Game of the Week: Shankland, Ftacnik

Meet me at the CASBAR. That’s what Sam Shankland could have said as he took part in the Casino de Barcelona tournament. It was good to see the young American grandmaster get an opportunity to play in a fairly high level round-robin international. Sam fell a little short of the desired first place finish, blundering in a drawn endgame he was trying to win in the last round. But earlier he produced a strong effort against the veteran Slovakian grandmaster Lubomir Ftacnik. Shankland’s aggressive approach and confident determination were on display as he overcame his opponent’s tenacious resistance.