The Scottish Championship is almost certainly the oldest continuously running chess event in the world.
The first Championship was held in 1884 and this event was the 116th.
This year's event which included an International Open lived up to it’s billing with most of Scotland's top players competing but also entries from Grandmasters as far away as India.
For amateur chess players and interested parties alike there was the opportunity to see chess being played at the highest level and for the serious/aspiring player the chance to take the first steps to becoming one of the world's elite players as title norms will be available.
The Championship received terrific support from The City of Edinburgh Council helping to celebrate Scotland’s capital city in the Year of the Homecoming.
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Highlights
Intrepid reporter Macauley Peterson of ICC ChessFM provided consumate coverage of the event with highlights below -
A small detour off the beaten path took Chess.FM to Edinburgh for the Scottish Championship last week, for which we've just completed a trio of posts on the blog (www.Chess.fm/blog).
The latest is a video interview with the winner, GM Arun Prasad, of Salem, India, who knocked off his friend and compatriot, GM Magesh Chandra Panchanathan in the final round to earn the GBP £1,200.00 first prize.
Next, the highest scoring Scot was an unlikely fellow, FM Iain Gourlay, the fourteenth seed, who nevertheless finished ahead of five Scottish GMs to earn the national title.
And a bonus audio interview with the young Islandic FM Gudmundur Kjartansson, who earned his first GM norm in Edinburgh during a fantastic run that included wins over GMs Prasad, Panchanathan and Colin McNab, and an exciting last round draw with GM Mark Hebden. Kudos to Kjartansson for turning down a Hebden draw offer in the middlegame and playing on, even though a draw would have sealed his norm.
All three were smiling, with no daggers spared.
-Macauley Peterson
