Bangkok Chess Club – The Ultimate Test of Cerebral Fitness

Certificates of Participation in the 23rd BCC Open

April 19, 2026April 19, 2026 BCC Leave a comment

You can download your Certificate of Participation at one of the following links:

BCC Open round 8: the Magnificent Seven – Dau still in the lead, now alongside half a dozen resurgent favourites

April 19, 2026April 19, 2026 BCC Leave a comment

You can’t really blame a tournament leader for being a little risk-averse. Especially as a GM norm beckons at the end of the event. For the second time this week, Vietnamese IM Khuong Dau secured a quick draw – this time against GM Brandon Jacobson from the USA.

Almost as quickly, Indian star Surya Ganguly obtained a compelling advantage due to his opponent Sharma Ayush handling his Kingside pawns in rather gung-ho fashion. White prevailed after 33 moves.

On board 3, Nigel Short went all-in with a Blumenfeld countergambit which long teetered on a knife edge. A two-pawn incursion into White’s position capped with an exchange sacrifice did the damage, allowing the Englishman to join in the lead.

Xu, Zhihang (2487) – Short, Nigel D (2587)

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 b5 5.dxe6 fxe6 6.cxb5 d5 7.Nc3 Bb7 8.e4 Nbd7 9.e5 Ng4 10.Ng5 Ngxe5 11.f4 Nf7 12.Nxe6 Qe7 13.Qe2 Rc8? [Diagr] A very human move, of which the silicon monster does not approve as after 14. Bd2, White’s King castles long and gets out of Dodge.

14.b3 Nd6 15.f5 Nxf5 16.Bg5 Nf6 17.Nxf8 Rxf8 18.Qxe7+ Nxe7 19.Bd3 d4 20.Na4 Bxg2 21.Rg1 Be4 22.Kd2 Bxd3 23.Kxd3 Ng6 24.Rae1+ Kd7 25.b6 Kd6 26.Bxf6 gxf6 27.bxa7 Rc7 28.Rgf1 Ne5+ 29.Kd2 Rxa7 30.Rf5 Rff7 31.Ref1 Ke7 32.R5f4 Ra5 33.Rc1 Kd6 34.Rcf1 Ke6 35.Rc1 c4 36.Re1 c3+ 37.Kc2 Kd5 38.Rd1 Rxa4 39.bxa4 Nc6 40.a5?? (A blunder in a tricky position. 40. Rb1 was necessary.) 40…Rb7 41.Kd3 Rb2 : 0-1

Early co-leader IM Santosh Ajay went down to GM Titas Stremavicius. Other winners moving to 6,5/8 include IM Ghosh Aronyak who beat WIM Sakshi Chitlange with the White pieces, GM Ido Gorshtein who broke Chinese IM Bo Li’s stubborn defence in a 5 – 4 Knight vs. Bishop endgame, and GM Loek Van Wely, who overcame GM Visakh in a double Rook endgame.

As the dust settles following this penultimate round, the only certainty is that the final victory in this 23rd edition of the BCC Open will be disputed among the aforementioned seven co-leaders. No such drama in the Challengers though, as the board 1 artist remains sole leader with a staggering 7.5/8.

Credits: www.bangkokchess.com
Games from the top 25 boards: https://lichess.org/broadcast/23rd-bangkok-chess-club-open-2026/mu6Kv85k
Picture database: https://m.piufoto.com/album/9e2ab6d12f3bf3542c9a22e64b6dc012/
Masters section: https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr1334185.aspx
Challenger section: https://s1.chess-results.com/tnr1334184.aspx

BCC Open round 7: top six share the spoils as Jacobson, Van Wely and Gorshtein close in.

April 17, 2026April 17, 2026 BCC Leave a comment

Today’s pre-round announcement echoed like music to the ears of all competitors present, as a purse of 500,000 baht (~15,500 USD) was confirmed by tournament director Kai Tuorila. Strangely enough, the news seemed to particularly stimulate contestants at the lower boards, most of whom kept at it well into the 6th hour of play in an otherwise largely empty ballroom.

On board two, the game between Ghosh Aronyak and Surya Ganguly ended peacefully after just seven moves, thereby ensuring that the pair would not be late for Nigel Short’s evening lecture on his book “Winning!”. Doubtlessly impressed by such foresight, GMs Visakh and Stremavicius followed suit, drawing their game after less than 90 minutes. GM Short then drew on board 1 with the tournament leader, IM Dau, in a longer but evenly balanced game.

