Quality Chess wins the Scottish Championship

The Scottish Championship concluded on Saturday in Hamilton. Our IM Andrew Greet was first on a very fine 7.5/9 while GM John Shaw (that would be me) finished a half point behind. So Andrew is Scottish Champion? Maybe. He was certainly awarded the trophy at the prize giving, but was he eligible? He is extremely English and has lived in Scotland for less than two years, so although he could play in the event (it was an international open) maybe the organisers gave him my nice shiny silver cup. The organisers are currently reading the rulebook rather closely…

The key game of the event was in Round 3 when Andrew Greet crushed me very efficiently. But let’s forget about that. In the previous round I won a sacrificial game against Andrew’s near namesake Andrew Green, so that’s the game to look at.

J. Shaw – A. Green, Scottish Championship 2010

1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 dxe5 5.Nxe5 c6 6.Nd2 Nd7 7.Ndf3 g6 8.Bc4 Bg7 9.0–0 0–0 10.Re1 Nxe5 11.dxe5

I thought 11.Nxe5 Be6 looked very solid for Black; in fact it turns out to be the main line.

11…Bg4 12.h3 Bxf3 13.Qxf3 e6 14.a4 Qc7 15.Qe4 Rfd8 16.h4 Rd7 17.h5 Ne7

Perhaps 17…Qd8 to stop Bg5.

18.Bg5 c5 19.c3 Nc6 20.hxg6 hxg6 21.Bf6 Na5

22.Bxe6!!

A rather obvious sac to analyse, but I took some time to convince myself that it was sound.

22…fxe6 23.Qxg6

The plan is a rook lift to e3 (or e4) and then turn right to the g- or h-file. It seems a little slow, but Black cannot arrange a defence.

23…Qc6

Black had too many defensive tries for me to analyse them all before sacrificing. A couple of fun lines are:

23…Nb3 24.Re3!? Nxa1 25.Rh3 and White wins.

23…Nc6 24.Re3 Rf7 25.Rh3 Ne7 26.Rh8+! Kxh8 27.Qxf7 Bxf6 28.Qxf6+ Kh7 29.Qf7+ Kh8 30.c4! And Ra3-h3 is a good swinger.

24.Re3 Rf8 25.Rh3 Rc8

After 25…Rff7 I planned Bxg7 when Black cannot recapture due to mate on e8, but also good is 26.Qh7+ Kf8 27.Qh8+ Bxh8 28.Rxh8#.

26.Qh7+ Kf8 27.Rg3

Black resigned, as mate is unavoidable.

5 thoughts on “Quality Chess wins the Scottish Championship”

  1. [Event “Scottish Championship 2010”]
    [Site “Scottland”]
    [Date “7/12/2010”]
    [Round “?”]
    [White “J. Shaw”]
    [Black “A. Green”]
    [Result “1-0”]
    [BlackElo “2172”]
    [ECO “B04”]
    [Opening “Alekhine”]
    [Variation “Modern, Larsen, 5.Nxe5 g6 6.Bc4 c6 7.O-O”]
    [TimeControl “300”]
    [PlyCount “53”]

    1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 dxe5 5. Nxe5 c6 6. Nd2 Nd7 7. Ndf3 g6
    8. Bc4 Bg7 9. O-O O-O 10. Re1 Nxe5 11. dxe5 Bg4 12. h3 Bxf3 13. Qxf3 e6 14.
    a4 Qc7 15. Qe4 Rfd8 16. h4 Rd7 17. h5 Ne7 18. Bg5 c5 19. c3 Nc6 20. hxg6
    hxg6 21. Bf6 Na5 22. Bxe6 fxe6 23. Qxg6 Qc6 24. Re3 Rf8 25. Rh3 Rc8 26.
    Qh7+ Kf8 27. Rg3 … {Black resigns} 1-0

  2. Update:
    The organisers have now read the rulebook. The website said 2 years residency was required, but that was a mistake. The rule was changed to 1 year, so Andrew Greet is officially Scottish Champion. Congratulations to him. I wouldn’t have wanted to win on a technicality (although it is a very nice cup).

  3. Abramov Anjuhin

    I wish to share my experience with Artur Yusupov’s award-winning training course “Tigersprung auf DWZ 1500-1800-2100” in German language, or in English published by Quality Chess as:

    a) Fundamentals (Build up your chess-Boost Your Chess-Chess Evolution)
    b) Beyond the basics (Build up your chess-Boost Your Chess-Chess Evolution)
    c) Mastery (Build up your chess-Boost Your Chess-Chess Evolution)

    I’m proud owner of the following books:

    a) Tigersprung auf DWZ 1500 / Band I & Band II
    b) Tigersprung auf DWZ 1800 / Band I & Band II
    c) Tigersprung auf DWZ 2100 / Band I & Band II

    Even I’m around Elo 2100 I intentionally bought all books in the series because I was astonished and shocked when I browsed trough the books. You wouldn’t believe it, but for example in “Tigersprung auf DWZ 1500 / Band I” you can find some hard exercises in the field of strategy/positional play, not to mention calculation. The title (1500-1800-2100) is definitely misleading and by my judgment it should be read 1700-2000-2200.

    By carefully studying all the books in the order which Mr. Yusupov advised me, from Tigersprung 1500 Band I-II-III and then move to the higher group, you’ll find out how much you have missed in your chess education. I have more than 100 books, but the Yusupov’s ones are THE CHESS BOOKS.

    Even your Elo flies over 2000+++ you’ll still need hours and hours just to complete the first book from the series, and if I calculate you are pitted against 9 books with:

    a) 216 lessons with explanation, clear positions, hints etc.;
    b) 2592 exercises to check if you grasped the lesson correctly;
    c) 216 final test exercises.

    Congratulations Jacob for translating into English!

    Maybe you can convince Arthur to start with “Tigersprung auf DWZ 2300” 🙂

  4. I certainly agree that the rating bounds put up by Artur are misleading, which is why we decided to throw them out for the English editions.

    I agree that the books are great – Boost your Chess 2 is by the way out in a blink…

  5. Relevant to the topic of Authors in Action: today in Round 4 of the Master Tournament in Biel, Switzerland is an all-Quality Chess clash. Christian “Play the Scandinavian” Bauer is White against Milos “Cutting Edge” Pavlovic. Both are on 3/3.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top