14th April, 2003

GRANDMASTER Paul Motwani looks to be heading for a seventh national
title at the 110th Scottish Championships taking place at George
Heriot's School in Edinburgh, as the defending champion and top seed
takes a crucial half point lead over nearest rival Woman Grandmaster
Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant, going into the final round.

In round seven, Motwani easily mowed down Alan Grant to extend his lead
at the top, as Arakhamia-Grant drew with IM Craig Pritchett. In the
penultimate round, with a win over the hapless Alan Grant,
Arakhamia-Grant cut Motwani's lead back again to half a point after he
drew with long-standing Dundonian rival GM Colin McNab - their 54th
meeting in competitive play, Motwani now ahead by 3 in their personal
duel by a score of 28.5-25.5.

With the title at stake in the final round, Motwani has white against
Anglo-Irish IM Mark Orr, and Arakhamia-Grant, vying to be the first
female to win the national title, also has white against McNab.
While the natural order of things has been restored at the top after
sixteenth seed Graeme Kafka sensationally led the tournament at the
midway point, he continues to be the revelation of this year's
Championship. In round seven, Kafka defeated Orr and went on to draw
with Iain Gourlay to be firmly placed in third behind the leaders going
into the final round - and crucially a full point ahead of the rest of
the field.

Having played four of the five titled players in the tournament, Kafka
has turned in a 2400+ performance so far, and now only needs a win in
the final round against good friend(!) Joe Redpath to unbelievably
record his first International Master norm.

Fortune favoured the lucky in round seven, when our hero beat Orr from
an inferior position to prove that old adage that when you're on a roll,
you're on a roll. Instead of 26 ..a4?, Orr was winning after 26 ..Bb5!
27 Kg3 Qe1.

Standings after Round 8: 1 GM P Motwani 6.5/8; 2 WGM K Arakhamia-Grant
6; 3 G Kafka 5.5; 4-6 GM C McNab, IM C Pritchett, I Gourlay 4.5; 7-13 IM
M Orr, A Grant, J Grant, J Redpath, M Fraser, I Robertson, A Burnett 4;
14 J Stevenson 3.5; 15-17 E Spencer, S Brown, C MacDonald 2.5; 18 G
MacArainn 1.5

G Kafka - M Orr
110th Scottish Ch., (7)
French Advanced
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 c5 4 c3 Nc6 5 Nf3 Bd7 6 Be2 Nge7 7 Na3 cxd4 8 cxd4
Nf5 9 Nc2 Qb6 10 0-0 a5 11 Kh1 Nb4 12 Be3 Be7 13 g4 Nxe3 14 fxe3 0-0 15
Na3 Rac8 16 Qd2 Rc7 17 Rfc1 Rfc8 18 Rxc7 Rxc7 19 h4 Nc2 20 Nxc2 Qxb2 21
Bd3 Rxc2 22 Qxc2 Qxa1+ 23 Kg2 g6 24 h5 gxh5 25 Bxh7+ Kg7 26 gxh5 a4 27
Bd3 Bc6 28 Qf2 a3 29 Qg3+ Kf8 30 h6 Qxa2+ 31 Kh3 Qa1 32 h7 Qh1+ 33 Nh2
1-0

JOHN B HENDERSON