10th April, 2003

THE surprise package of this year's Scottish Championships taking place
at George Heriot's School in Edinburgh has unquestionably been that of
Scotland's top junior Graeme Kafka, and the success story continues as
he now moves into the sole lead in the tournament.

With the four overnight leaders tied in first place on 2.5/3, all had to
play each other in round four. The all-title clash on top board between
defending champion GM Paul Motwani and WGM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant, one
of the world's top female players, proved to be a lively sacrificial
encounter that, despite the excitement, ended in a draw.

On the next board, however, Kafka again proved to be in inspired form as
he literally blew his opponent, Mark Fraser, off the board with a
devastating sacrificial attack to win the game. Undefeated on 3.5/4,
the win now gives Kafka an unlikely half point lead over the field as
the tournament reaches its midway point. To show the remarkable
turnaround in Kafka's performance this year, we only have to look at
last year's Scottish Championships in Stirling, when he finished the
tournament on the same point's haul he has now: 3.5/9!

Kafka will now play Arakhamia-Grant in the top board clash of round
five. On board two, defending champion Motwani will play IM Craig
Pritchett, who has now moved back to Scotland from London, and is making
a much welcomed return to the national tournament. Pritchett, whose one
and only title win was in 1977 in Glasgow, moved into contention as he
joined the chasing pack of Motwani and Arakhamia-Grant on 3-points after
beating Ed Spencer.

Standings: 1 G Kafka 3.5/4; 2-4 GM P Motwani, WGM K Arakhamia, IM C
Pritchett 3; 5-6 I Gourlay, M Fraser 2.5; 7-12 GM C McNab, IM M Orr, A
Grant, J Grant, E Spencer, J Redpath 2; 13-14 I Robertson, A Burnett
1.5; 15-17 S Brown, C MacDonald, G MacArainn 1; J Stevenson 0.5

G Kafka - M Fraser
110th Scottish Ch., (4)
Advanced French
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 c5 4 c3 Nc6 5 Nf3 Qb6 6 a3 Bd7 7 Be2 c4 8 Nbd2 Na5
9 g3 f6 10 0-0 Nh6 11 Re1 Nf7 12 Bf1 0-0-0 13 Bh3 f5 14 Qe2 Re8 15 Nf1
Nb3 16 Rb1 Nxc1 17 Rexc1 g5 18 Bg2 g4 19 N3d2 Bh6 20 Ne3 Bxe3 21 Qxe3
Qc6 22 b3 b5 23 bxc4 bxc4 24 Rb4 Qa6 25 Rcb1 Bc6 26 Qe2 Nd8 27 Qe3 h6 28
f3 gxf3 29 Qxf3 Qxa3 30 Rb8+ Kc7 31 Nxc4 dxc4 32 Qxc6+ 1-0

JOHN B HENDERSON