BCC Open: Short catches Venkatesh, takes lead

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4/17/2012 – After five rounds of play Indian IM M.R. Venkatesh had scored 5.0/5 points. In round six he faced Nigel Short, who was in second place. The British GM showed his class and came up on top. He now leads, with women's world champion Hou Yifan in second place (the two clash on Tuesday). Our round six report is adorned with some pictorial impressions by WGM Kruttika Nadig.

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The 12th Bangkok Chess Club (BCC) Open is taking place from April 13th-19th, with top seeds GMs Nigel Short, rated 2697, Jan Gustafsson, 2642, Hou Yifan, 2639, and Farrukh Amonatov 2604. The next highest ranked player, IM M.R. Venkatesh, is almost a hundred points lower on the rating scale – although we have counted eight GMs behind him in the starting list. The time controls are 90 minutes for the game plus 30 seconds per move. No zero tolerance rule here: five minutes before the games start, the Chief Arbiter shall make the announcement accordingly. If any player is not present within an hour after the game is started, he shall lose by default. Classic and sensible.

After five rounds Indian IM M.R. Venkatesh was leading with stunning 5.0/5 points!

Hou Yifan strolls while Nigel Short works on his game against M.R. Venkatesh

Monday’s action in round six saw a matchup between tournament leader IM M.R. Venkatesh against second-placed GM Nigel Short on board one. The British GM showed his class and came up on top.

[Event "12th BCC Open"] [Site "Bangkok THA"] [Date "2012.04.16"] [Round "6"] [White "Venkatesh, M.R."] [Black "Short, Nigel D"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "A21"] [WhiteElo "2509"] [BlackElo "2697"] [PlyCount "82"] [EventDate "2012.04.13"] 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 d6 3. g3 Be6 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. d3 Qd7 6. Rb1 g6 7. b4 Bg7 8. b5 Nd8 9. a4 Ne7 10. Nd5 O-O 11. a5 a6 12. b6 c6 13. Nc7 Rc8 14. Ba3 f5 15. Nf3 h6 16. O-O Bf7 17. c5 d5 18. d4 e4 19. Ne5 Bxe5 20. dxe5 Ne6 21. Nxe6 Bxe6 22. f4 exf3 23. exf3 f4 24. Rb4 fxg3 25. hxg3 Nf5 26. Qe1 g5 27. Bb2 Qe7 28. Qf2 Rf7 29. Bh3 Rcf8 {The Indian IM had placed his bets largely on the queenside in the English opening, while it turns out his English opponent was deploying his forces for a kingside attack. Nigel Short is now in a commanding position.} 30. Bxf5 $6 {Probably not the best idea.} Rxf5 31. f4 gxf4 32. Rxf4 Rxf4 33. gxf4 Kh7 34. Kg2 $4 {Terrible. White had to mirror Black's move and play his king to h2 for any chance of survival.} Rg8+ 35. Kf3 Bg4+ 36. Ke3 Qxc5+ 37. Kd2 (37. Bd4 Qa3+ 38. Kd2 Bf3 39. Qxf3 Rg2+ 40. Qxg2 (40. Ke1 Qb4+ {with mate to follow. }) 40... Qa2+ 41. Ke1 Qxg2 {winning.}) 37... Qxa5+ 38. Kc1 Bf5 39. Rh1 Rg4 40. Qh2 Qc5+ 41. Kd1 Rg6 {and because of the terrible threats of 42...Qc4 or 42... Qe3 with mate to follow White resigned.} 0-1

On board 2, GM Hou Yifan came back from a technically lost position to defeat FM Martin Voigt.

