BCC Open: Short wins, returns to the 2700 club

The 12th Bangkok Chess Club (BCC) Open took place from April 13th-19th, with top seeds GMs Nigel Short, rated 2697, Jan Gustafsson, 2642, Hou Yifan, 2639, and Farrukh Amonatov 2604. The time controls were 90 minutes for the game plus 30 seconds per move.

The 12th Bangkok Chess Club Open 2012 was won by British GM Nigel Short, with a last-round draw against IM Nguyen Duc Hoa, whose outstanding performance has earned the Vietnamese player a GM norm. From the beginning of the tournament, Short demonstrated his great fighting spirit. Having won the Gibraltar Chess Festival in January, it was apparent that he had come to Bangkok with a high confidence level and the mission to become the sole champion. Mission accomplished! GM Nigel Short has played with passion and expertise in his fourth consecutive BCC Open tournament and has finally won it. While defending champion GM Jan Gustafsson and Women’s World Champion GM Hou Yifan underperformed, other predominantly Asian participants played very well and often surpassed expectations.

Here's an important game from the penultimate round that basically decided the winner of the tournament:

And here is a fun finish to an exciting attacking game from the final round:

Final top standings (after nine rounds)

• Full standings and tiebreaks available here

Pictures from Bangkok

Our playing correspondent WGM Kruttika Nadig sent us some pictures from a photo shoot arranged on the roof top of the Dusit Thani hotel, where the tournament was held. "The view was lovely," writes Kruttika, "but it was extremely bright and sunny, and we all nearly had a stroke..."

The prize winners gather on the roof of the hotel, high above the city

Look, ma, no railing! A chess table set up in dizzying heights for...

... an informal "blitz-on-the-roof", here between Nigel Short and Jan Gustafsson

Revenge for two painful losses to the Brit? At least Yifan did not push him off the roof

Organisers and player celebrate with a glass of Champagne – why do we keep worrying
about that six-inch balustrade?

Yifan over Bangkok – the Women's World Champion poses for our reporter

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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