Rooky

♟️ About The Rooky

The Rooky is a chess organizer and chess community based in Bangkok, Thailand, specializing in FIDE-rated tournaments and regular competitive events. Its calendar includes Standard, Rapid, Blitz, youth, team, and alternative chess formats, ranging from compact monthly weekend competitions to multi-day international opens. Wacharaphol Jongatireklap is the principal organizer publicly associated with The Rooky. He is listed as organizer of major events including the The Rooky International Open and the Thailand Team Rapid Chess Championship. The organization regularly works with experienced Thai arbiters and tournament officials, including IA Poompong Wiwatanadate, who has served as Tournament Director and Chief Arbiter at The Rooky events. Public tournament records show The Rooky actively organizing international chess in Bangkok by 2023. Since then, its program has expanded into recurring international opens, Mini Open festivals, monthly rated tournaments, youth events, team competitions, and community chess activities.

🏆 Tournaments & Chess Activities

The Rooky operates one of the more frequent independent tournament programs in Bangkok. Its monthly tournament series gives players access to regular FIDE-rated competition without requiring a long multi-day commitment. During 2026, The Rooky Monthly Tournament program has included Standard weekends, Rapid tournaments, and Blitz events. Standard competitions have commonly been organized over five or seven Swiss rounds, while Rapid and Blitz events provide additional opportunities to maintain or develop FIDE ratings across different time controls. The organization also stages larger international events. The The Rooky Mini Open has developed into a recurring festival combining a Standard Open, a rating-restricted Challenger competition, and faster chess. The 2026 edition offered a seven-round FIDE-rated Standard tournament at 90 minutes plus 30 seconds per move, together with a Rapid competition featuring Open and junior age categories. Another major event is the The Rooky International Open. The third edition is scheduled in Bangkok in October 2026 and again combines Standard and Rapid chess. Its Standard program includes Open and Challenger competitions, while the accompanying Rapid tournament provides a shorter-format option during the festival. The Rooky has also organized more experimental community events. These include Hand & Brain chess, mixed-format tournaments, and Thai chess or Makruk competitions. This varied program gives the organization a broader role than simply running conventional weekend Opens.

🌱 Youth & Community Chess

Junior participation appears throughout The Rooky tournament calendar. The Mini Open Rapid program has included categories such as U7, U9, U11, U13, and U15, while other competitions provide U18 or rating-category awards alongside the main Open prizes. The organization also helps create accessible competition for players who are still building experience. Challenger sections, lower-rating prizes, unrated-player awards, and age-group categories allow developing players to participate without every prize being concentrated among the strongest competitors. In 2026, The Rooky also participated in a community chess initiative at the Goethe-Institut Thailand in Bangkok. The Goethe-Institut promoted chess sessions in its library with The Rooky Chess Club, adding a casual community setting alongside the organization’s formal tournament activity. The monthly structure is particularly useful for local players. Standard events can often be completed during a weekend, while Rapid and Blitz tournaments provide additional one-day options. As a result, school students, working adults, visiting players, and competitive juniors can participate throughout the season.

🤝 Thailand Team Rapid Chess Championship

The Rooky is the organizer behind the Thailand Team Rapid Chess Championship 2026, scheduled for November 14–15, 2026, at Thai-Nichi Institute of Technology in Bangkok. The championship consists of five separate FIDE-rated team competitions: Open, U9, U12, U15, and U18. Each section uses a nine-round Swiss System for teams at 15 minutes plus 10 seconds increment per move. Wacharaphol Jongatireklap is listed as organizer, IA Poompong Wiwatanadate serves as Tournament Director, and IA Khosak Phanudom is Chief Arbiter. Each age group has its own FIDE event registration, pairings, standings, and Chess-Results file. The team championship extends The Rooky’s program beyond individual Swiss tournaments. In particular, the four youth sections give schools, clubs, academies, and groups of young players another form of competitive experience while keeping the Open competition available for unrestricted teams.

📚 Development of The Rooky Tournament Program

The Rooky’s public tournament history demonstrates steady development from individual events into a recurring Bangkok chess program. Tournament records from 2023 include the 1st The Rooky Chessmate International Championship Bangkok and the The Rooky International Open 2023, with Standard and Super Rapid competitions. Later editions expanded the international tournament concept. The Mini Open became a recurring event, while the organization added monthly FIDE-rated tournaments that significantly increased the frequency of competitive opportunities. By 2026, The Rooky’s calendar includes monthly Standard, Rapid, and Blitz events, the Mini Open, the international Open series, community chess activities, and a national-style team rapid championship. It also works with qualified international arbiters and uses Chess-Results and Swiss-Manager for its FIDE-rated competitions. This combination of regular local tournaments and larger international events has established The Rooky as an active tournament organizer within Bangkok’s chess community.