SPARKASSEN CHESS TROPHY 2022 – Grandmaster finish by Declan!
SPARKASSEN CHESS TROPHY 2022
16th July to 24th July 2022
A – Open
UPDATE – Sunday 24th July 22
Result
Declan Shafi (2222) ½ – ½ (2478) GM Daniel Hausrath
What a hard fought fighting draw from both players! What a way for Declan to finish the tournament on a high against a Grandmaster!
The opening was a kind of anti-King`s Indian system? All was looking maybe bookish (I don’t know!) until GM Hausrath on move 26 looking to be going an exchange down, decided to sacrifice the whole rook for an attack on Declan`s King! 26.Nb6 Qg5?!
It did look deadly, but Declan found all the answers under pressure to repel his attack.
On move 30, GM Hausrath made a small error with Qh6?! This seemed to give Declan a big advantage, maybe even a winning one! Declan was a piece up for a pawn down.
The compensation for black seemed to be the Bishop pair and connected central pawns, but was that enough? Fritz wanted Declan to play 33.Nf4(Diagram below), and also liked pushing the “A” pawn up the board giving him more room for his rooks and of course the threat of promoting it later on.
Declan did play Nf4 but on move 37 which by then had lost most of it’s potency it seems (If I would know!).
Of course in all the thickets in the possible variations it’s expected that you will not always find the most accurate move as a human player and all the time pressure going on. Add in you are playing a Grandmaster who despite being behind was still finding ways to complicate the position. GM Hausrath was trying to get his central pawns rolling and by move 41 seemed to be beginning to get not only back into the game, but was looking good for the win now, maybe?
Now it seemed to me, Declan, was not only under time pressure, but on the board as well. Could he hold the position? Well the answer to that was an overwhelming yes as he defended with all his might with GM Hausrath throwing everything he had at Declan including the kitchen sink (German made off course!) to force the win! Declan under pressure held fast had seemed to find the right moves and by move 49 they were all square material wise and it seemed position wise as well, and a few moves later a draw was agreed.
What a game! What an ending!
Declan in this match showed us his potential to compete at this level. His defensive skills at the end and under pressure were amazing! He may have been the “Smiling Assassin” in his early days at Castlehill, but now he’s more like “Cool Hand Declan”!
Declan might be exhausted after that tussle, but so am I! Great game to watch!
Declan finished on 5½ points and in equal 30th on points and in 45th place after tie-break. Fantastic performance from Declan! I hope he enjoyed it as much as we did and he deserves a rest now to recover from his ordeal! That tournament will have made him a better player and I bet he learnt a lot from it!
For more info, results and standings, click the link’s below.
Official website Participants Pairings/Results Standings Chess.com Lichess.org Facebook