Original Post: https://globalchessnews.com/sa-open-22-round-5-recap

Things are starting to heat up… Well not in the way we expected them but they are heating up!

Round 5 had blockbuster matches at the top and we also saw elite players who dropped points fighting to get back up.

Daniel Cawdery VS Dante Beukes

The main match of the round was obviously SA Number 1 IM Daniel Cawdery vs Namibia Number 1 IM Dante Beukes.

Going into this round IM Dante Beukes was the sole leader of the event. Of course, IM Daniel Cawdery was part of the chasing pack half a point behind.

So yes we got 24 consecutive top engine moves from both of them!

Ridiculous right? Well, that’s what it takes to be an elite player you have to prep 20+ moves just to match up to the other elites.

If not you probably going to fall into prep and lose the match. A top game similar to this game can be found here:https://lichess.org/9HSl2SDP(Radjabov vs Giri)

During the match, we even saw an exchange sacrifice from IM Dante Beukes. Both players were evenly matched and I believe(I didn’t include you) that the draw was well deserved for both players.

Charlton Mnyasta VS Michael Simpson

Someone who keeps on impressing us is FM-Elect Michael Simpson. In this tournament, he is proving to us that he didn’t get the provisional FM title for no reason.

He was paired up against Charlton Mnyasta on board two.

All it took was 13 moves and Michael Simpson had the advantage over his opponent in a Sicilian line.

As the game continued, Simpson’s advantage just continued increasing.

He came into the match we’ll prepare and he got the win. With this win, he is tied for first place with IM Dante Beukes.

Karabo Teeke VS CM Bouah Lyndon

A fight for third place occurred as Karabo Teeke was paired against CM Bouah Lyndon.

SouhAfricanFox(Karabo Teeke) as he is called on lichess.org has gained a fan base on the platform since his victory over CM Keith Khumalo.

Whilst his fans on lichess.org were expecting him to convert yet another match, this wasn’t the case this time around.

CM Bouah Lyndon had plans of his own, and he showed them as early as move 11 when he gained a +1 advantage.

Stockfish states that this advantage just kept on increasing and when you see the final result… The machine was correct.

With this result CM Lyndon is now tied for 3rd place with a few other monsters.

FM Calvin Klaasen VS Xolani Mathebula

Another match that stood out in the round, was of course FM Calvin Klaasen against Xolani Mathebula.

Xolani Mathebula has been the tournament’s giant slayer and this was another giant for him to slay.

Well… Unfortunately, that didn’t occur in this match as time pressure left Xolani with a sour taste in his mouth.

He had the upper hand for most of the match but just 2 bad moves(move 53 and move 54) led to him losing the match.

Just a perfect example of how painful chess can be… He worked hard for hours gaining an advantage just to lose it all in two consecutive moves.

The next round. will see our two top leaders face off against each other(Michael Simpson vs Dante Beukes).

Who do you think will win? And consider the surprises that have been occurring in this event before choosing a winner!