Germany’s Jan Gustafsson has won his second Bangkok Chess Club Open title, on a tiebreaker over Deep Sengupta of India.
Both Gustafsson and Sengupta were undefeated in the nine round event, winning six games and conceding three draws each against fellow Grandmasters. However Gustafsson’s opponents scored slightly better than those of Sengupta, giving him the coveted BCC Open title, though the two shared 170,000 Baht in prizemoney.
Gustafsson, well known as a tournament commentator and a ‘second’ for World Champion Magnus Carlsen, is a popular winner in Thailand, having competed in almost every BCC Open for a decade. His previous title win came eight years ago in Pattaya. At the end of his winner’s speech at the spectacular closing ceremony, Gustafsson said that the Bangkok CC Open was: “In my opinion by far the best tournament in the world – venue, playing conditions, everything.”
The final round started at the Centara Grand ballroom with Jan Gustafsson taking an early draw against Indian Grandmaster Dhopade Swapnil, waiting to see if either Filipino International Master Haridas Pascua or Sengupta could catch him. Sengupta soon took control of their game, though only after four hours was Pascua forced to concede defeat.
It soon became clear that, although Sengupta had defeated the top seed Nigel Short, Gustafsson was just ahead on tiebreak and he took home the BCC Open trophy.
Thailand enjoyed a deserved success in the Challengers division when Theemathas Chirananthavat, considered one of our best minds and playing his first tournament for four years, finished tied for first place. However, the Challengers title went on tiebreak to Ric Portugalera of the Philippines, who he had beaten in the previous round.
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Full results may be found on http://chess-results.com/tnr429651.aspx?lan=1&art=2&rd=1
