Declan Chan wins the Caissa Winter Standard League

20 players gathered on 11 January  to compete in the Caissa Sunday Winter Standard U1800. This time the majority of participants were youth players, many of them also experienced tournament players by now.

The first round knew no surprises with all rating favorites doing their jobs. This set up some interesting matches in the second round. Ernest Liu got the black pieces against Lincoln Or. After tenaciously defending, he took over the advantage and played a good endgame to score the full point. Shayne Meng was paired with Jonas Lau and managed to set up a pin where Jonas never really could escape from.

Chess in full acton!

A week later, rounds three and four were scheduled. On the first board, Aravind Mahadevan took on Caissa talent Declan Chan with no luck. Declan managed to overcome Aravind and took the sole lead as Shayne and Ernest held the balance in their confrontation, agreeing to a draw.

Declan now faced Ernest and played a beautiful attacking game, even sacrificing his queen! He could’ve probably won somewhat faster at some point, but winning he did! On the second board, Shayne made sure he stayed in striking distance of Declan with a nice win over Lincoln Or. With these results the blockbuster of Shayne vs Declan has been set, just before a two-week break. Both players got plenty of time to prepare themselves!

Shayne vs Declan

1 February, the final match day has arrived. The much anticipated game between Shayne and Declan delivered and was a very long and hard fought battle, lasting until deep in time trouble for both players. It was Declan who controlled his nerves better in the end and managed to extend his winning streak to five games.

With 1 more game, there was still a lot to play for. Hoi Cheung Wong was trailing Declan at 4/5, along with Aravind.

Second place Hoi Cheung Wong

Declan with his first place trophy - still somewhat sad about his last round loss

Even a last round loss against Hoi Cheung couldn’t change the standings anymore, Declan clinched first place with 5/6 and kept the title within Caissa. Congratulations Declan!

With this win, Hoi Cheung took the second place trophy home. In third place, we can find Aravind who held Shayne to a draw to stay ahead of him

Relive the tournament with some pictures here: