1998 'Turnkey' (9th) East Kilbride Open, Court Suite & Ballerup Hall, East Kilbride Civic Centre, 1-3 May

		Fed	Elo	1	2	3	4	5	Total
1	Julian M Hodgson	ENG	2590g	b17+	w5+	b7=	w12+	b2+	4½
2	Bogdan Lalic	CRO	2545g	w14+	b8+	w3+	b4+	w1-	4
3	John K Shaw	SCO	2375f	b13+	w15+	b2-	w10+	b7+	4
4	Colin A McNab	SCO	2480g	w16+	b10+	b23+	w2-	w11+	4
5	Alan G Grant	SCO	2195	w32+	b1-	w14+	b9=	w18+	3½
6	James A Stevenson	SCO	2030	b20-	w24+	b25=	w23+	w8+	3½
7	Stephen R Mannion	SCO	2335m	w25+	b9+	w1=	b11=	w3-	3
8	David A Yuill	SCO	2065	b30+	w2-	b16+	w15+	b6-	3
9	Robert Mitchell	SCO	2005	b22+	w7-	b21+	w5=	b12=	3
10	Graeme Nolan	SCO	2030	w27+	w4-	b26+	b3-	w19+	3
11	Alan J Norris	SCO	2230	b24+	w20=	b19+	w7=	b4-	3
12	Jannic Konarski	SCO	1875	bye=	w18+	b20+	b1-	w9=	3
13	Alexander Nitschke	GER	1925	w3-	b21-	w24+	b28+	b23+	3
14	James Doyle	SCO	1975	b2-	w30+	b5-	w21+	b17=	2½
15	Richard Wiltshire	SCO	2010	w21+	b3-	w28+	b8-	w16=	2½
16	Steven A Brown	SCO	1950	b4-	w27+	w8-	b22+	b15=	2½
17	Christopher Briscoe	ENG	1970	w1-	b32-	w31+	b26+	w14=	2½
18	John B Henderson	SCO	2025	bye=	b12-	w29+	w20+	b5-	2½
19	Kevin Strathern	SCO	1805	bye=	b31+	w11-	w25+	b10-	2½
20	Kenneth Malkin	SCO	1820	w6+	b11=	w12-	b18-	w26=	2
21	David G Hall	SCO	1820	b15-	w13+	w9-	b14-	w30+	2
22	James P R Kleboe	SCO	1820	w9-	b25-	bye+	w16-	b31+	2
23	Scott A Crockart	ENG	1875	bye=	b29+	w4-	b6-	w13-	1½
24	Philip S Muir	SCO	1885	w11-	b6-	b13-	bye+	w28=	1½
25	Michael Harkins	SCO	1885	b7-	w22+	w6=	b19-		1½ / 4
26	Eoin S Campbell	SCO	1895	bye=	b28=	w10-	w17-	b20=	1½
27	Michael J Roth	SCO	1825	b10-	b16-	w30=	w31=	b29=	1½
28	Paul Watt	SCO	1810	bye=	w26=	b15-	w13-	b24=	1½
29	Ian Aird	SCO	1905	bye=	w23-	b18-	b30=	w27=	1½
30	Michael Hoffmann	GER	1860	w8-	b14-	b27=	w29=	b21-	1
31	George N Crockart	ENG	1895	bye=	w19-	b17-	b27=	w22-	1
32	Stephen H Hilton	SCO	1875	b5-	w17+				1 / 2

n.b. the above crosstable has been derived from the game file, supplemented with half-point and full-point byes which I have assumed to have taken place (half-points in round 1 and full points after a player dropped out and created an odd number of players) - JS

---

[The following is a report by John Henderson posted on the original 4NCL website, May 1998...]

THE "grandmaster of disaster", Julian Hodgson, fresh from his first place at the Las Vegas Open, lived up to his reputation at the weekend, taking the Turnkey Open first prize of £500 at the 9th East Kilbride Congress.

