The British Championship is working up to a climax. The competition at the top is very close this year, with just three rounds to go. Normally at least 9 points /11 are needed to win the title. The current leader by half a point is Parker on 6.5, followed by Gormally and Nick Pert on 6, then a big bunch on 5.5.
 
Ketevan Arakhamia-Grant is in the group on 5.5 and looks in good form. I noticed that she has used her traditional Russian grounding in the Closed Spanish to pick up two valuable points with White, using a line favoured by Kasparov in his youth.
 
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. h3 d6 9. c3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 and now the immediate 12. d5 claiming space and blocking the position. Traditionally White keeps the tension here with 12 Nbd2 and only plays d5 if "provoked" e.g. by ...Nc6 or ...Bb7. However, with 12. d5 White avoids prepared lines and defines the type of middlegame that will follow. In the two games below, Arakhamia showed greater understanding of the resulting positions and used her tactical skills when opportunity offered.

Any views on the best ways for Black to respond to 12. d5? Taylor had the chance to prepare against this line and although he resisted better than Ashton he still appeared to get a very difficult game.
 
[Event "BCF-ch"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2006.08.14"]
[Round "7.11"]
[White "Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan"]
[Black "Ashton, Adam"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C97"]
[WhiteElo "2427"]
[BlackElo "2329"]
[PlyCount "79"]
[EventDate "2006.08.14"]
 
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 O-O 8. h3
d6 9. c3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 12. d5 Nc4 13. b3 Nb6 14. a4 Bd7 15. a5 Nc8
16. c4 Kh8 17. Nc3 Ng8 18. Ne2 g6 19. Bb2 Bf6 20. Nh2 Bg7 21. f4 bxc4 22. bxc4
Rb8 23. Bc3 Nh6 24. Nf3 exf4 25. Bxg7+ Kxg7 26. Nxf4 Rb4 27. Qd3 f6 28. Qc3 Nf7
29. Nd4 Re8 30. Nf5+ gxf5 31. Nh5+ Kf8 32. Qxf6 Re5 33. exf5 Be8 34. Rxe5 dxe5
35. Ng7 Bd7 36. Ne6+ Bxe6 37. fxe6 Rxc4 38. exf7 Qxf7 39. Qh8+ Qg8 40. Qxe5 1-0
 
[Event "BCF-ch"]
[Site "Swansea"]
[Date "2006.08.15"]
[Round "8"]
[White "Arakhamia-Grant, Ketevan"]
[Black "Taylor, Martin"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C97"]
[WhiteElo "2427"]
[BlackElo "2332"]
[PlyCount "123"]
[EventDate "2006.08.07"]
 
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3
O-O 9. h3 Na5 10. Bc2 c5 11. d4 Qc7 12. d5 Nc4 13. b3 Nb6 14. a4 Bd7 15. a5 Nc8
16. c4 b4 17. Nbd2 g6 18. Nf1 Nh5 19. Bh6 Ng7 20. g4 f6 21. Ng3 Rf7 22. Nh2 Bf8
23. f4 exf4 24. Bxf4 Ne7 25. Nf3 Re8 26. Qd3 Nc8 27. Kh2 Ree7 28. Rg1 Ne8 29.
Ra2 Bg7 30. Bb1 Rf8 31. Bc1 Ref7 32. Ne2 Qd8 33. Nf4 Nc7 34. h4 Bh8 35. Nh3 Ne7
36. Bh6 Bg7 37. Bf4 Bc8 38. h5 Re8 39. Bc1 Qd7 40. Nf4 Bh8 41. Rf2 Kf8 42. Qf1
Kg8 43. Kh1 Qd8 44. Qh3 g5 45. Ne2 Ref8 46. Ng3 Ne8 47. Ra2 Qd7 48. Nh2 Nc7 49.
h6 Ng6 50. Nf5 Qd8 51. Nf3 Ne8 52. Qh5 Ra7 53. Be3 Rff7 54. e5 fxe5 55. Nxg5
Nf6 56. Nxf7 Rxf7 57. Qg5 Kf8 58. Rf2 Ne7 59. Ng7 Neg8 60. Qh4 Bxg7 61. hxg7+
Kxg7 62. g5 1-0