Nigel Short wins Thai Open

by Johannes Fischer
4/20/2015 – Nigel Short added another tournament win to his long list of successes. With focused play he won the last round of the Thai Open in Bangkok against Indian IM Diptayan Ghosh with Black to finish with 7.5/9 and win the tournament on tie-break. Second place went to Indian GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly, third place to Kamil Dragun from Poland. Both also scored 7.5/9.
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Tournament winner Nigel Short (Photo: Nigel Short's Facebook page)

Nigel Short, born 1. June 1965,  currently number 64 in world, played his first British Championship at the age of twelve, and in 1979 he broke Bobby Fischer's record to become the youngest International Master at that time. Short's enormous experience showed in the last round of the Thai Open. After eight rounds number one seed GM Wang Hao from China was leading the field with 7.0/8, followed by five players with 6.5/7 each. Short was one of those and in round nine had to play with Black against Indian IM Diptayan Ghosh. Short reached a complex middlegame in a Nimzo-Indian but instead of seeking complications at any costs to play for a win he kept things under control throughout the game, put continuous pressure on his oppenent to finally convert a positional advantage into a better endgame which he won with precise play.

 
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1.e41,170,31954%2421---
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 b6 5.Bg5 Bb7 6.e3 h6 7.Bh4 Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 d6 9.Nd2 g5 10.Bg3 Nbd7 11.f3 Qe7 12.e4 Nh5 13.Bf2 f5 14.Qc2 0-0-0 15.0-0-0 fxe4 16.Nxe4 Ndf6 17.Ng3 Kb8 18.Re1 Qf7 19.Be3 Nf4 20.h4 Rhg8 21.hxg5 hxg5 22.Qd2 e5 23.Nf5 Qd7 24.dxe5 Qxf5 25.exf6 Qxf6 26.Qd4 Qf7 27.Bxf4 gxf4 28.Rh4 Rdf8 29.Rh6 Re8 30.Rxe8+ Qxe8 31.Qd2 Qe7 32.Bd3 Qg5 33.Re6 Bc6 34.Re2 Qc5 35.Kb2 Qg1 36.Bh7 Rg5 37.Bc2 a5 38.a3 Kc8 39.Qxf4 Rxg2 40.Rxg2 Qxg2 41.Qg4+ Qxg4 42.fxg4 Kd7 43.Kc1 Ke6 44.g5 Ke5 45.Kd2 Bd7 46.Ke3 Bf5 47.Bd1 Be6 48.Bc2 Bxc4 49.Bb1 Be6 50.Bd3 Bf5 51.Bb5 Bg6 52.Bd7 Bf7 53.Kf3 Be6 54.Be8 Kf5 55.g6 Kf6 56.Ke4 Bb3 57.Kd4 Be6 58.Ke4 Ba2 59.Kd4 Bb3 60.c4 Bd1 61.Ke4 Be2 62.Kd4 c5+ 63.Kc3 Bg4 64.Kb3 Be6 65.Kc3 Bf5 66.Kb3 Bxg6 67.Bxg6 Kxg6 68.Ka4 Kf5 69.Kb5 Ke5 70.Kxb6 a4 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Ghosh,D2512Short,N26640–12015E2115th BCC Open 20159.3

Wang Hao fared less well. The Chinese Grandmaster had to play with Black against Indian GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly who openend the game with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Qe2 seeming to indicate that he would be happy with a draw. But apparently this threw Wang Hao off balance and he did not seem to be able to decide whether he wanted to play for a win with Black or whether he should settle for a draw. As a consequence he gradually started to drift from a completely equal to a worse position which he lost.

