
Thailand Open 2011

The tournament is being held in the five star Dusit
Thani Resort and Spa


After a day of upsets, only five players, and only two of the top ten seeds,
survived the first three rounds of the 2011 Thai Open unscathed. Following a
smooth ride in the first round, the ten participating grandmasters found life
much tougher in Tuesday's second and third rounds.

In round two the fourth, fifth and sixth seeds all failed to win. Defending
2010 Thai Open Champion Sune Berg Hansen from Denmark was held to a draw by
unfancied Singapore teenager Jarred Neubronner, while Indian GMs Abhijit Kunte
and Tejas Bakre were also held to draws.

Indian IM Atanu Lahiri at the start of his game against German GM Jan Gustafsson
In the third round, third seed Jan Gustafsson of Germany struggled to draw
with Indian International Master Atanu Lahiri while his countryman, Gerhand
Schebler, was also held, by Australia's Max Illingworth.

Nigel Short playing with Thai chess pieces (just kidding, it's a publicity
shot)
Tournament favourites Paco Vallejo and Nigel Short both achieved maximum 3.0/3
scores with fine attacking wins in the third round. They are joined in the lead
by two woman grandmasters, Swathi Ghate of India and Alina l'Ami of Romania,
who scored a upset wins over IMs Yang Kaiqi and Roy Saptarshi respectively,
as well as Burmese grandmaster Zaw Win Lay.

The stand-out first round game was between Thai number one Wisuwat Teerapabpaisit
and ten-year-old Zhansaya Abdumalik from Kazakhstan. The co-winner of the 2010
World U/10 Girls Championship, looked to be holding her own for much of the
game but eventually dropped a pawn and experience prevailed after 63 moves and
four hours play.

We’ve been framed! Some of Thailand’s junior talent, including
Saru Phitchayarom, Nina Tuorila, Olympiad team member Som Chanida and Poompong
Wiwatanadate (we don’t know the girl on the left).
Links
A few 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 the free PGN reader ChessBase
Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program
to read, replay and analyse PGN games. New and enhanced: CB Light 2009! |
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