The Bangkok Chess Club’s annual open tournament has become a fixture on the international chess circuit and attracts people from all corners of the globe at all levels from amateur to 2700+ rated grandmaster and is popular with Australians as one of the best open tournaments in Asia.

By Peter Frost
Photos: Bangkok Chess Club

The 18th edition of the Bangkok Chess Club Open saw 276 players from 37 countries gather at the Regent Resort on the Cha Am foreshore in Thailand from 13-21 April.

Australia was well represented with 12 players in the main Open tournament including grandmasters Anton Smirnov and Moulthun Ly (seeded 6th and 12th respectively) and Read More

Indonesian FM and IM Elect Novendra Priasmoro upset top seeded Armenian GM Hrant Melkumyan to take sole leadership in Round Seven action at the Bangkok Chess Club Open Championships being held at the Regent Cha Am Beach Resort from 13-21 April 2018.

Earlier, co-leader Australian GM Anton Smirnov had agreed a short draw with USA’s GM Timur Gareyev.
With that, Novendra is on 6.5/7 and Smirnov together with Indian GM Deepan Chakkravarthy who beat Chinese FM Zhu Yi, is in shared second and third places on 6/7,

Still with a chance in a large chasing pack on 5.5/7 with two rounds to go are Melkumyan, Gareyev, Argentine GM Diego Flores, Singapore IM Kevin Goh Wei Ming, English GM Nigel Short, Indian GMs Swapnil S Dopade and Neelopol Das, IM Gukesh D, Vietnamese IM Nguyen Anh Khoi, and Filipino IM Haridas Pascua.

With his third successive win, including today’s result against Vietnamese IM Tran Minh Trang, defending champion Short has hauled himself back into contention after his loss on time against Gukesh who this round sensationally beat Argentine GM Leandro Krysa.

Full results and pairings are at: Chess-Results
Live game broadcasts are at www.chess24.com and on the Follow Chess App.

Round six of the Bangkok Chess Club Open being played at the Regent Cha-Am Beach Resort from 13-21 April 2018 might be the defining moment in tournament that has already it’s share of upsets!

On top board, top seeded Armenian GM Hrant Melkumyan turned back the challenge of the highly regarded Vietnamese GM Tran Minh Tuan, while the quietly impressive Australian GM Anton Smirnov won in no time at all after German GM Jan Gustafsson blundered in the opening.

Melkumyan and Smirnov are joined on 5.5/6 in in a tie for first to third places by Indonesian FM Novendra Prisamoro who again showed his quality in his quick win against Australian GM Ly Moulthun. The young Indonesia has long met the requirements for the International Master title and is expected to soon become his country’s next grandmaster.

India’s GM Deepan Chakkravarty J could not convert his pawn advantage against Argentina’s GM Diego Flores but USA’s GM Timur Gareyev had no trouble in takIng the full point against 2104 rated Indian Panda Sambit, results that left all three GM’s on 5/6.

Joining them in a tie from fourth to ninth place are winners on four points going into the round and they are Singapore IM Kevin Goh Wei Ming, Indonesian FM Pitra Andyka, and Indian Vatsal Singhania.

On top board in round five of the Bangkok Chess Club Open Championships held at the Regent Cha-Am Beach Resort from 13-21 April 2018, Germany’s Jan Gustafsson had an easy draw with the black pieces against Argentine’s Diego Flores who only a week earlier had won the Dubai Open Chess Championships.

Top seeded Armenian Hrant Melkumyan showed his class with his win over Argentine Leandro Krysa to join Gustafsson and Flores on 4.5/5, as did Australia’s Anton Smirnov, Vietnam’s Tran Tuan Minh, India’s Deepan Chakkravarthy J. and Indonesia’s Novendra Priasmoro after wins against highly regarded young International Masters.

Smirnov was simply too strong for Indonesia’s Irene Sukandar, Tran very convincing against young talented countryman Nguyen Anh Khoi, while Deepan simply crushed Tran Ming Trang and the lone IM in the leader group, Novendra, ended the run of Mongolian WGM Enthuul Altan-Ulzii.

Lurking behind on 4/5 and very much all in contention, are Krysa, Australia’s Moulthon Ly, India’s Gukesh D, Vatsal Singhania, Panda Sambit and Manish Anto Christiano F, China’s Nie Xinyang, Peng Xiongjian and Zhu Yi, Singapore’s Kevin Goh Wei Ming and Emmanuelle Hng, USA’s Timur Gareyev, and the Philippines’ Pascua Haridas.

We are seeing big fights and therefore upsets and lucky escapes in as early as round three of the Bangkok Chess Club Open Championships being held at the Regent Cha-Am Beach Resort from 13-21 April 2018.

The first surprise was when China’s Nie Xinyang won quickly against Uzbekistan GM Timur Gareyev who plays under the USA flag. A second but perhaps less sensational surprise was when Mongolian WGM Enkhtuul Altan-Ulzii beat GM Santiago Yago De Moura in a hard fought game where the outcome was never really in doubt. English defending champion GM Nigel Short also lost ground when his battle of the sexes with Mongolian IM/WGM Batchimeg Tuvshintugs ended in a draw.

Several other grandmasters continued to lose further ground after being held to second draws, results which left top seeded Armenian GM Hrant Melkumyam, German GM Jan Gustafsson, Argentine GMs Diego Flores and Leandro Krysa, Indian GM Depan Chakkravarthy and Australian GM Moulthun Ly sitting on top of the leaderboard. Joining them on 3/3 are Vietnam IM Nguyen Anh Khoi, Indian IM Raghusandan Kaumandur Sirhari, China’s Peng Xiongjian, FM Zhu Yi and Nie Xinyang.

It is of course very early days yet with just one third of the tournament concluded but it is guaranteed that the fourth round tomorrow will bring more excitement.

It was a typical first round of an open tournament at the 18th Bangkok Chess Club Open Championships being held at the Regent Cha-Am Beach Resort from 13-21 April 2018.

All the leading contenders went through relatively comfortably with perhaps third seeded Jan Gustafsson making his task the most difficult.

There is a difference between strong grandmasters knowing how to win tournaments and the experienced amateurs and even the up and coming young talents, and in the end, even when playing well within themselves, their class showed.

• Full results and pairings are at chess-results.com
• Live Games at: chess24.com and on the Follow Chess App.