Surya Ganguly wins Bangkok Open

An ever growing number of European grandmasters like to come to Bangkok in Spring to take part in the Bangkok Chess Open, which is organised by the Bangkok Chess Club. For the sixteenth edition of the tournament a number of strong European grandmasters travelled to Bangkok, among them Francisco Vallejo Pons, Loek Van Wely, Benjamin Bok, Nigel Short, and Jan Gustafsson. The strongest player from Asia was Indian grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly. A lot of attention also focused on 15-year old Anton Smirnov, who is considered to be Australia's greatest talent.

In the final round Smirnov (right) had to play against German GM Jan Gustafsson.
Smirnov lost and finished with 6.0/9.

Benjamin Bok (White) before his game against Ildar Khairullin

It was Loek Van Wely who had the best start into the tournament - he won his first five games. After conceding his first draw in round six Gustafsson caught up with him. In round seven Gustafsson and Van Wely drew against each other which allowed a number of other players to advance to the top of the table. One of them was Francisco Vallejo Pons who played a brilliant attacking game against the Najdorf.

In round eight Jan Gustafsson lost against Ildar Khairullin while all other players in the leading group drew their games and thus five players were entering the final round with 6.5/8. In the last round Ganguly defeated Van Wely while Vallejo Pons won against Nigel Short. But the relevant tie-break was in favor of Ganguly who then became official winner of the Bangkok Open.

Surya Shekhar Ganguly - Loek Van Wely

Nigel Short - Francisco Vallejo Pons

Final standings

... 198 players

Tournament winner Surya Shekhar Ganguly

Selected games

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