19th Bangkok Chess Club Open
Centara Grand Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand
April 6-14, 2019
Final Top Standings
1-2. GM Jan Gustafsson GER 2633, GM Deep Sengupta IND 2551, 7.5/9
3-6. GM Venkataraman Karthik IND 2505, GM Zhao Zong Yuan AUS 2529, GM S Dhopade Swapnil IND 2488, GM Andrea Stella ITA 2512, 7.0/9
7-19. IM Duong The Anh VIE 2302, GM Nigel Short ENG 2636, GM Musunari Lalith Babu IND 2577, GM Moulthun Ly AUS 2490, GM Jha Sriram IND 2381, IM Lou Yiping CHN 2482, IM Subbaraman Vijayalakshmi IND 2345, FM Andrean Susilodinata INA 2296, IM Haridas Pascua PHI 2426, FM Khherdekar Sauravh IND 2247, GM Rodrigo Vasquez Schroeder CHI 2487, Razah Muhd Syukar MAS 1792, FM Riste Menkinoski MKD 23096, 6.5/9
No. of participants: 200 players
Time control: 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 30 minutes play-to-finish with 30 seconds added to your clock after every move starting move 1
The Bangkok Chess Open, which alternates between being played in exotic resorts all around Thailand and the capital city, was this year held in the luxurious ballroom of the Centara Grand Hotel with a field of 200 players which included 17 International Grandmasters. Three former winners participated as well, Nigel Short (winner in 2012, 2015 and 2017), Jan Gustafsson (2011) and Australian GM Zhao Zong Yuan (2013).
This year GM (Grandmaster) Jan Gustafsson of Germany did a repeat and won by going undefeated with six wins and three draws. The popular GM, known for his tournament commentaries on the online website chess24.com, has taken part in almost every previous edition of the Bangkok tournament.
His opponent in the game below is the Vietnamese IM The Anh Duong, one of the surprises of the tournament. Despite his 2302 rating he had just defeated two GMs in a row (Italy’s Stella and Australian Zhao Zong Yuan) and was trying to ride the momentum.
Gustafsson, Jan (2633) — Duong, The Anh (2302) [A18]
Bangkok Open 2019 Bangkok THA (8.1), 13.04.2019
1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.e4 d5 4.cxd5
In the very sharp Mikenas Line of the English Opening White can either play 4.e5 right away or do it after exchanging first on d5. Most popular is 4.e5 d4 5.exf6 dxc3 6.bxc3 Qxf6 but GM Gustafsson, an openings expert, probably chose the text to confuse his young opponent.
4…exd5 5.e5 Nfd7
Not very common but still part of GM praxis. 5…Ne4 is the move usually played. After 6.Nxe4 dxe4 7.Qa4+ Nc6 8.Qxe4 Be6 Black is a pawn down but doing well because of his superior development. Here is an example of what might happen: 9.Bb5 Bd5 10.Qg4 a6 11.Bxc6+ Bxc6 12.Ne2 Qd5 13.d4 Bb4+ 14.Bd2 Bxd2+ 15.Kxd2 Qb5 16.Rab1 Qb4+ 17.Ke3 0–0 18.f3 f6 19.exf6 Rxf6 20.Rhd1 Re8+ 21.Kf2 Qe7 22.Nc3 Qe3+ 23.Kf1 Bxf3 24.gxf3 Rg6 25.Re1 Qd3+ 26.Kf2 Qd2+ 27.Re2 Rxe2+ 28.Nxe2 Rxg4 29.fxg4 c6 0–1 (29) Kuppe,W-Unzicker,W Oldenburg 1949.
6.d4 c5 7.Nf3
The idea behind Black’s 6th move is that 7.Nxd5 cxd4 8.Qxd4 Nb6 White is losing a piece.
7…Nc6 8.Bg5
Gustafsson avoids the main line but keeps developing rapidly — true enough Black soon loses his way. The move 8.Bb5 has a good reputation and even such a strong player as John Nunn lost a brevity here after 8…cxd4?! (8…Nb6 is best) 9.Nxd4 Ndxe5? 10.Qe2 Qe7 11.Nxd5 Just like that and White is winning 11…Nd3+ 12.Bxd3 Nxd4 13.Qxe7+ Bxe7 14.Nc7+ Kd8 15.Nxa8 Bb4+ 16.Bd2 Re8+ 17.Kd1 Bxd2 18.Kxd2 1–0 Quinteros,M (2555)-Nunn,J London 1977.
8…Qa5 9.Be2 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Nc5?
He should have accepted the pawn with 10…Ndxe5 11.0–0 White is doing very well but at least Black has some material compensation. The way the game goes White gets all the advantages he is after without any of the disadvantages.
11.0–0 Be6 12.Bb5 Rc8 13.Nxe6 fxe6 14.Qh5+ g6 15.Qg4
In case you didn’t notice White is threatening b2–b4.
