Scottish Championships - Steve Smith and Neil Irving

Dave Hewitt writes:- Steve and Neil played in the 122nd Scottish championships which ended last weekend. The event was held at Stewart's Melville school in Edinburgh - very swish, and a pleasant venue from what I could see during my visit one afternoon. It was a nine-day open, with around 100 players.

Both Stirling players did pretty well in what was a strong competition. Steve scored 50% with a tournament performance of 1769, and finished with a win (game below) which is always nice. Neil managed 4/9 although one of his points came via a default against an opponent who didn't appear due to illness. Neil's tournament performance was 1725, and although he tailed off a bit at the end he did have one great result, drawing with the Edinburgh-based Irish IM Mark Orr in round 4, despite a grading gap of over 450 points. It could have been even better - Neil had the IM completely on the run with a tremendous attack, and missed a mate-in-three.

Irving - Orr

Thanks also to Steve for providing his last round game, where he had White against Vipin Zamvar of Edinburgh.

Smith - Zamvar

Black resigned after 22 Qxh7+ with 22 ... Kg5 23 Qh5#.