11th April, 2003

THE Boys Own stuff performance of Graeme Kafka at the 110th Scottish
Championships came to a dramatic halt in round five, as reality set in
for the overnight leader with his first loss of the tournament.

Facing WGM Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant in the top board clash of the round,
Kafka soon reverted to type as he found himself being outplayed by one
of the world's leading female players who ended his remarkable unbeaten
run. Despite the set back, the turnaround in Kafka's performance this
year has to be compared with last year's Scottish Championships in
Stirling, when he finished the tournament on the same point's haul he
has now: 3.5/9!

Arakhamia-Grant's victory gives her a share of first place on 4/5 as the
tournament reaches the decisive stages - and opens the possibility of
the Edinburgh-based Georgian internationalist becoming the first female
player to win the national title. She's joined in the top spot by
defending champion Paul Motwani, whose spectacular knight sacrifice made
short work of former champion IM Craig Pritchett.

With both leaders having already played each other, the race for the
2003 title will now depend on their performance against the rest of the
field. In round six, Motwani will have black on top board against Iain
Gourlay, while Arakhamia-Grant - who just may find herself facing
husband Jonathan Grant in the run-in for the title! - faces Anglo-Irish
IM Mark Orr.

Standings after Round 5: 1-2 GM P Motwani, WGM K Arakhamia-Grant 4/5; 3
G Kafka 3.5; 4-8 IM M Orr, IM C Pritchett, I Gourlay, A Grant, M Fraser
3; 9-11 GM C McNab, J Grant, I Robertson 2.5; 12-14 E Spencer, J
Redpath, S Brown 2; 15-16 A Burnett, J Stevenson 1.5; 17-18 C MacDonald,
D MacArainn 1.

P Motwani - C Pritchett
110th Scottish Ch., (5)
English Hedgehog
1 Nf3 Nf6 2 g3 b6 3 Bg2 Bb7 4 0-0 e6 5 c4 c5 6 Nc3 Be7 7 Re1 d6 8 e4 a6
9 d4 cxd4 10 Nxd4 Qc7 11 Be3 0-0 12 Rc1 Nbd7 13 f4 Rfe8 14 g4 g6 15 g5
Nh5 16 Nde2 f5 17 exf5 gxf5 18 Nd5 exd5 19 Bxd5+ Bxd5 20 Qxd5+ Kh8 21
Bd4+ Ng7 22 Ng3 Ne5 23 fxe5 dxe5 24 Bxe5 Qc5+ 25 Kg2 Qxd5+ 26 cxd5 Bxg5
27 Rc6 1-0

JOHN B HENDERSON