A complete list of past and present Thailand Champions has been posted here.
Check it out and see if you think your name should be there!
A complete list of past and present Thailand Champions has been posted here.
Check it out and see if you think your name should be there!
German Grandmaster Jan Gustafsson has won the 2011 Thai Chess Open in Pattaya after finishing in a three-way tie for first place and winning the title on a tiebreaker.
Gustafsson, seeded third at the start of the tournament, finished equal on points with the top two seeds, Paco Vallejo of Spain and England’s Nigel Short but was awarded the 11th Thai Open title because he had played tougher opposition. Short, who lost to Gustafsson in the critical game of the tournament, was awarded the runners-up cup. The three players shared 220,000 Baht in prize money.
In a dramatic final day of play, Short, 45, seemed to have the most difficult task but he smoothly outplayed Indian Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte.
Both Gustafsson, 31, and Vallejo, 28, were required to play tricky endgames against Norwegian youngster Kjetil Stokke and Bangladeshi veteran Niaz Murshed but both outplayed their opponents to reach the tie for first.
Sunday’s final round of Thailand’s largest and strongest open tournament was a grim one for local players with the leading Thai performer Wisawat Teerapabpaisit missing a chance to reach sixth place after losing to Indian Grandmaster Jha Sriram.
2011 Thai Open Final scores
=1 Gustafsson, Short, Vallejo 7.5 points
=4 Voigt, Yang 7
=6 Hansen, Palit, Sriram, Saptarshi, Illingworth 6.5
With a record field, world class Grandmasters and Thailand’s best players taking on the rest of the world, the 2011 Thai Open has reinforced its reputation as Thailand’s top tournament.
Rounds are played at 9am and 3pm Thai time. From Thursday there is one game per day starting at 2pm.
The top 4 boards – featuring Grandmasters such as Paco Vallejo and Nigel Short – will be relayed live to the BCC website – when the games start you can view round 1 on this link
You can download top games for rounds 1-4 in PGN format here
Download Round 5 in cbv format here
More information is available at chess-results.com
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Francisco Vallejo Pons, rated 2698, a Spanish chess prodigy who achieved the grandmaster title at only 16, and was under-18 World Chess Champion in 2000, has confirmed his participation in the Thailand Open 2011. His fans often refer to him as Paco, a common nickname for Francisco in Spanish.
Fielding three of the world top 100 players, the Thailand Open promises to be one of the most exciting tournaments of 2011 – a great chance to experience chess at the highest level, and score that elusive GM norm!