Winners of the 23rd BCC Open should be delighted that their rewards include points on the FIDE Circuit, part of the selection process for the Candidates. IM Dau Khuong Duy’s win gives him 3.85 points and 65th in the current rankings (at time of publishing). GM Brandon Jacobsen, already having 2.8 points, moves up to 39th place.
Other beneficiaries are GMs Ganguly, Short, Van Wely, Stremavicius and Gorshtein, and IM Aronyak Ghosh (who also achieved a GM norm).
The final round of this 23rd edition of the Bangkok Chess Club Open delivered an unusually large share of suspense until the last minute. At the outset, seven co-leaders on 6,5/8 were vying for the final victory.
Well, maybe not quite. One of them, IM Ghosh Aronyak, had a different prize in mind: a draw against IM Suresh Harsh would secure him a precious GM norm. Suresh, it turned out, didn’t prove harsh at all and the point was quickly shared by mutual consent.
The game between Nigel Short and Ido Gorshtein developed slowly, with White enjoying some initial space advantage as well as offering an early draw. Though not devoid of imbalances, the position remained within drawing territory throughout the game and peace was concluded shortly after the time control.
On board 3, Lithuanian GM Titas Stremavicius faced a well-rested Khuong Dau with the white pieces. Fresh from his GM norm, the Vietnamese youngster defended confidently to reach a drawn Rook endgame in which his pawn deficit was of no consequence.
On board one, the first seed Loek Van Wely faced two-time BCC winner Surya Ganguly in what could prove the decisive game of the tournament. After fighting for initiative with some success, the Dutch grandmaster found himself down the exchange. Ganguly simplified to a safer position, but in which his extra pawn ultimately would not suffice for the win.
Van Wely, Loek (2621) – Ganguly, Surya Shekhar (2561)
After the game the two Grandmasters expressed their satisfaction, both with their overall play over the course of the event and with the pleasant atmosphere which prevailed throughout the tournament. They also underlined the toughness of the field, before concluding that playing in the BCC Open is well worth taking a long trip and that they would gladly return for the upcoming editions, time and family-related constraints permitting.
These results, added to the victories of Jacobson, Saydaliev mean that the tournament concludes on an unprecedented 9-way tie for first place, all with 7 points out of 9. The Sheraton resort and Spa Hua Hin’s event manager is scrambling to build a bigger podium as we write these lines.
Perhaps more to the point is the fact that the winner of this 23rd BCC Open on tie-breaks is Khuong Duy Dau, who consistently occupied the top tables for most of the event. He is followed by GMs Brandon Jacobson and Surya Ganguly. IM Dau achieved a unique feat of winning both the 23rd BCC Open and the 23rd BCC Blitz tournaments.
Other prize winners include WIM Hagawane Aakanksha (best female) while co-winner Nigel Short takes first place in the Senior category ahead of Loek Van Wely. On a very respectable 6,5/9 thanks to his strong finish, IM Prin Laohawirapap is the first Thai player in the overall rankings.
Finally, the Challenger group concluded with the expected victory of Adaljay on 8/9, ahead of Man Danushka, sole second on 7.5.
This concludes this year’s coverage of the Bangkok Chess Club Open. Please do follow us on www.bangkokchess.com for updates on the next edition!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
