Visit Pattaya and Play in the Thailand Pattaya Open 2024
Thailand Pattaya Open will be back after a nearly five year hiatus. Covid-19 pandemic caused the tournament to take a sabbatical. Jarunpol Sajjaporthep, Founder and President of Pattaya Chess Club, and his better half, Khammpliw Jitasan, are bringing back the third edition of this big chess festival. Youth and Senior events will take place from 5th to 9th October, Open and Amateur events will be held from 9th to 18th October. Blitz event will take place on 13th and 14th October. The top three prizes are - 80000, 50000 and 30000 Baht each. Check out the article to find more information, written by Peter Long. Photo: FM FT IA Peter Long
Thailand Pattaya Open returns this October
Welcome to the third Thailand Pattaya Open to be held from 5th to 18th October 2024, once again organised as a Chess Festival with Youth, Open, Amateur, and Senior events. The Pattaya Open is the brainchild of Jarunpol Sajjaporthep, better known as GCat (Golden Cat) and his wife Khammpliw Jitasan, also better known as Bowtie, in the Thai tradition of shortening names that are not only often too long but hard to pronounce! GCat is the Founder and President of the Pattaya Chess Club, and together with Bowtie the owner of 101 Chess Academy which has branches located in shopping malls in both Pattaya and Bangkok.
In fact, 101 Chess Academy is the official partner of the Thailand Traditional Sports Association in the promotion of Makruk which we know as Thai chess, and run a series of Chess & Makruk events on weekends throughout the year at major shopping malls all over Thailand.
The first Thailand Pattaya Open was held from 20th to 31st October 2018 at the Bay Beach Resort Jomtien Pattaya and attracting over total of 200 players from 24 countries.If you want to know what to expect this year, just see our earlier reports: Age-group event and interview with the organizers, and final report.
Often it is easier to start an event then to continue the following year but there was no such problem with the Pattaya Open and so the second Thailand Pattaya Open was held from 19th to 30th October 2019 at Bay Beach Resort. But no one could foresee the global COVID-19 pandemic coming and the huge impact it made...
Last year, with Thailand's tourism finally showing signs of a full recovery, GCat decided to test if the time was right to bring back the Thailand Pattaya Open, and so he organised a "Mini" Pattaya Open held from 13th to 17th October 2023 at the Pattaya City Hall.
The response was encouraging despite limited promotion and a large number of foreigners even showed up.
So, here we have it, the Pattaya Open is back with the third Thailand Pattaya Open to be held from 5th to 18th October 2024 at the Pacific Park Sriracha Shopping Centre in Chonburi.
Acknowledgements must be made to the many sponsors, and in particular:
ThaiBev who actively supports Makruk and Chess at all levels in Thailand and Amarin TV which is also doubling up to provide extensive local media coverage
See attached to the Thailand Pattaya Open brochure with registration available with the embedded QR Code and of course you may also contact the organisers by email: pettayachessclub@gmail.com or via the Pattaya Chess Club faceBook page.
The most important things to know is the Open and Amateur events start on 9th October and end on 18th October while the Youth and Senior events start on 5th and end on 9th October.
A blitz event will also be held over two evenings, on 13th and 14th October.
You might ask, how do I get to Pattaya from Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport, where can I stay, etc., and actually everything you ask is already in the brochure and of course the organisers are always happy to assist with any questions when you contact them.
And to further facilitate your stay, all confirmed registrations will be added to a WhatsApp group.
I am personally looking forward to being in Pattaya, a world-class international beach resort destination together with all the entertainment, shopping and food that you can always enjoy in Thailand.
Won't also cost you anything for your photo to be taken although we might use it.
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