Three grandmasters capitalised on these results to rejoin the chasing pack. Brendan Jacobson and Loek Van Wely both punished ill-advised pawn advances by their IM opponents – 25…b5 by Dmytro Davydenko in the first case, 13…f5 by Adika Sadhvik in the second. Meanwhile, on board 6 Ido Gorshtein gradually built up pressure against Dinghra Aaditya’s Queenside to force a decision in the endgame.

Aaditya, Dhingra (2418) – Gorshtein, Ido (2549)

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.h4 h5 5.Bd3 Qd7 6.Nc3 Bxd3 7.Qxd3 c5 8.dxc5 e6 9.Be3 Na6 10.Nf3 Nxc5 11.Qe2 a6 12.Rh3 Qc7 13.O-O-O Ne7 14.Nd4 Nc6 15.f4 g6 16.Kb1 Be7 17.Nb3 Nxb3 18.axb3 b5 19.Bf2 Qb7 20.Qf1 Kf8 21.Qd3 Nb4 22.Qe2 Rc8 23.Rd2 Kg7 24.g4 Kf8 25.f5 hxg4 26.Qxg4 gxf5 27.Qf4 Qc7 28.h5 Nc6 29.Bg3 d4 30.Ne2 Nb4 31.Qxd4

[ Diagr]Here, White’s best chance to hold was 31.c3. Now Black crashes through…

31… Qa5 32.Nc1 Rxc2 33.Rxc2 Qa1+ 34.Kxa1 Nxc2+ 35.Ka2 Nxd4 36.Nd3 Bg5 37.b4 Kg7 38.Bf2 Nc6 39.Kb3 Kh6 40.Nc5 Rd8 41.Nxa6 Nxe5 42.Nc7 Nd3 43.Ba7 Nf4 44.Rf3 e5 45.Nxb5 Kxh5 46.Nc3 Rd7 47.Bb8 f6 48.b5 Ne6 49.Rf1 e4 50.b6 e3 51.Kc4 f4 52.Kb5 f3 53.Bc7 e2 54.Rh1 Kg6 55.b7 Nxc7+ 56.Kc6 Rd8 57.Kxc7 Re8 58.Nd5 f2

0-1

On the home front, IM Prin Laohawirapap’s win today against Alekhya Mukhopadhay will provide him with the opportunity to reappear at the higher boards during the tournament’s final stretch.

BCC Open Round 6: king Khuong strikes twice as the top seed struggles

April 17, 2026April 17, 2026 BCC Leave a comment

Last night, Dau Khuong Duy was crowned in the blitz finals ahead of fellow IM Arca, leaving both GMs Gareyev and Visakh behind.

He struck again during round 6 of the BCC open, convincingly defeating GM Van Wely’s Sicilian Najdorf on board 1 with a thematic Knight sacrifice on f5. A difficult day for the top seed from The Netherlands, who had already struggled earlier against Johanna Bjorg from the Icelandic chess federation, at the seaside pool of the Sheraton resort and spa during this morning’s promotional photo shoot.

Dau Khuong Duy / Van Wely (Sicilian Najdorf) 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.h3 e6 7.g4 Be7 8.Bg2 Nfd7 9.a4 Nc6 10.Be3 Nde5 11.Qe2 g5 12.h4 gxh4

[diagr.] The decisive mistake, as liquidating the Knight on d4 was the only way for Black to avoid a crushing attack.

13.f4 Ng6 14.Nf5 exf5 15.exf5 h3 16.Rxh3 Nh4 17.Be4 h5 18.O-O-O hxg4 19.Qxg4 Qa5 20.Bf2 Rb8 21.Bxh4 Bxf5 22.Bxf5 Bxh4 23.Rxh4 Rxh4 24.Qg8+ Ke7 25.Re1+ 1-0

On board 5, Titas Stremavicius defeated surprise protagonist Ray Debayan from India (2004 Elo) while GM Visakh checkmated his opponent IM Cahaya following a brutal Kingside attack, as previous BCC winner Ganguly overcame Santosh Ajay after conjuring some endgame magic in an equal 3 + Bishop vs. Knight setup. The Short – Aronyak game was drawn without too much fuss, but GM Brandon Jacobson had to survive a dangerous middlegame spell against IM Tran Gia Phuc Pham of Vietnam.

In the Challenger section, Vanssh Adalja remains alone at the top with a perfect score following yet another artistic performance against co-leader Man Danushka.

Sweetwater by the sea – Grandmasters narrowly avoid embarrassing defeats

April 17, 2026April 17, 2026 BCC Leave a comment

A handful of BCC Open laureates joined with the organisers and a surprise guest at the seaside pool of the Sheraton Hua Hin Resort and Spa for the yearly photoshoot this Thursday.

