2011 Thailand Open

Report from Thailand:

The two leaders of the Thai Open, top seeds Paco Vallejo of Spain and England's Nigel Short, played safe in the fifth round of the 2011 Thai Open and were caught by the chasing pack of players.

As Thailand's largest and strongest open tournament passed the halfway point, Vallejo and Short were joined in the tie for first place by Burmese Grandmaster Zaw Win Lay and GM Abhijit Kunte of India. Another 10 players, including three Grandmasters, are sitting just half a point further back.

While Short and Vallejo were drawing their fifth round game in only 9 moves - Short blaming the tough tournament schedule for the quick finish - Kunte defeated the top female performer to date, Romania's Alina l'Ami while Zaw outlasted local pace-setter Jiripak Pitirojirathon.

Thai fans did have plenty to cheer about as 15-year-old Warot Kananub continued his giant-killing run, defeating Indian International Master Rahul Shetty. Kananub is currently undefeated in five games against far higher ranked opposition at the Thai Open and could be on his way to becoming Thailand's first International Master.

The Thai Open, with a first prize of 100,000 Baht, is being played at the Dusit Thani Resort and continues until Sunday, with round 6 beginning at 3pm local time on Thursday. Games may be followed live via http://bangkokchess.com/ with results at
http://www.chess-results.com/tnr47889.aspx?lan=1