Ashwin, Muzzaffar and Kavin cause upsets in round 1 of 19th BCC Open 2019
07/04/2019 - 19th BCC Open 2019 was pawned off with 201 players from 34 countries including 17 GMs, 7 IMs, 5 WIM, 10 FM and 3 CMs. Top nine seeds had a smooth sailing but tenth seed Vasquez Schroeder Rodrigo of Chile got held to a draw by 13-year old Ashwin Hariharan of Singapore. Veteran Muzzaffar Ahmad of Malaysia defeated IM Haridas Pascua of Philippines and local talent Nattavutthisit Kavin of Thailand drew with GM Villamayor Buenaventura of Singapore among the upsets. The report contains photos, games and an interview from round 1. Photo: Shahid Ahmed