Gustafsson wins Thai Open on tiebreaks

German Grandmaster Gustafsson Wins Thai Open Chess

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

Thai Open Press Centre

April 17

Photo Finish at Thai Chess Open

Top Seeds Headed for Photo Finish at Thai Chess Open

The three top seeds at the 2011 Thai Chess Open in Pattaya are tied for the lead with just one round to play, setting the stage for an exciting finish in the strongest tournament ever held in Thailand.

After top seed Paco Vallejo of Spain was held to a draw by German third seed Jan Gustafsson, Nigel Short of England took the opportunity to regain a share of the lead with a comfortable victory over Indian Grandmaster Jha Sriram.

Gustafsson, who memorably beat Short in the seventh round, bravely sacrificed two pawns against the top seed on Saturday, but Vallejo could find nothing better than returning the material with a drawn endgame. "You should have watched my DVD - that's where I proposed [the new 14th move that I played]," Gustafsson said to his opponent after the game."Yes, I will download it," Vallejo replied.

The final round, which begins early Sunday at 9am, will see the top three Grandmasters facing significantly lower ranked opposition, so a three-way tie for the 100,000 Baht first prize is certainly a possibility. However lower ranked players have caused so many upsets in this event that the elite Grandmasters will be taking nothing for granted.

Leading scores:

=1 Vallejo, Short, Gustafsson 6.5

=4 Kunte, Stokke, Murshed, Voigt, Yang, Willemze, Illner, Mariano 6

The Thai Open, with a prize fund of 500,000 Baht, is being played at the Dusit Thani Pattaya Resort. Games may be followed live via http://bangkokchess.com/ with results on http://www.chess-results.com/fed.aspx?lan=1&fed=THA.

Thai Open Press centre

April 16