Chess - The Scotsman 16/07/12

It’s 50 years since the late WA Fairhurst won his final Scottish Championship title. Fairhurst dominated Scottish chess from 1932-1969, and won 11 Scottish titles, a record that still stands today. Fairhurst was a genuine amateur who was made CBE in recognition of his work as a noted civil engineer with his company of the same name. Among his projects was the construction of the Tay Bridge, on which there is a chess-motif– L-shaped knight-move paving stones run across it.

His final title victory, in 1962, at 58, came after an absence of 12 years, when he played as a spoiler to prevent his arch-rival, Dr Aitken, equalling his championship tally. Fairhurst (11) and Aitken (10) dominate the roll of honour, with the modern day record shared by IM Roddy McKay and GM Paul Motwani with seven apiece.

Any hopes McKay entertained of an eighth title evaporated in round 5 of the 119th Scottish Championship and International Open at the Trades Hall in Glasgow, as he fell into an opening trap (17 b4!) against the Bulgarian GM Momchil Nikolov in the razor-sharp Botvinnik Semi-Slav. McKay is in good company though, as former US champion Alexander Shabalov fell into the same trap against Alexander Onischuk during the 2007 US Championship.

Leader board: 1-4. IM B Thorfinnsson (Iceland), GM I Hera (Hungary), GM M Nikolov (Bulgaria) and GM M Hebden (England), 5/7. There’s a chasing pack of 11 players a half point behind that includes the defending Scottish champion, GM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant, and former champion GM Jacob Aagaard.

M Nikolov - R McKay

Scottish International Open, (5)

Semi-Slav, Botvinnik Variation

1 d4 d5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 c4 c6 4 Nc3 e6 5 Bg5 dxc4 6 e4 b5 7 e5 h6 8 Bh4 g5 9 Nxg5 hxg5 10 Bxg5 Nbd7 11 exf6 Qa5 12 Be2 Bb7 13 0–0 0–0–0 14 Qc1 c5 15 Rd1 cxd4 16 Rxd4 Bc5 17 b4! Bxb4 18 Nxb5 Qxb5 19 Rxc4+ Kb8 20 Rb1 Nb6 21 Rbxb4 Qd5 22 Rg4 Qxa2 23 Rb2 Qa3 24 h4 Rd7 25 Rgb4 Rc8 26 Qb1 1–0