Tran Tuan Minh wins the 1st Pattaya Open 2018 in Thailand

by Peter Long - 07/11/2018

Vietnamese GM Tran Tuan Minh is the winner of the first edition of the Thailand Pattaya Open Chess Championship which took place from 20th to 31st of October 2018. A total number of 105 players from 24 different countries took part in the open section of the event. Tran scored an unbeaten solid 8.0/9 points, a one point lead from the 1st runner-up to become the champion of the tournament. The field included 6 GM, 3 IM, 1WGM, 10 FM/WFM and 8CM/WCM. In the first part we read about the winners in different categories and also the interview with the organizer and now in this 2nd and final part of the coverage Peter Long shares with us a detailed pictorial report of the event and also announces the dates for the 2nd edition.

Thailand is one of the most visited countries in the world and is such a unique country that each visitor to Thailand leaves with a better understanding of how special the country is, with many coming back to get married in a place they fell in love with. Among the chess circuit Thailand is very popular for its Bangkok Open, an annual destination for world class players and chess fans all over the world. Recently the event successfully completed its 18th edition!

A still of the venue - Bangkok Open 2018. | Photo: BCC

For players of any sports it is very important to get timely platform in the form of tournaments to test and hone their skills and chess is no different. For the rapid growth of chess in Thailand it is very important that more of such tournaments are conducted in regular basis. Thailand Pattaya Open Chess Championship is the new addition to the list and in the very first attempt it turned out to be a huge success.

The event made a century on it's debut and looking forward to transform into a world class event.

GM Pourramezanali Amirreza from Iran was the top seed followed by GM Tran Tuan Minh from Vietnam and GM Saptarshi Roy from India were the 2nd and 3rd seed respectively. At the end of the 5th round it was the Indian GM Saptarshi Roy and Vietnamese GM Tran Tuan Minh sharing the lead with perfect 5.0/5 points each. However things changed in the 7th round as GM Saptarshi Roy went down against GM Laylo Darwin from Philippines and GM Tran Tuan Minh won his game against fellow country mate GM Nguyen Huynh Minh Huy to take the clear lead. GM Tran drew his penultimate round game against GM Laylo and went into final round with a half point lead from the rest. The fight for the title was on till the very last round until GM Tran closed the chapter by winning his last round game against fellow country mate IM Duong The Anh and thus becoming the champion by a full one point lead with 8.0/9 points.

Here are a couple of nice wins by Tran Tuan Minh in the tournament:

GM Tran also received a custom made chess set valued at over 1000 Euros along with the prize money (around 1820 USD) and the beautiful champions trophy! Photo: Peter Long

Uncompromising Play by GM Saptarshi Roy(Right) was not enough against the solid GM Amirreza Pourramezanali(Left). Photo: Peter Long

GM Amirreza Pourramezanali was the 1st runner-up with a better tie-break score than Laylo Darwin and Nguyen Huynh Minh Huy. All three of them scored 7.0/9 points and were placed as 2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively on the basis of their tie-break score.

From Left to Right: L-R. Maung Maing Lwin, President Myanmar and Chairman of Appeals, Darwin Laylo, GM Tran Tuan Minh (Champion) and GM Amirreza Pourramezanali (1st runner-up) and Dr Palphol Rodloytuk, Vice President, Thai Chess Association | Photo: Peter Long

The tournament was conducted in the beautiful five star beach front hotel located on a quiet part of Jomtien Beach! |Photo: BBR

The venue was spacious and was arranged beautifully keeping players comfort as the top priority. | Photo: Peter Long

The chess festival had as many as six different categories: Open, Amateur, U8, U12, U16 and S55 and it attracted more than 200 participants from 24 different Nations. The organizers are expecting a 50 percent increase if not double in their next edition which will take place from 18th to 27th October 2019.

Jarunpol Sajjapronthep and his wife Phuttarak Khampliw are the master mind of the event! An interview with the organizer was published in the first part of this report and you can check it here. | Photo: Peter Long

FM Kongsee Uaychai was the top player from Thailand in the event and performed very well scoring 6.0/9 points to finish in the 10th place and also increased his rating by 14 Elo rating points.

FM Kongsee Uaychai was one among the two players to beat the top seed! | Photo: Peter Long

WGM Janelle Frayna Mae went all out against GM Nguyen Huynh Minh Huy in the last round but was unsuccessful. Photo: Peter Long

Young brigade from Thailand, India, Vietnam and Malaysia in one frame. | Photo: Peter Long

Tushar Anand of India won the Amateur category by scoring an impressive 6.5/7 points. He started as the 3rd seed and went on to register 6 wins and a draw and also increased his rating by 26 elo rating points.

Tushar keeps the Indian flag flying high in Thailand! | Photo: Peter Long

WFM Kodikara K K M Sachintha from Sri Lanka secured the 5th position and also the best U-16 in the Amateur section! Photo: Peter Long

68 years old Suppt-Hongs Paisal of Thailand secured the best senior player trophy in the Amateur section! | Photo: Peter Long

San Diego Jerlyn Mae of Philippines secured 4th position and also the best women in the Amateur section!. | Photo: Peter Long

Singapore's Chan Peng Kong received the trophy for the best senior player in the Open section! | Photo: Peter Long

Daniel Quizon of singapore secured the 8th position and the best U-16 in the Open category! Photo: Peter Long

The Chief Arbiter of the event was IA Patcharawee Brahmawong and he was assisted by NA Khosak Phanudom, NA Akihiro Yamada and NA Suchart Srisawat.

Chessbase India Power will be the partner with the organisers 101 Chess Academy to help Indian players make their way to this new and quite wonderful event in 2019! Watch out our newspage for more news os the event comes closer.

Final standing of the Open Category:

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	2	GM	Tran Tuan Minh		VIE	2506	8,0	0,0	50,5	43,5
2	1	GM	Pourramezanali Amirreza		IRI	2533	7,0	0,0	50,5	42,5
3	4	GM	Laylo Darwin		PHI	2427	7,0	0,0	49,5	41,5
4	5	GM	Nguyen Huynh Minh Huy		VIE	2410	7,0	0,0	47,5	39,5
5	6	GM	Villamayor Buenaventura		SGP	2403	6,5	0,0	50,0	42,0
6	3	GM	Saptarshi Roy		IND	2496	6,5	0,0	49,5	41,5
7	15		Grafil Franz Robert		PHI	2219	6,5	0,0	43,5	36,5
8	8		Quizon Daniel		PHI	2334	6,5	0,0	42,0	35,5
9	18	FM	Habla Jony		PHI	2170	6,0	0,0	45,5	37,5
10	13	FM	Kongsee Uaychai		THA	2245	6,0	0,0	45,0	38,0

Check the complete list of final standing

Now since the dates have been released for the 2nd edition (18th -27th October) we are really looking forward to it and wish all the best to the organizers. Also thanks to all the sponsors for being a part of this initiative which gave such a beautiful platform to the players.

About the Author:

IA Peter Long is a Fide Master and heads the Institute for Chess Excellence which is also the National Chess Academy of the Malaysian Chess Federation (MCF) and a Regional Asian Chess Federation Academy. He is also the Press Officer for the Asian Chess Federation as well as Features Editor for American Chess Magazine.

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