The 118th Scottish Championship

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 a6 3. f4 b5 4. Nf3 e6 5. e5 {Giving the Knight a square on e4.} 5... Bb7 6. d3 d6 7. exd6 Bxd6 8. Ne4 Be7 9. Be2 Nf6 {Black has developed a piece with a pawn winning threat. There is no comfortable way to hold the pawn so White exchanges. Black has equalised White's theoretical first move plus.} 10. Nxf6+ Bxf6 11. O-O Nc6 12. Ng5 Nd4 13. c3 Nxe2+ 14. Qxe2 Bxg5 {Not sure about this one. The position was shaping itself up nicely for the two Bishops. 14...0-0 and if White was worried about 15.Qh5 he need not be as 15...Qxd3 bags a good pawn and hold h7.} 15. fxg5 O-O 16. Bf4 {Good. In opposite coloured Bishop Middlegame with the Queens on attack. This chappie is headed for e5.} 16... Qd5 17. Be5 Rad8 18. Rf3 Rd7 19. Raf1 {I like this, White's attack looks far easier to play and tossing the a-pawn overboard means he is now committed.} 19... Qxa2 20. Rh3 Qd5 21. Rf4 {It's all looking uncomfortable for Black here. White's attack is playing itself. Black now tries to cloud the waters. Good or bad I think Black has to play his next move else the White attack will just be a 'tap in.'} 21... f5 22. gxf6 g6 23. Rg3 {One door closes, the attack on h7. Another opens, the hot-spot is now g6 and h4-h5 is coming.} 23... Rff7 {With the idea of running the King to f8 but...} 24. h4 Rf8 {...a clear sign things have gone to pot. Attackers can mess about a bit, never defenders.} 25. h5 Kf7 26. hxg6+ hxg6 {Now the tricks appear. 27.Rxg6 works. White went the sure way.} 27. Rh4 Rg8 28. Rh7+ Kf8 29. Rgh3 g5 {As good (or as bad) as anything. } 30. Rg7 Rdxg7 31. fxg7+ Ke7 32. Rh8 {Black has seen enough.}

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nc3 e6 4. g3 b6 5. Bg2 Bb7 6. O-O Be7 7. Re1 d6 8.e4 Nbd7 9. d4 cxd4 10. Nxd4 Qc7 11. Ndb5 Qc8 12. f4 O-O 13. e5 dxe5 14.fxe5 Bc5+ 15. Be3 Bxg2 16. exf6 Qb7 17. Bxc5 bxc5 18. fxg7 Rfd8 {White now puts together some good moves to claim the Black King is under more pressure than the White King. I'm glad he did because up until here I having a wee spot of bother deciding who was better and who was attacking who.} 19. Nd6 Qc6 20. Nce4 Bxe4 21. Nxe4 {Black's next is a blunder that invites White in. It's difficult but Black needs to place some seeds of doubt in White's mind. A confident 22...f5 and live with the weak pawn on e6 after Ng5. Perhaps Rab8 first as White cannot allow Rxb2 due to the mate threat on g2.} 21... Kxg7 22. Qg4+ Kh8 {Black had to try 22..Kf8. though even there the future looks grim.} 23. Ng5 Rf8 24. Qh4 {Now Black realises the intended 24..Nf6 fails to 25.Qh6 so the King makes a forlorn dash for the Queenside. The rest is easy to understand.} 24... Kg7 25. Qxh7+ Kf6 26. Rf1+ Ke7 27. Rxf7+ Rxf7 28. Qxf7+ Kd8 29. Nxe6+ Kc8 30. Rd1 Rb8 {Nothing works. The game is over.} 31. Qe8+ Kb7 32. Rxd7+ Ka6 33. Rxa7+ {The smart wrap up was 33.Qxb8 and mate in a few. Black resigned.}

1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 exf4 {Playable 4...d5! is the recommended response.} 4. e5 Qe7 5. Qe2 Ng8 6. d4 Qh4+ {An interesting moment for White, he has a lead in development but has to make a King move to try and capitalise on it. It's either that or 7.Qf2 and the Queens come off.} 7. Kd1 g5 {Black is running the Queen around as the only developed piece and is now hanging on grimly to the gambit pawn. Attacking players lick their lips and prime themselves for the alert shots.} 8. Nf3 Qh6 9.g3 {This looks good but meets another opening principle breaking move, too many pawn moves, this mixes up the game good and proper.} 9..g4 10. Bxf4 {White perhaps trusting the fact that sooner or later his lead in development will lead to something sacs a piece. Yes, it's all done with judgement, calcualtion of all the possible moves are beyond us.} 10...gxf3 11. Qxf3 Qc6 {This stab at getting the Queens off meets the expected response 11...Qb6 right away was better.} 12. d5 Qb6 13. Bc4 {With a masked attack on f7, the perennial target if one side is lacking in development.} 13..Qd4+ {More broken rules, this is the Queen's 6th move in the opening but at least it knocks the Bishop off f7.} 14. Bd3 {Now Black although a piece up is seriously lagging in the pieces out department. He knows his postion is hanging by a thread and perhaps only a Korchnoi could wriggle out of this. Guided by principles he goes for a piece swap and his position goes belly up.} 14..Bh6 15. Bxh6 Nxh6 16. Qf6 Rf8 {It get worse, Black is seeing ghosts hitting f7. Although anything he does now the piece has been won back leaves him with an awful position.} 17. Nb5 {But White is not interested in winning back the piece. He is after bigger game.} 17..Qb6 18. Nd6+ {Well spotted.} 18..cxd6 19. Re1 Rg8 {nothing else works, this sets up a neat finish.} 20.exd6+ Kf8 21.Re8+ {Black resigned 21...KxR 22.Qe7 mate.}

1. e4 Nc6 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bc4 e5 4. d4 exd4 5. O-O
Nf6 6. Ng5 {Now the best move for Black is 6...Ne5 holding f7 and hitting the c4 Bishop}6..d5 {This leads to all kinds of trouble.} 7. exd5 Na5 {This belongs in another variation where White has not castled and the e-file is not open. Black has got lines all crossed up.} 8. Qe1+ {The a5 Knight is gone, Black resigned a few moves later.}