Tag: Thai

The Thailand Chess Championship 2010 is being held at the St. Louis Hospital, Sathorn Road, from May 1-5.

The tournament will determine Thailand’s team for the Olympiad, and is open to Thai nationals and long-term residents.

Tournament Regulations

1. This is an individual tournament, open to all un-title players however if a player has any titles (GM, IM, FM, WGM WIM, WFM) must be Thai citizen or Thai resident
2. FIDE (International Chess Federation) rules and regulations shall apply. Results will be sent for FIDE rating calculations.
3. There are two groups of play: Open section  and Woman section.
4. Both groups will be played using the Swiss System, with 9 rounds for Open, and 5 rounds for Woman. For the pairings, a Swiss Manager program will be used.
5. This tournament is qualify for National Team who must be Thai citizen only.
6. Each player is accorded with a time control of 90 minutes plus 30 seconds per move.
7. All mobile phones in the playing hall shall be switched off while games are in progress, any violation shall result in loss of game.
8. For non Thai player can reward fifty percent of prize fund.

Prizes.  1st prize will be approx 20,000 Baht (approx. 400 Euros).base on 100 players. (Please note a 5% tax will be deducted from the prize money.) 16 prize winner.

Entry Fees.

Open & Woman: 500 Baht  and 200 Baht for TCA member &Under 15.   Late registration fee at site is 700 Baht.

Tournament Schedule

[table id=14 /]

The Election Commission on Monday decided by a vote of 4-1 to recommend the dissolution of the ruling Democrat Party for receiving an illegal 258 million baht donation and the alleged misuse of a 29 million baht political development fund provided by the EC. Democrat Party executives, including Prime Minister Abhisit, could be banned from politics for five years if the Constitution Court upholds the Election Commission’s  finding.

If this is upheld then presumably the Redshirts have achieved their objective, and they can all go home. And at this rate there will be nobody left to run a government as all current politicians will be under a 5-year ban.

Anyone want to run for office?

The Government appears to have backed away from any further confrontation – if their intention was to test the redshirts resolve, I think they have their answer. Now we are in a kind of stand-off while some kind of compromise solution is hammered out. Most likely the government will bring forward the elections without dissolving the house immediately. Time for Songkran festivities.

Meanwhile our star player, GM Nigel Short has arrived in Bangkok, and us organisers have no time for a holiday!

As the demonstrations continue, many people are getting worried about the affect this will have on the Thailand Open 2010. From my own experience living and working in Bangkok, I have no problems with the demonstrators, as my home and office are not in the affected areas. Neither is the Hotel.

No matter what happens, we are committed to make this tournament every bit as good and better than previous years. Century Park Hotel is not close to the confrontation at the government offices and the business/shopping district.

A piece of good news is that many of the demonstrators will return home as is traditional in Thailand for the New Year (Songkran) holidays. The tournament is on, and we will not let the remaining demonstrators disrupt the Thailand Open.

We are looking forward to welcoming all of you to Bangkok. My advice is “Don’t worry, play well” !

This year’s biggest danger during the tournament is that you will get wet: of all the feasts and festivals in Thailand, which are many, the Songkran Festival is the most striking, as during the afternoons in the hottest part of the year, Thailand cools off with water games.

Songkran is a Sanskrit word in Thai form which means the entry of the sun into any sign of the Zodiac. But the Songkran in this particular instance is when the sun enters the sign of Aries or the Ram. Its full name is Maha Songkran or Major Songkran to distinguish it from the other ones. But the people call it simply the Songkran for it is the only one they know and in which they take interest. It is their traditional New Year. Songkran begins on the 13th April and ends on the 15th April, but occasionally in certain years on the 16th April. The Songkran is in fact the celebration of the vernal equinox similar to those of the Indian Holi Festival, the Chinese Ching Ming, and the Christian Festival of Easter.