 
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1.e41,170,31954%2421---
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1.Nf3282,62856%2440---
1.c4182,73156%2442---
1.g319,74556%2427---
1.b314,34754%2427---
1.f45,91748%2377---
1.Nc33,81651%2384---
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1.a31,22254%2404---
1.e31,07349%2409---
1.d395550%2378---
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1.c343551%2426---
1.h328356%2419---
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Qe2 Qe7 6.d3 Nf6 7.Nc3 Qxe2+ 8.Bxe2 Be7 9.0-0 0-0 10.h3 a6 11.Re1 Nc6 12.a3 Re8 13.Be3 Bd7 14.d4 Bf8 15.Bg5 Ne4 16.Nxe4 Rxe4 17.Bd3 Rxe1+ 18.Rxe1 h6 19.Bd2 Be6 20.c3 Na5 21.g4 Bd5 22.Kg2 Nb3 23.Be3 b5 24.Kg3 Re8 25.Bf4 Rxe1 26.Nxe1 Na5 27.Nc2 Nc4 28.Bc1 Nb6 29.Ne3 Bb3 30.Nf5 Nd5 31.Be4 Ne7 32.Nxe7+ Bxe7 33.Bb7 a5 34.Bc6 Bc4 35.h4 g5 36.hxg5 hxg5 37.d5 Kg7 38.Kf3 Bb3 39.Ke4 Bc2+ 40.Ke3 Bb3 41.Bxb5 Bxd5 42.b4 c6 43.Be2 Bd8 44.c4 Be6 45.Bb2+ f6 46.Bc3 Bb6+ 47.c5 dxc5 48.bxa5 Ba7 49.f3 Kf7 50.Bd1 Bc4 51.Bc2 Ba6 52.Ba4 c4+ 53.Bd4 c5 54.Bc3 Ke6 55.Bc6 f5 56.gxf5+ Kxf5 57.Bd7+ Kg6 58.Be6 Bb8 59.Ke4 Bf4 60.a4 Bc1 61.Kd5 Bb7+ 62.Kxc4 Bxf3 63.Kxc5 g4 64.Bd4 Ba3+ 65.Kb6 g3 66.a6 g2 67.Bd7 Bb2 68.Bg1 Kf6 69.Bc6 1–0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Ganguly,S2603Wang,H27131–02015C4215th BCC Open 20159.1

 

Ganguly and Wang Hao enjoying the pleasures of Thailand (Picture taken from the official tournament site)

Polish GM Kamil Dragun followed a completely different strategy. He had the white pieces against the nominally stronger Francisco Vallejo Pons and attacked right from the start. An approach that paid off.

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Nf3 d5 6.Bd3 b6 7.0-0 c5 8.cxd5 exd5 9.a3 Bxc3 10.bxc3 c4 11.Bc2 Bg4 12.Qe1 Bh5 13.Ne5 Nfd7 14.f4 f6 15.Qh4 fxe5 16.Qxh5 Nf6 17.Qxe5 Re8 18.Qg5 Nc6 19.Rf3 Na5 20.Rg3 Qe7 21.Rb1 Nb3 22.a4 Qf7 23.Qf5 Rad8 24.Bxb3 cxb3 25.Rxb3 Rc8 26.Bb2 Rc4 27.Ra3 Ne4 28.Qxf7+ Kxf7 29.Rh3 Kg6 30.g4 Nf6 31.Rg3 Ne4 32.Rg2 Rec8 33.h4 Kf6 34.h5 Nxc3 35.Bxc3 Rxc3 36.Rga2 Rxa3 37.Rxa3 Rc2 38.Rb3 Ra2 39.Rc3 Rxa4 40.Rc6+ Kf7 41.Rc7+ Kg8 42.Rb7 Ra2 43.Kf1 h6 44.g5 hxg5 45.fxg5 Rh2 46.g6 Kf8 47.Rf7+ Ke8 48.Rxg7 Rxh5 49.Rxa7 Kf8 50.Rb7 Rf5+ 51.Ke2 Rf6 52.Rd7 Rf5 53.Kd3 Kg8 54.Kc3 Rf3 55.Kd3 Rf5 56.Rd6 b5 57.Kc3 Rf3 58.Re6 Rf1 59.Re5 1–0
  • Start an analysis engine:
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Dragun,K2558Vallejo Pons,F27081–02015E5315th BCC Open 20159.2

 

