Thai Open: Gustafsson ahead of Vallejo and Short on tiebreak

4/17/2011 – All three top seeds entered the final round with 6.5/8 points. English GM Nigel Short smoothly outplayed his opponent, while GMs Jan Gustafsson (Germany) and Paco Vallejo (Spain) had to navigate through tricky endings. But with all three winning their games they ended on 7.5/9 in tie for first. Gustafsson was awarded the trophy on tiebreak. Final report.

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Thailand Open 2011

The Bangkok Chess Club and Thailand Chess Association staged this event from 11th to 17th April 2011 in Pattaya, Thailand.

In a final round Nigel Short outplayed Indian Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte and looked like the tournament winner. But both Jan Gustafsson and Paco Vallejo managed to win difficult endings (against Kjetil Stokke and Niaz Murshed respectively). This meant that third seed Gustafsson, Germany, tied with top seeds Vallejo, Spain, and Short, England, each player having scored 7.5/9 points.


The winner Jan Gustafsson at the start of his game against Kjetil Stokke, Norway

Final top standings

Rk. Title Name FED Rtg
Pts.
TB1 
TB2 
TB3 
1 GM Gustafsson Jan GER 2647
7.5
55.0
45.00
6
2 GM Short Nigel D ENG 2676
7.5
54.0
42.75
7
3 GM Vallejo Francisco ESP 2707
7.5
53.5
43.00
6
4 FM Voigt Martin GER 2325
7.0
47.5
35.25
5
5 IM Yang Kaiqi CHN 2399
7.0
47.5
34.50
7
6 GM Sriram Jha IND 2442
6.5
52.5
35.50
5
7 GM Hansen Sune Berg DEN 2603
6.5
49.0
34.25
5
8 FM Illingworth Max AUS 2345
6.5
48.5
33.00
5
9 IM Saptarshi Roy IND 2395
6.5
46.0
31.25
6
10 IM Palit Somak IND 2378
6.5
43.0
30.50
6
11 GM Murshed Niaz BAN 2455
6.0
53.5
33.75
4
12 GM Kunte Abhijit IND 2526
6.0
53.5
33.25
4
13 Mariano Nelson III PHI 2197
6.0
52.5
34.25
5
14 GM Zaw Win Lay MYA 2382
6.0
50.5
31.50
4
15 FM Stokke Kjetil NOR 2407
6.0
50.0
31.50
5
16 FM Illner Achim GER 2353
6.0
50.0
29.75
5
17 WGM L'Ami Alina ROU 2297
6.0
48.5
30.50
5
18 FM Sklyarov Dmitry V. RUS 2415
6.0
48.5
30.50
5
19 GM Bakre Tejas IND 2530
6.0
48.0
31.50
3
20 IM Lahiri Atanu IND 2350
6.0
47.5
29.50
5
21 IM Willemze Thomas NED 2390
6.0
47.5
29.00
6
22 IM Aung Aung MYA 2324
6.0
46.0
28.75
4
23 IM Myo Naing MYA 2317
6.0
45.5
27.50
5
24 FM Sauravh Khherdekar IND 2325
6.0
44.0
25.75
5
25 Sanjay N. IND 2335
6.0
43.0
25.50
5
26 IM Contin Daniel ITA 2316
6.0
41.0
25.50
5

Full standings of 141 players

Gustafsson won the tiebreak for having played the stronger opposition and took the 2011 Thai Chess Open trophy. Short, who lost to Gustafsson in round seven, was placed second. The prize money of 220,000 Baht (= €5000 or US $7300) was shared equally amongst the three. A quick check with ChessBase 11 (running on an incomplete PGN file) reveals the following performances – compared to the official ones displayed when you click the names on the above list:

Rnk
 Player
Rating
Off. perf
CB Perf.
+/–
Score

1

Gustafsson,Jan

2647
2661
2667
+5

7.5/9

2

Short,Nigel D

2676
2687
2693
+5

7.5/9

3

Vallejo,Francisco

2707
2692
2699
+3

7.5/9


The winners: Nigel Short, Jan Gustafsson, Francisco Vallejo


Nigel Short with his trophy and tournament officials


"Beauty v. brains", says the official web site: Nina Tuorila challenges Nigel


The winner with his trophy in front of the Pattaya seaside front


The hallway outside the tournament hall


Thai tournament arbiter Panupan Vitchuprapa taking a meal break


Cakes for dessert


A Thai dance recital at the closing ceremony


Goodbye Pattaya, see you next year!

Links

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