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

Gustafsson downs Short at Thailand Open

Gustafsson Downs Leader in Thai Open Chess

German Grandmaster Jan Gustafsson threw the 2011 Thai Chess Open in Pattaya wide open by defeating tournament leader Nigel Short of England in the seventh round.

With two rounds of Thailand's richest tournament to play, Gustafsson, seeded third, now shares the lead with top seed Paco Vallejo and the two will meet in a much-awaited penultimate round encounter on Saturday.

Gustafsson was pleased with his win over the former world title challenger but was unsure of the turning point in the game; "I think he didn't have time for his [slow plan from moves 17-20]. His piece sacrifice at the end [isn't great] but I already have strong threats."

Vallejo joined Gustafsson at the top of the standings with a tough win over Chinese International Master Yang Kaiqi, with Short and 4 other players half a point off the pace.

However 2010 Thai Open Champion Sune Berg Hansen is not among them and has no chance of retining his titled after the Danish Grandmaster was forced to lower his colours to unfancied Dutchman Pieter Hopman.

Thailand's top player Wisuwat Teerapabpaisit moved into prizemoney contention with an upset win over Russian International Master Alexey Romanov. Teerapabpaisit is now only a point behind the two leaders. 15-year-old Warot Kananub also continued to impress and retains chances for his first International Master result.

The Thai Open, with a prize fund of 500,000 Baht, is being played at the luxury Dusit Thani Resort and continues until Sunday, with round 8 beginning at 2pm local time on Saturday. 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 Office

April 15

Short takes clear lead in Thailand

Short Takes Clear Lead at Thai Chess Open

Legendary English Grandmaster Nigel Short has become the clear leader of the 2011 Thai Chess Open in Pattaya after a hard-fought victory over Burma's only Grandmaster, Zaw Win Lay.

Second-seeded Short moved clear of the field after his main rival, Spain's Paco Vallejo, was held to a draw by Abhijit Kunte, the highest raned of the 21-strong Indian contingent in Pattaya. Vallejo now sits in a pack of five players half a point behind Short.

Zaw gained plenty of time in the opening by using the Short system against its inventor, but once both players became short of time at around move 30, the Englishman took control, winning a piece and the game in 47 moves.

Short, 47, finished third in the 2009 Thai Open and second in 2010, but the veteran English star may be believing that 2011 will be his year to win Thailand's most prestigious tournament.

Local fans were deflated as their two best performers in the Open, Jiripak Pitirojirathon and 15-year-old Warot Kananub both suffered defeats, when a victory would have placed them only a point behind Short.

The Thai Open, with a first prize of 100,000 Baht, is being played at the Dusit Thani Resort and continues until Sunday, with round 7 beginning at 2pm local time on Friday. Games may be followed live via http://bangkokchess.com/ with results at

http://www.chess-results.com/tnr47889.aspx?lan=1

Thai Open Press Office

April 14

4 lead after 5 at Thailand Open

Official website: http://bangkokchess.com

Leaders after 5 rounds

Rk.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	GM	Vallejo Pons Francisco	ESP	2707	4.5	16.5	0	10.0
2	GM	Short Nigel D	ENG	2676	4.5	16.0	0	9.0
3	GM	Zaw Win Lay	MYA	2382	4.5	15.5	0	10.0
4	GM	Kunte Abhijit	IND	2526	4.5	15.0	0	9.0
5	GM	Murshed Niaz	BAN	2455	4.0	16.5	0	9.5
	FM	Illingworth Max	AUS	2345	4.0	16.5	0	9.5
7	FM	Sklyarov Dmitry V.	RUS	2415	4.0	15.0	0	9.0
8	GM	Gustafsson Jan	GER	2647	4.0	15.0	0	8.5
9		Hou Qiang	CHN	0	4.0	14.5	0	9.0
10	GM	Sriram Jha	IND	2442	4.0	14.5	0	9.0
11	IM	Morris James	AUS	2227	4.0	14.0	0	8.5
12		Sanjay N.	IND	2335	4.0	13.5	0	8.5
13	IM	Yang Kaiqi	CHN	2399	4.0	12.5	0	8.0
14		Tuomala Timo	FIN	2231	4.0	12.0	0	8.0

Full results here: http://chess-results.com/tnr47889.aspx