc7 12 Nc3 0–0 13 e4 d6 14 b4? The earlier gambit was standard, but this is over the top; Black is allowed two connected passed pawns. 14...cxb4 15 axb4 Nxb4 16 Qb1 a5 17 Be3 Ne6 18 Nd5 Bxd5 19 exd5 Nc5 20 h4 Re8 21 Ra3 Bf6 22 Ng5 g6 23 Bd4 Ra7 24 Rf3 Be5 25 Bh3 Kg7 26 Be3 Bf6 27 Kg2 Rxe3! A clever choice: Adams gives up an exchange to kill White's attacking dreams. 28 Rxe3 Bxg5 29 hxg5 Qxg5 30 Qb2+ Qf6 An exchange of queens would allow Black's queenside pawns to roll towards the eighth rank. 31 Qe2 h5 32 Qb5 Nc2 33 Re8 Nd4 34 Qxb6 In stopping the queenside pawns White abandons his king. 34...Qf3+ 35 Kh2 Qxf2+ 36 Bg2 Nf3+ 37 Kh3 Ne4! The rule of thumb is that an exchange of queens favours the defender, but not this time. 38 Qxf2 Nxf2# A rare and pretty two-knights mate