Aravindh Chithambaram emerges Prague Masters Champion
Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram (India) took the clear first place with 6.0 points from nine rounds in the Prague International Chess Festival 2025 organised by Novy Bor Chess Club at Hotel Don Giovanni, Prague. A hard fought draw in the final round against Turkish GM Gürel Ediz took the Indian GM to a plus three score and the title got sealed when second-placed fellow Indian GM Praggnanandhaa went down to Dutch GM Anish Giri.
A fine home-run & better tie-break score saw Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri taking the second spot with 5.0 points, with top seed GM Wei Yi grabbing the third place in the podium. For GM Praggnanandhaa a final round defeat for the second tournament in a row, will surely be a food for thought.
In a grand double for Indian chess, GM Pranav Venkatesh clinched the world junior championship title in other part of Europe, at Petrovac, Montenegro. Remaining undefeated with seven wins and four draws, GM Pranav emerged the World Junior Champion 2025 with 9/11 score. Incidentally, GMs Aravindh and Pranav had won the 2024 Chennai Masters & Challengers section and now together they’ve landed two big titles in Europe. GM Pranav Venkatesh now becomes the fourth Indian to win the World Junior title after GMs Viswanathan Anand, Pentala Harikrishna and Abhijeet Gupta.
The final game of the Prague Masters was not all that easy for the Champion. The Caro-Kann Advanced game saw the Turkish teenager GM Gürel Ediz grab the initiative. The middle-game looked very tricky and for long GM Aravindh was forced to repeat moves. But GM Gürel Ediz was unable to work a plan to break through the awkward looking black position. Kudos to GM Aravindh for hanging on there and clinching his second Super GM tournament title in a row. The Indian GM had won the Chennai Grandmasters 2024 last November. Now, this title win will fetch GM Aravindh crucial FIDE Circuit points, a qualifier to the next Candidates cycle.
Making a huge come-back after a heavy defeat in the hands of Prague Champion, GM Anish Giri brought down GM Praggnanandhaa in the all important final round. The Dutch star showed he’s a force to reckon as he accounted for Pragg in a fine attacking game from King Indian defence. The tournament finish hasn’t been pleasant for Pragg, who went down to Giri for the second time in a row, having lost their earlier duel in Wijk aan Zee. The win propelled GM Giri to a plus one score of 5/9 with a frugal addition of 2.1 ELOs.
In the Challengers section, GMs Yakubboev Nodirbek (Uzbekistan) and Bjerre Jonas Buhl (Denmark) shared the podium with a 7/9 score. The qualifying spot the Prague Masters 2026 went to Yakubboev who overcame Bjerre Jonas 1.5-0.5 in tie-breaks. It was a heart-break for the Dane who enjoyed a pawn up position before an exchange blunder did him in. GM Maurizzi Marc’Andria (France) took the clear third place with 6.0 points.
Giri Anish (2737) – Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (2758) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Be2 O-O 6. Nf3 e5 7. O-O exd4 8. Nxd4 Re8 9. f3 c6 10. Kh1 Nbd7 11. Be3 a6 12. Nc2 Ne5 13. f4 Neg4 14. Bg1 h5 15. Bf3 Be6 16. Qd3 b5 17. cxb5 axb5 18. Rfd1 d5 19. e5 Nd7 20. Nd4 Ndxe5 21. fxe5 Nxe5 22. Qc2 Bd7 23. a3 h4 24. h3 c5 25. Bxd5 cxd4 26. Bxd4 Rb8 27. Ne4 Bg4 28. Bxf7+ Kxf7 29. hxg4 Qe7 30. Bc5 Qc7 31. Qb3+ Nc4 32. Nd6+ Kg8 33. Nxe8 Rxe8 34. Qxb5 Re4 35. Bd4 Ne3 36. Bxe3 Rxe3 37. Rd3 Rg3 38. Rd7 Qf4 39. Qb7 Qf6 40. Re1 1-0
Gürel Ediz (2620) – Aravindh Chithambaram (2731) 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. g4 Bd7 5. Nc3 e6 6. Be3 c5 7. dxc5 Qc7 8. Nb5 Bxb5 9. Bxb5+ Nc6 10. c3 h5 11. g5 Ne7 12. Nf3 Nf5 13. Bd4 Nxd4 14. Qxd4 Be7 15. O-O O-O 16. Qe3 g6 17. b4 b6 18. cxb6 axb6 19. a4 Rfc8 20. Rfc1 Bf8 21. Re1 Bg7 22. Rac1 Qb8 23. h3 Ra7 24. Qf4 Ra8 25. Qe3 Ra7 26. Qf4 Ra8 27. Kg2 Ra7 28. Kf1 Ra8 29. Kg1 Ra7 30. Kg2 Ra8 31. Re3 Ra7 32. Rce1 Qa8 33. Nd4 Nxd4 34. Qxd4 Rac7 35. Kg1 Qb7 36. Ra1 Bf8 37. a5 bxa5 38. Rxa5 Ra8 39. Rxa8 1/2-1/2
Masters (Final Placings): 1. Aravindh Chithambaram 6.0, 2-4 Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Giri Anish, Wei Yi 5.0, 5-6 Gürel Ediz, Keymer Vincent 4.5, 7-9 Le Quang Liem, Navara David, Shankland Sam 4.0, 10. Nguyen Thai Dai Van 3.0 pts
Challengers (Final Placings): 1-2 Yakubboev Nodirbek, Bjerre Jonas Buhl 7.0, 3. Maurizzi Marc’Andria 6.0, 4. Ma Qun 5.5, 5-6 Finek Vaclav, Salgado Lopez Ivan 4.0, 7-9 Kourkoulos-Arditis Stamatis, Stalmach Richard, Divya Deshmukh 3.0, 10. Nemec Jachym 2.5 pts.
Masters (Round 9 Results): Nguyen Thai Dai Van (3.0) drew with Keymer Vincent (4.5), Navara David (4.0) drew with Shankland Sam (4.0), Le Quang Liem (4.0) drew with Wei Yi (5.0), Giri Anish (5.0) bt Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (5.0), Gürel Ediz (4.5) drew with Aravindh Chithambaram (6.0)
Challengers (Round 9 Results): Yakubboev Nodirbek (7.0) drew with Finek Vaclav (4.0), Bjerre Jonas Buhl (7.0) bt Nemec Jachym (2.5), Ma Qun (5.5) bt Stalmach Richard (3.0), Maurizzi Marc’Andria (6.0) bt Salgado Lopez Ivan (4.0), Divya Deshmukh (3.0) bt Kourkoulos-Arditis Stamatis (3.0)
Picture Courtesy: Vijay Rajendran @ Prague Chess Festival 2025
Official Site: https://praguechessfestival.com/en/2025