15…h5 16.Qf4 Nd7 17.Nxd5! Qxb5
[17…exd5 18.e6 threatening both the d7–knight and Qf7 checkmate]
18.Nf6+ Nxf6 19.Qxf6 Rh7
[19…Rg8 20.Qxe6+]
20.Qxe6+ Ne7 21.Bxe7 Rxe7 22.Qxc8+ Kf7 23.f4 Qb6+ 24.Kh1 Rc7 25.Qd8 1–0
I said The Anh Duong was “one of the surprises” because the big one was our GM candidate Haridas Pascua from Baguio City. He lost in a huge upset in the first round to an unknown Malaysian player but then scored 6.5 from his next 7 games to climb back into contention. In fact, if he had beaten, and not lost to GM Deep Sengupta in the last round it was he, not Sengupta, who would have been tied with Gustafsson for firsst place.
In the penultimate round Haridas defeated India’s GM Lalith Babu, the tournament’s third seed. A good all-rounder with excellent fighting qualities, he is the Indian 2017 National Chess Champion and member of the legendary Indian team to the 2014 Tromso Olympiad which brought home the bronze medals even without their star player Vishy Anand.
Their game was an exciting tussle. Watch.
Pascua, Haridas (2426) — Babu, M R Lalith (2577) [E61]
19th Bangkok Chess Club Open 2019 Centara Grand Ladprao Hotel,
(8.3), 13.04.2019
1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.Nf3 Bg4
A bit of an irregularity which GM Babu trots out every once in a while. This unnamed variant is usually resorted to get out of the books, although some high-profile players like Zurab Azmaiparashvili, Merab Gagunashvili and the Kazakh-French blitz specialist Vladislav Tkachiev. Locally, the one who uses this every once in a while is Fernie Donguines.
5.e3 Nf6 6.Be2 0–0 7.h3 Bf5 8.0–0 Nc6 9.d5 Nb8 10.Nd4 Bd7 11.e4 e5 12.Nc2 a5 13.Ne1 Na6 14.Nd3 c6 15.a4 Nb4 16.Be3 c5 17.Qd2 Qb6 18.g4 Ne8 19.Kh2 Qd8 20.Rg1 f5?!
Opening up the g-file which points directly at his king is reckless, but Lalith likes double-edged positions and so he goes for it.
21.gxf5 gxf5 22.Bg5
[22.Bh6 is easily parried by 22…Kh8]
22…Nf6 23.f4 fxe4 24.fxe5
[24.Nxe4? Nxe4 25.Bxd8 Nxd2 Black remains at least a piece up. Take note that the second players threatens …Nxd3, Bxd3, …Nf3+]
24…exd3
[24…dxe5 25.Nxc5 White wins the e4–pawn and has a big advantage]
25.exf6 Rxf6 26.Ne4 Kh8 27.Bh4 Qe8 <D>
Taking the queen out of White’s bishop’s diagonal. 27…dxe2? 28.Rxg7! Kxg7 29.Bxf6+ snares the queen.
POSITION AFTER 27…QE8
28.Rxg7!
Nevertheless!
28…Qe5+
[28…Kxg7 29.Bxf6+ Kg8 30.Rg1+ Kf8 31.Qh6+ Kf7 32.Nxd6#]
29.Rg3 Rf4
[29…Qxe4 30.Bxf6#; 29…dxe2 30.Bxf6+]
30.Qxf4! Qxf4 31.Bf6+ Qxf6 32.Nxf6 dxe2 33.Rag1 1–0
Mate is unavoidable.
Nigel Short has not been as active as he used to be because of his new duty as vice president of the World Chess Federation (FIDE), but he still makes it a point to play in Opens around the world to feel the chess pulse. Here in Bangkok he was the top seed and started well but lost steam towards the end. He came up with a brilliancy in round one. Too bad his opponent preferred to lose prosaically rather than go down in flames.
Short, Nigel D (2636) — Avinash Ramesh (1834) [A15]
Bangkok Open 2019 Bangkok THA (1.1), 06.04.2019
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.b4 Bg7 4.Bb2 0–0 5.g3 d5 6.Na3 b6 7.Bg2 Bb7 8.0–0 Na6N 9.b5 Nc5 10.d4 Nce4 11.Ne5 a6 12.Nc6 Qd7
Why not 12…Bxc6 13.bxc6 Qd6 and win the c6–pawn? Well, you can’t. After (13…e6 14.Rc1) 14.cxd5 Qxd5 15.Qc2 Rad8 16.f3 Nd6 17.e4 White is dominating the center and winning some material.
13.Qc2
With the same idea as in the previous variation: cxd5 followed by f2–f3 and e2–e4.
13…axb5 14.Ne5 Qd8 15.cxb5 Qd6 16.Nb1 Ra5 17.a4 Rfa8 18.f3 Ng5 19.Nd2 Qd8 20.Rfc1 Ne8 21.f4 Ne6 22.Qb3 Nf8 23.e3 e6 24.Bc3 R5a7 25.Bb4 Nd7 26.Bf1 f6 27.Nc6 Bxc6 28.Rxc6 Kf7
Black’s forces have been pushed back and now Short goes in for the kill.
29.Rxe6! Nb8
If Black takes the rook he is mated by 29…Kxe6 30.Qxd5+! Kxd5 31.Bc4#
30.Re7+ Kg8 31.Bg2 Bf8 32.Qxd5+ 1–0
Congratulations to the winners, also to National Master Ric Portugalera of Davao who won the parallel Bangkok Challengers Cup.
Bobby Ang is a founding member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and its first Executive Director. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), he taught accounting in the University of Santo Tomas (UST) for 25 years and is currently Chief Audit Executive of the Equicom Group of Companies.
