KL Open

The 4th KL International Open Chess Championship for the Raja Nazrin Shah Challenge Trophy is sponsored by the Masterskill Education Group Berhad and organised by Polgar Chess Asia for the Kuala Lumpur Chess Association (KLCA) under the auspices of the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) and is registered and recognised by the World Chess Federation (FIDE) as an international title and rated tournament. 1st prize is 10,000 Ringit.

Will Thailand send a team to the KL Open this year? Peter Long has raised plenty of sponsorship, so he should have a great turnout.

Dates are 4–10 September. More details at Peter Long’s blog

Hall of Fame

Tournament Champions Gustafsson, Short and Vallejo
Champions GM Nigel Short, GM Jan Gustaffson and GM Francisco Vallejo Pons collect their trophies in the Thailand Open Chess Championship 2011

A complete list of past and present Thailand Champions has been posted here.

Check it out and see if you think your name should be there!

Thailand

Thank you !

Winners of the Thailand Open Chess Championship 2011
Winners of the Thailand Open Chess Championship 2011 (photo: Panupand V.)

The tournament at the wonderful Dusit Thani Pattaya was by far the best tournament we have held. With 220 players it was clearly the largest and with 44 titled players it was also the strongest. Going into the final round was incredibly exciting, with the top 3 players having a chance to be outright winner. In the event, No. 3 GM Jan Gustaffson took the trophy on tiebreak from GM Nigel Short and GM Paco Vallejo. It wasn’t to be third time lucky for Short, though with more wins than anyone else, the prize might have gone his way. There were three IM norms awarded, to FM Martin Voigt, FM Max Illingworth and Blitz Champion Nelson Mariano III.

GM Nigel Short and WGM Alina l'Ami on the terrace
GM Nigel Short and WGM Alina l'Ami on the terrace, with Peter Darby, IO Kai Tuorila and GM Ian Rogers, Press Officer for the tournament. Alina just barely missed out on an IM norm (photo: Panupand V.)

In this picture, Tournament Director IO Kai Tuorila is sporting one of our new Bangkok Chess Club polo shirts. Thanks to the 30 people who bought the shirt at the Thailand Open, the Bangkok Chess Club has sent a donation of US$100 to the Japanese Red Cross (100 Baht per shirt).

Thank you to all who took part to make the tournament a great success!

Download rounds 1-8 in PGN format here

German Grandmaster Gustafsson Wins Thai Open Chess

German Grandmaster Jan Gustafsson has won the 2011 Thai Chess Open in Pattaya after finishing in a three-way tie for first place and winning the title on a tiebreaker.

Gustafsson, seeded third at the start of the tournament, finished equal on points with the top two seeds, Paco Vallejo of Spain and England’s Nigel Short but was awarded the 11th Thai Open title because he had played tougher opposition. Short, who lost to Gustafsson in the critical game of the tournament, was awarded the runners-up cup.  The three players shared 220,000 Baht in prize money.

In a dramatic final day of play, Short, 45, seemed to have the most difficult task but he smoothly outplayed Indian Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte.

Both Gustafsson, 31, and Vallejo, 28, were required to play tricky endgames against Norwegian youngster Kjetil Stokke and Bangladeshi veteran Niaz Murshed but both outplayed their opponents to reach the tie for first.

Sunday’s final round of Thailand’s largest and strongest open tournament was a grim one for local players with the leading Thai performer Wisawat Teerapabpaisit missing a chance to reach sixth place after losing to Indian Grandmaster Jha Sriram.

2011 Thai Open Final scores
=1 Gustafsson, Short, Vallejo 7.5 points
=4 Voigt, Yang 7
=6 Hansen, Palit, Sriram, Saptarshi, Illingworth 6.5

Bangkok Open Begins – Live Games!

GM Nigel Short with Nina Tuorila on the terrace
Beauty v. brains: Nina Tuorila challenges GM Nigel Short

 

With a record field, world class Grandmasters and Thailand’s best players taking on the rest of the world, the 2011 Thai Open has reinforced its reputation as Thailand’s top tournament.

Rounds are played at 9am and 3pm Thai time. From Thursday there is one game per day starting at 2pm.

The top 4 boards – featuring Grandmasters such as Paco Vallejo and Nigel Short – will be relayed live to the BCC website – when the games start you can view round 1 on this link

You can download top games for rounds 1-4 in PGN format here

Download Round 5 in cbv format here

More information is available at chess-results.com

 

GM Paco Vallejo with white against IM Nisha Mohota from India