8th April, 2003

IT may be the early stages of the 110th Scottish Championships as the
national flagship event reaches the second round at George Heriot's
School in Edinburgh, but already defending champion Paul Motwani looks
odds-on to capture his seventh title.

In round two, Motwani, one of a group of four overnight leaders on full
points, effortlessly moved on to 2/2 after beating first round hero Ian
Robertson of Dunfermline, surprise victor over second seed and four-time
champion Colin McNab in the opening round.

Motwani is now joined at the top on full points by one of Scotland's top
junior's Graeme Kafka, who beat Ed Spencer. Both players must now play
in round three in a forced pairing - Motwani looking the more likely to
overcome any "trial" set by Kafka to progress in the tournament to 3/3.

After his opening round shock, McNab's agony in the tournament continued
after he was held to a draw in round two by Edinburgh junior Joe
Redpath, and the second seed has now fallen 1.5-points off the pace set
by the early leaders.

Standings: 1-2 GM P Motwani, G Kafka 2/2; 3-6 WGM K Arakhamia-Grant, IM
M Orr, I Gourlay, M Fraser 1.5; 7-11 IM C Pritchett, J Grant, E Spencer,
I Robertson, G MacArainn 1; 12-17 GM C McNab, J Redpath, S Brown, A
Burnett, J Stevenson, C MacDonald 0.5; 18 A Grant 0.

In the opening round, Motwani's "caveman" tactics quickly saw off the
spirited challenge of Joe Redpath, who saw his pet-line of the Prybil
System being ruthlessly savaged by Scotland's first grandmaster. In the
game, taking on c2 with the bishop may have been better - but
nevertheless just as dangerous: 14 ..Bxc2 15 f5 Re8 16 Nf4 Bd6 17 Ne6
Bd3 18 Rf2 and this isn't the sort of position you would like to defend
as black against Motwani.

P Motwani - J Redpath
110th Scottish Ch., (1)
Prybil System
1 d4 d6 2 e4 Nf6 3 Nc3 c6 4 f4 Qa5 5 e5 Ne4 6 Qf3 d5 7 Bd3 Na6 8 Nge2 f5
9 exf6 exf6 10 Bxe4 dxe4 11 Qxe4+ Kf7 12 0-0 Bf5 13 Qf3 Nb4 14 g4 Nxc2
15 gxf5 Nxa1 16 Bd2 Nb3 17 axb3 Qxf5 18 Ng3 Qc2 19 Nce4 Qxb2 20 Ng5+
fxg5 21 fxg5+ Ke8 22 Qe2+ Be7 23 Nf5 1-0

JOHN B HENDERSON