In the past the East Kilbride Congress has proved to be a happy hunting ground for the popular London GM. In 1996 Hodgson took first place after defeating the computer program Fritz, entered by tournament sponsors Turnkey, in the final round.

The top-spot at East Kilbride this year completes the first leg of his Scottish "world tour". This weekend he's one of the favourites to win the £600 first prize at the Aberdeen Congress. In between the two congresses, Hodgson will be "working" his way up to Aberdeen by playing in three club simultaneouses. His first port of call was at Stirling Chess Club on Monday; on Wednesday he appears at Glasgow Polytechnic and finally Bon Accord on Thursday.

Turnkey Open: (1) GM J Hodgson (Streatham) 4½/5; (2-4) GM B Lalic (Slough), GM C McNab (Dundee), FM J Shaw (Kilmarnock) 4.

Lanarkshire Supercounty Major: (1-4) J Parks (Kilmarnock), S Robinson (Ardrossan), D Gillespie (Crowwood), J Docherty (Kilmarnock) 4/5.

Bank of Scotland Minor: (1) F Murray (Cambuslang) 4½/5; (2-4) J McCall (Giffnock), G Thompson (Livingston), A Goodall (Bearsden) 4.

President's: (1) G Kerr (Livingston) 4½/5; (2-5) D Watt (Balerno), P Girdwood (Wester Hails), G Proctor (Holy Cross), J Fay (Cathcart) 4.

Playing against fellow GM, Bogdan Lalic in the last round, Hodgson was fortuitous to receive the full-point after Lalic, who had been in a difficult position, committed the chess equivalent of hara-kiri. Hodgson was expecting the stunning drawing retort of 23 Nxh5 gxh5 24 e5 Bg4 25 exf6 Bxd1 26 Rxd1 e6 27 Kb2 a4 28 Ba2 Rc5 29 Rd4 Rf5 30 c4. Instead, Lalic blundered badly with 23 e5 gifting Hodgson first place.

---

TALKING to GM Julian Hodgson after the prize-giving ceremony at the recent East Kilbride Congress, I asked the tournament winner what was his best move of the weekend. In typical Hodgson fashion, and with a smile on the genial GM's face, he replied: "The 'Swiss Gambit' in round three!"

Before you go scuttling off to check all five volumes of the "Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings", in order to find out a bit more about this new opening, I'll save you the time; you won't find it there. It doesn't exist as a chess opening!

The 'Swiss Gambit' is a ploy used mainly by tournament professionals in order to avoid an early clash with a strong opponent - in Hodgson's case, Lalic on Sunday morning - thus having a tougher tussle under the Swiss System used for making the pairings. Of course, being a gambit, it does involve a form of sacrifice. And, with Hodgson, it was agreeing a draw in the Saturday afternoon third round pairing with IM Steve Mannion.

The stamina-sapping schedule of a weekend Swiss tournament meant that Lalic, who was the only player on 4/4 and getting the tougher pairings, was feeling physically drained going into the decisive last round encounter with Hodgson, and duly lost.

In the last three rounds of the tournament Lalic, being a half-point ahead of Hodgson, faced the tougher opponents: John Shaw in round three, GM Colin McNab in round four and Hodgson in round five. Meanwhile, and with all respects to the players involved, Hodgson had the easier pairings: IM Steve Mannion in round three (where the Gambit was employed), Jannic Konarski in round four, and finally meeting Lalic in round five.

Of course, for the ploy to succeed, the onus is on the gambiteer, who then has to play all out for a win in the last round, like Julian Hodgson.

Whilst Julian Hodgson was having a relatively easy time of it against Jannic Konarski in round four, Lalic meanwhile had to defeat GM Colin McNab. [score given - see download]

---

File Updated

Date	Notes
May 1998	First posted as a report by John Henderson on the original 4NCL website with two game scores.
28 September 2026	All 73 games from the Open first posted on BritBase. Games and ratings from the Chess Scotland website.