BCC Open round 3: ten leaders emerge as Thai new year celebrations kick off

At the outset of Round 3 of the BCC Open, only two things appeared certain. For starters, April 13 marks the beginning of a three-day celebration of the Thai New Year, known as Songkran. As with many things in Thailand, Songkran is essentially a matter of personal taste. It can be a religious celebration and a time-honoured way to pay respects to the elders. Or it can be a raucous, 72 hour long water gun showdown, complete with improvised swimming pools and trucks pouring barrels of water over the heads of hapless motorists and passers-by. Your choice.

The other given is that the 112 available spots for the yearly BCC blitz tournament are all but taken, mere hours after registration opening earlier today.

Just as closely contested were the games played on the top boards of this third round. Among the top ten seeds, four players emerged from a wave of draws. GM Ido Gorshtein quickly overcame IM Ritviz in a Rossolimo Sicilian after White opened up the position on move 10, possibly underestimating the long range potential of Black’s as of yet undeveloped pieces. On board 6, IM Aronyak dismantled Dagur Ragnarsson’s position with an exchange sacrifice on e6 while on board 7, GM Visakh capitalised on his positional pressure to force a decision against untitled youngster Adam Bivor. Lastly, second seed Brandon Jacobson defeated IM Dhulipalla in a tricky endgame following some very original opening play:

1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qc4 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Bf4 Be67. Qe2 Qe7 8. O-O-O O-O-O 9. Nf3 9… h6 10. Nd5 Bxd5 11. exd5 Qxe2 12. Bxe2 Ne713. Bc4 Ng4 14. Rhf1 Ng615. Bd2 N6e5 16. Nxe5 Nxe5 17. Be2 Be7 18. f4 Nd7 19. Bh5 g6 20. Bg4 h5 21. Bxd7+ Kxd7 22. f5 gxf5 23. Rf2 f4 24. Rxf4 Rh7 25. Rf5 Rf8 26. Re1 Rg8 27. Re2 Rhg7 28. g3 Rh7 29. Re4 h4 30. g4 h3 31. Bc3 Bd8 32. Kd2 c6 33. Ke2 Rg5 34. dxc6+ bxc6 35. Rxg5 Bxg5 36. Kf3 f6 37. Be1 c5 38. Ra4 Ke6 39. Bg3 Bc1 40. Re4+ 40… Kd7 41. b4d5 42. Re1 Ba3 43. b5 d4 44. Re4 Rf7 45. Ke2

After long oscillating between equality and a White pull, the position now unravels for Black: [Diagram]

45… f5 46. gxf5 Rxf5 47. Rh4 Rf7 48. Kd3 Rf3+ 49. Ke4 Rc3 50. Rh7+ Ke6 51. Rh6+ Kf7 52. Ra6 Re3+ 53. Kf5 Kg8 54. Bf4 Rf3 55. Ke4 1-0