Thailand Open: Top seeds begin to fall
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Top Seeds Tumble In Second Round of Thai Open
A remarkable morning round of the 15th Thai Open in Pattaya saw top seeds falling to young players, with two Grandmasters among the high profile casualties. A 20th Grandmaster was added to the record-breaking tournament at the Dusit Thani Resort but almost immediately the chess elite were challenged.
First Grandmaster to fall was Filipino John-Paul Gomez (2520) who was demolished by Australian teenager Jack Puccini (2265) in only 19 moves.
Puccini,J–Gomez,J:
Bangkok 2015.4.12
1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 Nc6 5.Bc4 e6 6.Nf3 a6 7.O-O Nge7 8.Bg5 f6 9.Be3 b5 10.Bb3
So far everything is normal, according the ‘experts’ on this popular line of the Mora Gambit. Now correct is 10…Na5! , immediately hitting the Bishop, trying to force it away from the annoying (for Black!) a2-g8 diagonal. Apparently the position would offer mutual chances…
10…Ng6?
Amazingly, even though this is known to lose for Black–if not by force then certainly close to it–many grandmasters don’t know this and get trapped at a regular pace…
11.Nd5!
Readers might remember that here on this blog I published the famous Esterman vs Van Wely game a couple of years ago! Here is the LINK
The Puccinni game continued:
11…Rb8 12.Rc1 exd5 13.exd5 Nce5 14.d6 Bb7 15.Nxe5 fxe5 16.f4 Qh4 17.fxe5 Bxg2 18.Bf7+ Kd8 19.Qd2
1-0!
Gomez was followed by Allan Stig Rasmussen, the Danish Grandmaster losing to Sharma Hemant, the 22-year-old Indian showing great poise to outplay his higher ranked rival.
Australia’s Max Illingworth, the 14th seed, was shocked by 13-year-old R. Vaishali, the Indian girl currently ranked as the second strongest for her age in the world. The six highest ranked Grandmasters, including top seeded Chinese star Wang Hao, all progressed safely to the third round with a 100% score.
Thailand’s best had a difficult day, with Uaychai Kongsee and Wisuwat Teerapabpaisit meeting world class opposition and falling to Grandmasters Jan Gustafsson and Joszef Horvath respectively.
In addition, Thai Olympian Ruja Phitchayarom – who scored the biggest upset victory of the first round – could not cope with Finnish Grandmaster Yrjo Rantanen, though the 22-year-old pushed the game to 35 moves before she was forced to resign.
The Thai Open, with a first prize of 100,000 Baht continues until April 19, with round 3 beginning at 13.30 local time on Monday. The tournament is free for spectators and includes a giant electronic demonstration board of the top games.
