SCOTTISH CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2022 Round 4 update!

SCOTTISH CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP 2022
Chess Scotland in conjunction with Edinburgh Chess Club`s Bicentennial celebrations, the 127^th Scottish Chess Championship will be held at Edinburgh Chess Club, 1 Alva Street, Edinburgh.

2^nd July to 10^th July 22 – 9 day event

Time-Control: 90 minutes + 30 second’s increments from move one.

UPDATE: Tues 5^th July – Round 4

Well there may have been 5 draws out of 8 matches, but this was anything but tame!

White	Results	Black

 

1	FM Berry, Neil (2) 2288	½ – ½	FM Burnett, A. (2½) 2231
2	IM Dunnington (1½) 2378	½ – ½	FM Abdulla, M. (2½) 2287
3	FM Morrison, G. (2) 2223	½ – ½	IM Bryson, D. M. (1½) 2329
4	FM Ruxton, Keith (1½) 2316	½ – ½	IM Pritchett, C. (1½) 2248
5	IM Orr, Mark J L (1) 2080	½ – ½	Koehn, L. (2) 2098
6	IM McKay, R. M. (1½) 2203	1 – 0	Stevenson, J. (1) 1984
7	McKay, J. (½) 1897	0 – 1	Maxwell, D. (1½) 2091
8	Farrell, Neil (0) 2165	0 – 1	Madhavan, S. (½) 1728

 

Good wins for IM McKay & Maxwell, but the shock of the round has to be Sanjith Madhavan (1728) beating Neil Farrell (2165)! Neil is struggling at the moment but I am sure he will bounce back and may yet have a say in this tournament! Sanjith on the other hand must be “walking on air”!

 

The draws at the top of the leader board keeps everybody more or less in the same place.

Leader board (no tie-breaks)

1=FM Andrew Burnett & FM Abdulla Muird 3 points each.
3^rd=FM Neil Berry; Lennart Koehn; Daniel Mawell; FM Graham Morrison & IM Roddy McKay 2½ points each.

Still very close and a long way to go!

The game of the round for me (It was the one I was watching!) was between former Scottish Champion FM Neil Berry (2288) and our friend, FM Andrew Burnett (2231). If you had asked Andrew Burnett if he would have accepted a draw with black against Neil, I am sure he would have said yes! They did draw but I feel Andrew might be feeling a little disappointed that he did not convert his advantage to a win and lead the tournament outright!

It was a close match at the start with white having a slight edge but nothing more. But as Andrew started to push his queenside “a” pawn down the board, things got a lot more interesting to say the least! Neil did not react well, or maybe thought there was nothing to worry about, but I think there was! By move 16 Andrew  seemed to be getting the better of the action and indeed (might be wrong?), I thought and more importantly, the computer thought he had a clear advantage after Neil made what looked like a mistake with 23. Qd2?! This turned into a very complicated position with many possible ways to win or go wrong! It was way above my head, but great to watch! The computers had Andrew with a clear advantage from about move 22. It was a question of finding the right moves to convert that advantage. With Neil playing 22.Qd2, the computer said 22….Bxd5 is the move! Andrew decided to push the “B” pawn to b5, still good! What do you think?

After 22.Qd2 b5 23. cxe4 Nxe4?!

Neil took the Bishop on e4 and once again the computer gave Andrew a clear advantage if he played 23….b4!? He did not and took back with Nxe4 and immediately the computer went wild and gave white the winning advantage! What a turn around! From then on, it was Andrew fighting to stay in the match and as he said, “What an adventure!” Both players fighting hard, Neil trying to find the winning combination and Andrew to find the best defence to survive!

In the end a draw was made and both players given the ups and downs of the game would have been happy with that, but opportunities to win were missed on both sides. Now that’s what I call a game of chess! Thank you both and well played the both of you!

 

Can’t wait for round 5!

For all the games and standings, click the links below and read on McDuff!

 

Chess Scotland    Chess24 Live games