Monday 2 April 2007

David Smerdon wins Bangkok Open

Congratulations to Australian IM David Smerdon in winning the 2007 Bangkok Open. Smerdon scored 7.5/9 to finish outright first ahead of GM's Antonio (PHI), Ramesh (IND), and Komarov (UKR), all in 7 points. Australian GM Ian Rogers finished in equal 5th on 6.5 points.
The extra good news for Smerdon is that this was also his second Grandmaster norm, after the first he scored in the 2005-06 Australian Championship. He now needs only 1 more GM norm, and to get his rating over 2500 to earn the Grandmaster title, and become Australia's 3rd (OTB) Grandmaster.
He has a good chance of doing this quite soon as he is playing in both the O2C Doeberl Cup, and the Sydney International Open. While he cannot earn a norm at the Doeberl Cup, as it is only a 7 round event, he can hope to gain rating points, especially against a field containing 8 Grandmasters. As the Sydney International Open is a 9 round event, he will hopefully be able to earn his 3rd and final GM norm.

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