Tournament Review: 50th University Games of Thailand

Once as a freshman student, I was selected as one of the representatives of Chulalongkorn University in the 50th University Games of Thailand, also known as "Thammasat Games 2025" because Thammasat University is the hosts of this tournament.

The 50th University Games of Thailand held on January 9-18, 2025 at Thammasat University. There were 37 sports competitions in this event. Definitely I competed in chess. This post is review the results and my experiences from the tournament.

Competition format

All games played on time control 15 minutes with 10 seconds increment per move. Each university can send maxmimun 8 athletes, including no more than 4 men and 4 women, competing in men's and women's teams held on January 10-13, men's singles, women's singles, men's doubles, women's doubles and mixed doubles held on January 14-17. In each categories there is a qualifying round to find the top 4 teams to competed in a knockout system. The two teams that lost in the semi-finals will share the bronze medal. I competed in the men's team and mixed doubles categories.

My team members

All 4 members of the team have many years of experience playing chess. The strongest member is IM Prin Laohawirapap, the only International master in Thailand (2025). In addition, all team members are freshmen in the Faculty of Engineering.

My team coaches

Consiting of FM Tinnakrit Arunnuntapanich and CM Warot Kananub Thailand's leading chess and Makruk (Thai chess) players. They are friendly, Create laughter for team all the times.

Men's team competition

Qualifying round

Held on January 10-11, it uses a swiss system of 6 rounds, with seeding arranged before the competition begins. In each round, only 3 members out of 4 will be sent to compete on the board according to the seed. My team coach placed me on 4th seed, so when I competed, I was always played on board 3. The seed is not sort by rating.

There are 6 rounds of team competition, 3 games per round, there will be a total of 18 games, with Prin Laohawirapap played in all 6 games, while the remaining members played in 4 games each. Our team won all 6 rounds and advanced to the semi-finals.

Semi-finals round

The competition uses a knock-out system on January 12. Each university sends 3 members of their team to play in 2 rounds. My team met King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang and we won with a score of 6-0.

There was a funny incident in first round. When 5 minutes before the match, my friend realized that he had left his athlete card at the accommodation. Without the athlete card, he would not be able to enter the competition room. My team coach quickly contacted friend who was still at the accommodation to urgently bring his athlete card. My friend entered the competition room 10 minutes late (5 minutes remain on his clock), and I had already finished the game. A few minutes later, my friend came out of the competition room with the winning. It was a victory that did not have a moment when all the members were together on the board.

Final round

It was a competition between my team, Chulalongkorn University and Bangkok Thonburi University on January 13. Bangkok Thonburi University is a renowned institution in sports and has been the gold medal of chess for several years. All members of my team were dedicated to this match and won with a score of 4.5-1.5.

We won the gold medal in the university games of Thailand. At this point, I am very proud of my training efforts. This tournament was a success for me. That evening, my team coaches hosted a buffet to celebrate the team's success.

Mixed doubles competition

Qualifying round

Held on January 14-15. it uses a swiss system of 6 rounds. In each match, athletes will be paired up as Male vs. Male and Female vs. Female. Since mixed doubles is like a team of two members, there must be unity. Even though my partner had never played a chess tournament before, she was determined to practice, and I helped her prepare the opening. The competition ended in 6th place. I did not sad for cannot going to the semi-finals because I was confident in myself and my partner for their efforts all along. We did our best.

Event I will never forgot

It happened when I was playing first round, my opponent made a draw offered sign for me several times by crossing both index fingers in 'X' shape but at that time I did not understand what it meant. I got confused and misunderstood that my opponent wanted to challenge me (I imagined two crossed swords). Position was a dead draw and game ended up calling a draw.

He was impressed by the game I played with him and said it was crazy that I did not know the symbol. After I finished tourmament, I had the chance to play blitz chess with him. He is a famous chess YouTuber in Thailand. You can follow or watch his video on YouTube channel SmokedPorkChess.

Tournament Summary

Medals

In each category, there will be 1 gold medal for the winning team in the final round, 1 silver medal for the losing team in the final round and 2 bronze medals for the losing teams in the semi-final round.

List of universities that received medals

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Abbreviation of university

• BTU - Bangkok Thonburi University
• CMU - Chiang Mai University
• CU - Chulalongkorn University
• KKU - Khon Kaen University
• KMITL - King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang
• KMUTNB - King Mongkut's University of Technology North Bangkok
• KMUTT - King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi
• KU - Kasetsart University
• MFU - Mae Fah Luang University
• MU - Mahidol University
• TU - Thammasat University

What I got from this tournament

The prize I received was 1 gold medal and the art toy as a souvenir. The organizer designed the art toy in the shape of dome, which is an important symbol of Thammasat University.

Chulalongkorn University gave a scholarship for 1 year for those who won gold medals. Moreover, competing also allowed me to play with many strong players, got to socialize with chess lovers. This experience was a memorable one in my life.