It’s officially titled the "Thailand Open Chess Championship 2009", the 9th BCC Open will be held at the beautiful Aisawan Resort and Spa in quiet Wongamart Beach, only 2km from the famous Pattaya Beach, on 1-6th April 2009.
The title sponsor is the Thailand Chess Association. With a prize fund of 400,000 Baht (about US$12,000), more than double that of previous years, and a top prize of approximately € 2,000 Euros, the tournament is sure to attract even more high-ranked players than before. It is also the ideal companion tournament for Australia’s Doeberl Cup starting on the 9th of April. Players from 34 countries have already registered, and more than 10 Grandmasters including a back-in-form Nigel Short (ELO 2663).
GM Nigel Short
Tournament Regulations
* This is an individual tournament, open to all players.
* There are two groups of play: Open category for all players, and Challenger category for players rated below 2100 or unrated (ratings based on FIDE or Thai ELO ratings - other national ratings will be validated by the organizer). When registering, players must indicate in which group they wish to play.
* FIDE (International Chess Federation) rules and regulations shall apply. Results will be sent for FIDE rating calculations.
* Both groups will be played using the Swiss System, with 9 rounds for BCC Open, and 7 rounds for BCC Challenger. For the pairings, a Swiss Manager program will be used.
* The matches shall be conducted according to the schedule, which will be made known to the respective players before the start of the tournament.
* Each player is accorded with a time control of 90 minutes plus 30 seconds per move.
* Five minutes before the games start, the Chief Arbiter shall make the announcement accordingly. If any player is not present within an hour after the game is started, he shall lose by default.
* FIDE regulations apply for mobile phones, which must be switched off during playing times. Penalty is automatic loss of game.
* Officials and players should be smartly attired at all times while in the playing hall.
Top seeded players (of total 191 currently registered):
GM Short Nigel ENG 2663
GM Mchedlishvili Mikheil GEO 2619
GM Li Shilong CHN 2559
GM Timoshenko Georgy UKR 2551
GM Paragua Mark PHI 2537
GM Kunte Abhijit IND 2527
GM Moradiabadi Elshan IRI 2505
GM Ivanov Mikhail M. RUS 2497
IM Bitoon Richard PHI 2473
GM Kekelidze Mikheil GEO 2468
GM Pogorelov Ruslan UKR 2451
GM Bakre Tejas IND 2448
IM Sengupta Deep IND 2445
IM Roy Chowdhury Saptarshi IND 2444
IM Sriram Jha IND 2441
IM Sachdev Tania IND 2435
IM Mas Hafizulhelmi MAS 2421
GM Ghane Shojaat IRI 2413
IM Saptarshi Roy IND 2410
The playing venue is Aisawan Resort and Spa. Address: 445/3 Moo 5, Soi Wongamart Pattaya – Naklua Road, Banglamung, Chonburi 20150. www.aisawan.com
More information on the official website
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