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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Your personal chess trainer. Your toughest opponent. Your strongest ally. FRITZ 20 is more than just a chess engine – it is a training revolution for ambitious players and professionals. Whether you are taking your first steps into the world of serious chess training, or already playing at tournament level, FRITZ 20 will help you train more efficiently, intelligently and individually than ever before.
How much opening prep is really necessary - especially in blitz and rapid games? The idea of a “lazy” but smart repertoire: minimal theory, rich ideas, and easy-to-remember structures.
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.
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.
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.
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 13 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs.
Johannes FischerJohannes 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".
In almost every chess game there comes a moment when you just can’t go on without tactics. You must strike to not giving away the advantage you have worked for the whole game.
Opening videos: Daniel King presents new ideas against Caro-Kann with 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Nxf6+. ‘Mikhalchishin's Miniatures’: Najdorf, Petroff and Scotch. ‘Move by Move’ with Robert Ris. ‘Lucky bag’ with 37 analyses by Ganguly, Illingworth et al.
Instead of forcing you to memorise endless lines, Raja focuses on clear plans, typical ideas, and attacking motifs that you can apply in your own games without delay. A short, focused, and practical repertoire.
FIDE World Cup 2025 with analyses by Adams, Bluebaum, Donchenko, Shankland, Wei Yi and many more. Opening videos by Blohberger, King and Marin. 11 exciting opening articles with new repertoire ideas and much more.
GM Blohberger presents a complete two-part repertoire for Black: practical, clear, and flexible – instead of endless theory, you’ll get straightforward concepts and strategies that are easy to learn and apply.
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