A Dundee chess prodigy left his opponents between a rook and a hard place representing Scotland against the world’s best.
Declan Shafi, 14, from the Castlehill Chess Club, was picked for a four-man national squad to play at the FIDE under-16 World Youth Chess Olympiad in Gyor, Hungary.
The St Paul’s RC Academy pupil first picked up a pawn at just four years old and has achieved a chess rating of 1621.
A chess rating system is used to calculate the estimate strength of the player, based on his or her performance versus other players.
At the World Chess Olympiad he beat two 1800+ players, from Hungary and Hong Kong, and drew with two 1900+ players from Austria and Sri Lanka during the tournament.
Dad Paul said: “He was excited to play in Europe and proud to represent Scotland. It was a crazy strong tournament. Declan finished with four points out of nine.
“He was playing much higher graded players in every game and his graded performance was way higher than would have been expected.”
Declan’s chess talent was uncovered during lessons from his dad while he was ill.
Paul said: “He was home ill from nursery and I was looking after him that day. I taught him chess for something to do and he just picked it up immediately.”
Declan, who likes to play aggressive chess with tricky openings, started winning his first events at the age of seven and won the Scottish Primary Individual in 2013.
Although he has played for the Scotland juniors team for a number of years, this is his first trip abroad to such a tournament.
Declan was the second highest points performer for Team Scotland and helped the national side, who were seeded 47 out of 54, to meet expectations by finishing 47th.
The club’s Ray Noble said: “Castlehill Club is very proud for the young man and all he has achieved so far. He has been picked to play for Scotland at various tournaments over the years, but this has to be the biggest yet and a great honour for him.”