Final standings

Rk. SNo     Name FED RtgI Pts.  TB1   TB2   TB3 
1 3
 
 GM Short Nigel D ENG 2678 7.5 0.0 52.0 42.25
2 6
 
 GM Ganguly Surya Shekhar IND 2619 7.5 0.0 51.0 42.25
3 7
 
 GM Dragun Kamil POL 2576 7.5 0.0 47.0 39.00
4 1
 
 GM Wang Hao CHN 2713 7.0 0.0 55.0 41.00
5 2
 
 GM Vallejo Pons Francisco ESP 2696 6.5 0.0 55.5 38.00
6 8
 
 GM Horvath Jozsef HUN 2522 6.5 0.0 55.0 37.50
7 15
 
 GM Kunte Abhijit IND 2477 6.5 0.0 52.5 36.50
8 13
 
 GM Barbosa Oliver PHI 2489 6.5 0.0 52.0 35.75
9 10
 
 IM Ghosh Diptayan IND 2512 6.5 0.0 51.0 35.50
10 4
 
 GM Gustafsson Jan GER 2639 6.5 0.0 51.0 34.25
11 16
 
 GM Deepan Chakkravarthy J. IND 2475 6.5 0.0 50.5 33.50
12 17
 
 IM Sunilduth Lyna Narayanan IND 2464 6.5 0.0 50.0 35.50
13 9
 
 GM Gomez John Paul PHI 2520 6.5 0.0 48.5 34.00
14 25
 
 IM Himanshu Sharma IND 2416 6.5 0.0 47.5 33.00
15 14
 
 IM Illingworth Max AUS 2489 6.5 0.0 47.5 32.75
16 21
 
 IM Swapnil S. Dhopade IND 2446 6.5 0.0 47.5 32.75
17 11
 
 GM Rasmussen Allan Stig DEN 2507 6.5 0.0 47.5 31.50
18 22
 
 IM Karthikeyan P. IND 2443 6.5 0.0 44.5 30.25
19 51
 
 FM Lorparizangeneh Shahin IRI 2319 6.0 0.0 52.5 33.25
20 18
 
 GM Torre Eugenio PHI 2460 6.0 0.0 51.5 33.00
21 19
 
 GM Schebler Gerhard GER 2451 6.0 0.0 51.5 32.00
22 34
 
 IM Bersamina Paulo PHI 2390 6.0 0.0 50.0 30.50
23 27
 
 IM Smirnov Anton AUS 2410 6.0 0.0 48.5 30.25
24 5
 
 GM Socko Bartosz POL 2628 6.0 0.0 48.5 30.00
25 20
 
 IM Sammalvuo Tapani FIN 2450 6.0 0.0 47.5 29.50
26 58
 
   Dai Changren CHN 2275 6.0 0.0 47.0 28.00
27 29
 
   Ravi Teja S. IND 2405 6.0 0.0 46.5 29.50
28 31
 
   Krishna C.r.g. IND 2402 6.0 0.0 46.0 29.00
29 23
 
 IM Beikert Guenther Dr. GER 2428 6.0 0.0 44.0 27.00
30 35
 
 GM Gonzales Jayson PHI 2385 6.0 0.0 41.5 27.50
31 82
 
   Ritviz Parab IND 2188 5.5 0.0 50.5 29.00
32 64
 
   Hemant Sharma IND 2248 5.5 0.0 49.0 26.50
33 114
 
   Liu Zhaoqi CHN 2053 5.5 0.0 47.5 28.00
34 30
 
 IM Ikeda Junta AUS 2403 5.5 0.0 47.5 26.00
35 85
 
 WIM Frayna Janelle Mae PHI 2167 5.5 0.0 47.0 26.75
36 33
 
 FM Juhasz Kristof HUN 2393 5.5 0.0 46.0 28.00
37 47
 
 FM Biag Ivan Gil PHI 2328 5.5 0.0 46.0 26.75
38 52
 
 FM Terekhov Andrey RUS 2318 5.5 0.0 45.0 26.75
39 88
 
   Grafil Franz Robert PHI 2156 5.5 0.0 45.0 24.25
40 39
 
   Severino Sander PHI 2355 5.5 0.0 44.5 25.50

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Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

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