Chess - The Scotsman 17/07/2012

CONGRATULATIONS to the Bearsden-based Dane GM Jacob Aagaard who, with two superb final round wins at the Scottish International Open in Glasgow over the weekend, not only captured his first Scottish Championship title but he also took the bonus of being part of a five-way tie for first in the International Open.

Jacob climbed the ladder to a final score of 7/9, sharing the International Open title alongside his fellows GMs Vitaly Teterev (Belarus), Momchil Nikolov (Bulgaria), and IMs Bragi Thorfinnsson (Iceland) and Jonathan Hawkins (England). Although he has switched federations back to his native Denmark in recent years, he qualifies for the Scottish title by residency.

In 2007, Jacob won the British Championship title playing under the Scottish flag. Now he has the Scottish title to go alongside it, with his name going on the Roll of Honour of Scottish Champions that dates back to John Crum in 1884.

After his penultimate round-eight win over India’s GM Deep Sengupta, Jacob tweeted: “Won against a GM for the first time in 2 years.” The best was yet to come for the affable Dane, with a superb final-round win over yet another GM, this time Mark Hebden, which clinched him the 2012 Scottish Championship – and he used a Scotch against an Englishman to win the title!

J Aagaard - M Hebden

Scottish International Open, (9)

Scotch Opening

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 exd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nxc6 bxc6 6 e5 Ne4 7 Be3 Qe7 8 Qd4 Qb4+ 9 Qxb4 Bxb4+ 10 Nd2 Bxd2+ 11 Bxd2 Nxd2 12 Kxd2 Rb8 13 b3 d6 14 Re1 Be6 15 Bd3 Kd7 16 f4 c5 17 Rhf1 f5 18 exf6 gxf6 19 Rf2 Bf7 20 Bf5+ Kc6 21 Re7 Rbf8 22 Rfe2 Bg6 23 Bd7+ Kb6 24 f5 Bf7 25 Be6 Bxe6 26 fxe6 Kc6 27 Ke3 h5 28 Kf4 h4 29 Rf7 Re8 30 Rxf6 Rh5 31 Kg4 Rh7 32 Rf7! Rxe6 33 Rxc7+ Rxc7 34 Rxe6 Rg7+ 35 Kh3 Rf7 36 Re2 Rf4 37 g4 hxg3 38 Kxg3 Rf8 39 h4 Kd5 40 h5 Kd4 41 c4 a5 42 Kg4 a4 43 h6 Kc3 44 Re3+ Kb2 45 Kh5 d5 46 cxd5 Kxa2 47 bxa4 c4 48 Rc3 Rf5+ 49 Kg6 Rxd5 50 Rxc4 Rd6+ 51 Kg7 Rd7+ 52 Kf8 1–0