Chess - The Scotsman 18/06/13

SPEED chess has long been a recreational activity for professionals and amateurs alike, but the introduction of separate rating lists last year for rapid and blitz by FIDE, has made the fast and furious form of the game a less frivolous affair.

There are now more top-level rapid and blitz events taking place – and on Saturday, Scotland staged one of the strongest tournaments held in recent years, with the

Walkers Shortbread Scottish Blitz Championship, at Surgeons’ Hall in Edinburgh, attracting a capacity 109-player field headed by two super-GMs and no less than 10 Scottish champions.

The strong favourites were British No 1 Michael Adams and German No 1 Arkadij Naiditsch; but the top two seeds didn’t quite have it all their own way, and indeed both lost in the final two rounds to GM Keti Arakhamia-Grant, of Edinburgh West Chess Club.

The defending champion Naiditsch managed, though, to hold on to win the £600 first prize, scoring 11.5/13, ahead of English GM Danny Gormally, on 10.5 points, with Arakhamia-Grant and

Adams sharing third, on 10 points.

But with her dramatic back-to-back wins over the hot favourites, former Scottish champion Keti Arakhamia-Grant took the bonus of the Scottish Blitz Champion Trophy by being the highest-placed Scot.

K Arakhamia - M Adams

Scottish Blitz Ch., (12)

Ruy Lopez

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 d3 Bc5 6 0–0 d6 7 c3 0–0 8 h3 Ba7 9 Re1 h6 10 Nbd2 Ne7 11 Nf1 Ng6 12 Ng3 d5 13 exd5 Nxd5 14 d4 exd4 15 Nxd4 c6 16 Bc2 Qf6 17 Ne4 Qh4 18 Nf3 Qd8 19 c4 Ndf4 20 Be3 Bxe3 21 Rxe3 Bf5 22 Ng3 Be6 23 b3 b5 24 Qf1 Qf6 25 Ne4 Qe7 26 Rae1 Rad8 27 Ng3 Qc5 28 Ne5 Nxe5 29 Rxe5 Qd4 30 c5 Qc3 31 Bb1 Rd5 32 Rxd5 Bxd5 33 Ne4 Qb2 34 g3 Ne6 35 Qd3! Bxe4 36 Qxe4 g6 37 Qxc6 Nd4 38 Qd5 Qc3 39 Re3 Qc1+ 40 Kg2 Qxb1 41 Qxd4 (Black lost on time)

1–0