Chess: How does White win?

WHILE the 118th Scottish Championship at the LifeCare Centre in Stockbridge, Edinburgh was not as strong as previous years, it made up for its lack of strength in entertainment value by being one of the more exciting championships of recent years.

Local grandmaster Keti Arakhamia-Grant was the big favourite to win, but an early loss to surprise frontrunner Clement Screeves made for an enthralling finish to this year's championship, as Keti rode her luck somewhat in the final weekend to emerge victorious.

In the penultimate round, she had luck on her side as she was all but dead against Andrew Green from the opening, but her opponent got totally confused with which way to win, erred badly and lost. In the final round, Keti was back to her best with a dazzling finish to a fluctuating tussle against Tony Dempsey – a win that sealed her the title as her husband, Jonathan Grant, successfully held on to draw against Screeves.

Keti's comeback winning score of 7/9 proved enough to take the 2011 Scottish title and first prize of 1200 a half point ahead of IM Craig Pritchett, Sreeves, Grant and Dempsey, all on 6.5. This is Keti's second championship victory – but her first outright, having shared the title in 2003 with GM Paul Motwani.

K Arakhamia-Grant - A Dempsey

118th Scottish Championship, (9)

French Defence

1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 e5 Nfd7 5 f4 c5 6 Nf3 Nc6 7 Be3 a6 8 Qd2 b5 9 Be2 b4 10 Nd1 Qb6 11 0–0 a5 12 c3 Ba6 13 Bxa6 Qxa6 14 Nf2 bxc3 15 bxc3 cxd4 16 cxd4 Be7 17 Rfc1 0–0 18 f5 exf5 19 Qc2 Nd8 20 Qxf5 Qe6 21 Qd3 Nb6 22 Nh3 Qd7 23 Nhg5 g6 24 Nd2 Ne6 25 Nxe6 fxe6 26 Rab1 Bb4 27 Nf3 Nc4 28 Bh6 Rfe8 29 Rf1 Bf8 30 Bc1 Bg7 31 Ng5 Re7 32 Ba3 Nxa3 33 Qxa3 Bh6 34 Nf3 Rf7 35 Rb6 Bf8 36 Qd3 Be7 37 Rfb1 Rc8 38 h3 Bd8 39 Rd6 Qe8 40 Qa6 Rfc7 41 Rxe6 Rc1+ 42 Rxc1 Rxc1+ 43 Kh2 Qf7 44 Rf6! Bxf6 45 exf6 Qd7 46 Ne5 Qf5 47 Qa8+ Rc8 48 Qxd5+ Kf8 49 Qf7 checkmate 1–0