[Event "12th BCC Open"] [Site "Bangkok THA"] [Date "2012.04.16"] [Round "6"] [White "Hou, Yifan"] [Black "Voigt, Martin"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B18"] [WhiteElo "2639"] [BlackElo "2364"] [PlyCount "117"] [EventDate "2012.04.13"] 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. Nh3 e6 7. Nf4 Bd6 8. c3 Nf6 9. h4 Qc7 10. Qf3 Nbd7 11. h5 Bc2 12. h6 gxh6 13. Bd3 Bxd3 14. Nxd3 Bxg3 15. fxg3 Rg8 16. Bf4 Qa5 17. O-O Qh5 18. Bc7 Qxf3 19. Rxf3 Ne4 20. Re1 f5 21. c4 Ndf6 22. Be5 Ng4 23. d5 $2 {The beginning of a plan that spells disaster.} O-O-O 24. dxc6 Rxd3 25. cxb7+ Kxb7 26. Rxd3 Nxe5 27. Rb3+ Kc6 28. Ra3 Kb6 29. c5+ Kb7 30. b4 a6 31. Rb3 h5 32. a4 Nc6 33. Rd1 Kc7 34. b5 axb5 35. axb5 Ne5 36. Rc1 {In an essentially lost position the Women's World Champion is pinning her hopes on the menacing protected passed pawns bailing her out.} Nxg3 37. Ra1 Ne2+ 38. Kf1 Nd4 39. Rb4 Rg4 40. g3 Nc2 $2 {Both players were in acute time trouble.} (40... Nd3 {should have been enough to win.} 41. b6+ Kb8 42. Rc4 Nxc5 43. Rxc5 Nb3 {Now the fork!} 44. Rac1 Nxc5 45. Rxc5 Rxg3 {and Black is simply three pawns up with a winning position.}) 41. Rxg4 hxg4 42. Ra7+ Kb8 43. Rxh7 Nd4 44. Re7 Kc8 45. b6 Nec6 46. Rc7+ Kb8 47. Kf2 e5 48. Ke3 Nb4 49. Rf7 Nd5+ 50. Kd3 Nb4+ 51. Kc4 Nbc6 52. Kd5 e4 53. Rf8+ Kb7 54. Rf7+ {The game should be a draw, but with only seconds left on both clocks the disappointed Black wants more.} Ka6 $4 {and ends up with far less, after this blunder.} 55. b7 Ka7 56. Rc7 e3 57. Rxc6 Nc2 (57... Nxc6 58. Kxc6 e2 59. Kc7 {is hopeless for Black.}) 58. Rb6 Kb8 59. c6 {and mate to follow.} 1-0

Last year’s champion GM Jan Gustafsson recovered from an upset in the previous round with a win against WGM Kruttika Nadig.

Top standings after round six

Rk.	Ti.	Name	FED	RtgI	Pts.	Perf	Rtg+/-
1	GM	Short Nigel D	ENG	2697	5.5	2743	3.5
2	GM	Hou Yifan	CHN	2639	5.0	2599	-0.1
3	GM	Amonatov Farrukh	TJK	2604	5.0	2591	1.0
4	IM	Venkatesh M R	IND	2509	5.0	2672	12.7
5	IM	Nguyen Duc Hoa	VIE	2453	5.0	2598	10.9
6		Wan Yunguo	CHN	2441	5.0	2484	5.3
7	IM	Mohota Nisha	IND	2312	5.0	2511	14.5
8	GM	Ghane Shojaat	IRI	2339	5.0	2521	13.3
9	IM	Nguyen Van Huy	VIE	2485	5.0	2405	1.8
10	IM	Liu Qingnan	CHN	2461	4.5	2562	8.6
11	GM	Gustafsson Jan	GER	2642	4.5	2491	-6.4
12	GM	Sriram Jha	IND	2406	4.5	2434	3.0
13		Liu Chang	CHN	2262	4.5	2406	15.6
14	GM	Schebler Gerhard	GER	2449	4.5	2401	-2.4
15	IM	Saptarshi Roy	IND	2384	4.5	2356	-1.3
16	FM	Pitirotjirathon Jirapak	THA	2252	4.5	2336	11.1

Full standings and tiebreaks available here

Top pairing on Tuesday, April 17 is Nigel Short vs Hou Yifan. The game, which will be broadcast live on Playchess, starts at 15:00h local time, or 10:00h CEST, 04:00 a.m. NY. You can find the time for your location here.

Pictures from Bangkok

Our playing correspondent WGM Kruttika Nadig sent us some impressions from the tournament.

The venue: luxurious five-star hotel Dusit Thani in the heart of Bangkok...

... with the obligatory swimming pool in the courtyard

Inside the Dusit Thani a conference room where the games take place

The trophies waiting for the winners

The tournament coincides with Songkran, the Thai New Year which is publicly celebrated by people throwing water at each other. Thais roam the streets with containers of water or water guns, sometimes mixed with mentholated talc, or post themselves at the side of roads with a garden hose and drench each other and passersby.

Girls with buckets and water guns, ready to strike

Nobody is safe from their attacks – nobody!

The Bangkok Chess Club

The Bangkok Chess Club meets every Tuesday evening at Roadhouse Barbecue on the corner of Surawong and Rama IV Roads, near the Sala Daeng skytrain station (walk through Thaniya Plaza to Surawong Road and turn right), and the Silom MRT station. Players begin to arrive from 6:30pm and tournaments usually begin at about 8:00pm. With over 200 active players of every standard from beginners to masters, you are bound to find players to give you a good game – all are welcome. And it is free – though nobody would object if you bought the organiser a drink ;-). The Bangkok Chess Club also meets every Friday evening at the Queen Victoria Pub and Restaurant in Sukhumvit Soi 23 – a short stroll up Soi 23 or through Soi Cowboy from Sukhumvit MRT and Asoke BTS.

Links

Official tournament site
Small selection of games in PGN (courtesy Mark Crowther of TWIC,
who is keeping a watch for full material from Bangkok)

The games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 11 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.

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