BCC Round 7: Saturday bloody Saturday - Romanov sole leader, three in pursuit
In a first this year around, the top three boards had six GMs battling it out today. Battling being the operative word: no grandmasterly draws here, Sir!
On board 1 Evgeny Romanov uncorked a deep and powerful combination to bring down Surya Ganguly following a balanced middle game contest in which the Indian GM declined a draw offer by move 25.
Ganguly, Surya Shekhar (2572) - Romanov, Evgeny (2590)
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bd7 6.Be2 Nge7 7.O-O Nf5 8.dxc5 a5 9.Bd3 Bxc5 10.a4 h6 11.Nbd2 Bb6 12.Nb3 Nh4 13.Nxh4 Qxh4 14.Qe2 O-O 15.Be3 Qd8 16.Bc2 Bxe3 17.Qxe3 f6 18.exf6 Rxf6 19.Nc5 b6 20.Nxd7 Qxd7 21.Rae1 Qd6 22.Qd3 g6 23.Re3 Qc5 24.Rh3 Kg7 25.Qd2 Rh8 26.Rb1 Ne5 27.b4 Qc7 28.bxa5 bxa5 29.Rb5 h5 The start of the decisive manoeuvre, allowing the doubling of Rooks on the f-file. 30.Rg3 Rhf8 31.Qd4 Rxf2 32.Rxg6+
32..Kh7 ! The crux. Seldom do you see a King enter a vortex of discovered checks, and emerge triumphant. 33.Rg3+ Rxc2 34.Qd1 Kh6 35.h3 Qa7+ 36.Kh2 Qf2 37.h4 Rf4 38.Kh3 Rg4 0-1
At board 2, Stephen Gordon was hanging on in spite of undergoing some time and positional pressure at the hands of Nigel Short. Things then took a turn for the worse for him after the capture of a forbidden pawn on c2, after which it appeared White’s two minor pieces would have dominated Black’s Rook. Instead Black invaded White’s first rank, won White’s Bishop and converted the win after liquidating into a won pawn endgame.
On board 3, Babu Lalit overcame the resistance of Jozsef Horvath with a timely Queenside breakthrough culminating with a triple battery of White’s heavy pieces on the a-file.
They are joined in 2-4 places by junior FM Ern Ang from Malaysia, who managed to defeat IM Hafiz.
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
Cooling off on the River of Kings.
This tournament’s yearly photo opportunity took place – predictably – on the Chao Phraya river, courtesy of the Royal Orchid Sheraton Riverside Hotel management who put their luxurious ferry boat at the disposal of the organisers.
Under a bright morning sun, the whole family of Indian GM Surya Ganguly posed for the photographers as the boat departed to the massive Icon Siam commercial center situated across the hotel.
Three games were then played underway to the Thaksin bridge and back, with defending champion GM Vitaliy Bernadskyi facing WFM Aleksandra Samaganova before leaving the board to GMs Evgeny Romanov and Nigel Short.
In the remaining game, GM Jan Gustafsson managed to reach a promising position against Nina Tuorila, the tournament director’s daughter. He did however chicken out and offered a draw, keeping with the tradition that every game played during BCC photo ops must end with a peaceful result.