BCC round 4: grandmasters bite the dust amidst a Makruk invasion
Today’s round was preceded by a colourful display of some thirty Thai children in traditional costumes in the playing hall. Not as late entries to the BCC Open mind you, but to take part in a junior Makruk (Thai chess) tournament organised by the eponymous association.
For those BCC participants who are eager to discover this interesting chess variant, the Thailand Makruk Association will organise two separate tournaments on April 19 and 20 starting at 9:00am. These events will consist of 6 rounds with a tempo of 15 minutes with 5 second increments and will take place in the BCC Open analysis room, also known in the Sheraton vernacular as the Pompadour room.
One would have been forgiven for thinking that many of the day’s games would be expedited in anticipation of tonight’s blitz qualifiers which will see a capacity crowd of 112 battle it out for the privilege of a spot in tomorrow’s final.
But the opposite happened, and this round was not a walk in the park for any of the leaders by any stretch of the imagination. Board 1 ended in a draw between GM Romanov and IM Bersamina.
BCC champions Bernadskiy and Ganguly pressed hard against Hafiz Arif and Michael Concio respectively. The reigning champion could not take advantage of his opponent’s time pressure woes and ended in a lost pawn endgame.
The 2016 and 2020 winner was more fortunate, scoring a hard-fought draw.
On board 4, Lalit Babu produced a positional gem against Alexander Chernyavsky.
But yet another upset came on the fifth table, at the hands of FIDE Master Arca:
[Event "22nd Bangkok Chess Club Open 2025"]
[Site "Royal Orchid Sheraton Riverside Hotel Bangkok, Thailand"]
[Round "4.5"]
[White "Gordon, Stephen J"]
[Black "Arca, Christian Gian Karlo"]
[Result "*"]
[WhiteElo "2474"]
[WhiteTitle "GM"]
[WhiteFideId "411477"]
[BlackElo "2250"]
[BlackTitle "FM"]
[BlackFideId "5258138"]
[TimeControl "90 min / 40 moves + 30 min / rest + 30 sec from move 1"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[ECO "D15"]
[Opening "Slav Defense: Chebanenko Variation"]
[Annotator "https://lichess.org/broadcast/-/-/tflWqaw6"]
[StudyName "Round 4"]
[ChapterName "Gordon, Stephen J - Arca, Christian Gian Karlo"]
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 a6 5. e3 Bf5 6. Nh4 Bg4 7. Qc2 e6 8. h3 Bh5 9. g4 Ng8
OK, so here’s one for the conspiracy theorists: Black keeps the Knight because it is the key piece in the ensuing endgame. 10. Nf3 And here’s one for the others: White could refute it by playing 10. Qb3 here instead. 10... Bg6 11. Qb3 Ra7 12. Ne5 Nd7 13. Nxg6 hxg6 14. e4 dxc4 15. Bxc4 b5 16. Be2 c5 17. d5 c4 18. Qc2 Bc5 19. Bf4 e5 Black concedes a passed pawn but crucially starts to win the battle for the dark squares. 20. Bg3 g5 21. a4 Rb7 22. axb5 axb5 23. b3 Castling was a lesser evil. 25… Bd4 24. Rc1 Nc5 25. bxc4 b4 26. Nb5 b3 27. Qb1 Nf6 28. f3 O-O 29. Nxd4?! (Kf1 and White retains a fighting chance). Qa5+ 30. Kf1 exd4 31. Bf2 31... b2 32. Rd1 Na4 33. Bxd4 Nc3 34. Bxc3 Qxc3 35. Qd3 Qe5 36. Rb1 Rfb8 37. Bd1 Nd7 38. Qe3 Rb4 39. h4 Nb6 40. c5 Nxd5 0-1
Games: https://www.chess.com/events/2025-bangkok-open/games
Credits: www.bangkokchess.com
Picture database: https://lightboxproductions.pixieset.com/bangkokchessclubopen2025/
Open section: https://chess-results.com/tnr1137279.aspx?lan=1
Challenger section: https://chess-results.com/tnr1137307.aspx?lan=1