Under the bright morning sun and the watchful lens of our very wet photographer Kwang Ng, tournament top seed GM Loek Van Wely faced a high profile visitor in the person of Jóhanna Björg, the President of the Icelandic Chess Federation who is currently enjoying a two-week holiday in Thailand. With his trademark frankness, the Dutch GM admitted to being lucky escaping with a draw.

“I was lucky not to get harpooned”

The second duel featured veteran GM Nigel Short and Nina Tuorila, the daughter of the tournament director. His assessment of the game was as sober as it was fitting: “I was lucky not to get harpooned”.

2024 edition winner Vitaliy Bernadskiy then faced Thai leader Prin Laohawirapap under the watchful eye of Van Wely, who then proceeded to challenge current BCC Open champion Evgeny Romanov. The Macedonian GM, probably blinded by the morning sun, almost played an illegal move but avoided further embarrassment by offering a draw.

By that time, Jóhanna Björg had jumped back into the pool to single-handedly challenge a pair of opponents in two-time winner Suriya Ganguly and his daughter.

BCC Open round 5: the youngsters draw on board 1, Short, van Wely and Aronyak join them on 4.5/5

April 16, 2026April 16, 2026 BCC Leave a comment

The long awaited blitz qualifiers took place on Tuesday night. Whilst most heavyweights made it through, there were some high profile casualties as IMs Satria Cahaya, Thai star Prin Laohawirapap and Paulo Bersamina failed to finish in the top two spots of their respective groups. The finals will be played tonight, in the form of a 16 player round robin tournament. Rating favourites include GM Visakh from India, his mysterious colleague Timur Gareyev who came to Hua Hin especially for this occasion, and BCC Open co-leader on 4/4, IM Khuong Dau.

The latter met with fellow IM Santosh Ajay on board one of today’s BCC Open fifth round. The only two players still on a maximum score buried the hatchet in grandmasterly fashion after 14 moves. Not an altogether unexpected turn of events considering the standings – and even less so knowing that one of the protagonists inquired beforehand about minimum move requirements prior to draw offers.

On board 3, top seed Loek Van Wely obtained a promising position against 2024 edition winner Bernadskiy in spite of ignoring one of the key commandments of opening play – “Thou shalt develop thy pieces posthaste”.

White’s advantage proved sufficient in the end, as the Ukrainian grandmaster resigned in a lost 3 vs. 1 + Rook endgame.

“There’s some life in the old dog yet.”

Winners on the day also include IM Ghosh Aronyak who defeated GM Zhao, and GM Nigel Short, who dominated IM Ariel Erenberg positionally with the Black pieces. The British legend snatched a stray pawn on h3 and later liquidated into a won pawn finale after a somewhat chaotic middlegame. In the winner’s own words: “There’s some life in the old dog yet.”

[White “Erenberg, Ariel”]
[Black “Short, Nigel D”]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.Nc3 g6 7.Bg2 Bg7 8.Nf3 O-O 9.O-O a6 10.a4 Nbd7 11.Bf4 Qc7 12.Qc1 Re8 13.Re1 Rb8 14.a5 b5 15.axb6 Rxb6 16.Ra2 Rb4 17.Bh6 Bh8 18.h3 Nb6 19.Nd2 Qe7 20.Bg5 Qf8 21.e4 Nfd7 22.Nf3 Bg7 23.Qc2 Nc4 24.Bf1 Nde5 25.Nxe5 Nxe5 26.Bg2 Bxh3

[diagr.] The apostolic nuncio (Bishop with diplomatic immunity) enters the fray.

27.Rxa6 Bxg2 28.Kxg2 Reb8 29.Nd1 Qc8 30.Rxd6 Qg4 31.Bf4 Nf3 32.Rh1 Nd4 33.Qd3 c4 34.Qe3 Rb3 35.Nc3 Rxb2 36.Rh4 Qc8 37.Bg5 Qe8 38.Bf6 Nf5 39.Qf4 Bxf6 40.Rxf6 Nxh4+ 41.gxh4 R8b3 42.Qg3 Rc2 43.Rf3 Rcxc3 44.Rxc3 Qxe4+ 45.Qf3 Qxf3+ 46.Rxf3 Rxf3 47.Kxf3 h5 48.Ke3 g5 49.hxg5 h4 50.f4 h3 51.d6 Kf8 52.f5 h2 53.d7 Ke7 54.Kd4 0-1