IM Martin Haubro is a new champion of Denmark. The 28-year-old IM netted 7/9 (no draws!), won his maiden national title and picked up impressive 61 rating points. With this result, Martin completed his first GM norm.

The Danish Championship (Masters), a 10-player round-robin tournament with classical time control, took place from April 9-17 in Svendborg, a small town that has hosted this event for the last three years. The town Mayor Bo Hansen opened the tournament by making a symbolic first move  Lars Schandorff's - Bjørn Møller Ochsner.

Danish championships are known for competitive spirit and close fights, and the 2022 edition was no exception. The future champion suffered a setback in the first-round game against GM Jesper Sondergaard Thybo (pictured below) but stormed back by scoring six straight victories and grabbed the lead. His main competitor Thybo who also had an excellent tournament, kept the pace with Haubro until the decisive final round.

With both leaders sitting on 6/8, Haubro was in better a position coming into the final round as he faced Martin Percivaldi with white, whereas Thybo took on Bjorn Moller Ochsner with black pieces. Haubro made a quick work of his namesake Percivaldi and had to wait for the outcome of Ochner – Thybo.

Had Jesper Sondergaard won this game, he would have become champion thanks to his first-round victory over Haubro (the first tiebreaker criteria). Thybo obtained a slight edge on the black side of the Berlin System of Ruy Lopez but did not manage to make progress, drew the longest game of the round and fell just a half-point short of the title. The runner-up completed the event unbeaten and became the only player to defeat the champion.

The rating-favourite of the event and the only 2600+ player GM Jonas Buhl Bjerre (pictured below) turned in a decent performance but lost two games and had to settle for bronze.

Final standings:

Offical website: skak-dm.dk/2022

Photo: Thomas Vestergård