Aravindh stuns Keymer, shares lead with Shankland @ Prague Masters
Chennai based GM Aravindh Chithambaram scored a stunning victory over German GM Vincent Keymer in the second round of the Prague International Chess Festival 2025 organised by Novy Bor Chess Club at Hotel Don Giovanni, Prague. GM Aravindh Chithambaram (India) shares the lead with GM Sam Shankland (USA)with 1.5 points. Right behind the duo were GMs Pragg, Nguyen, Le, Navara, Giri & Keymer at 1.0 point.
The Queen’s Gambit Accepted game saw GM Aravindh with black equalising without any difficulty. Early middle game plans by GM Keymer looked suspect as Aravindh appeared to be gaining the initiative. Keymer’s queen trade-off by move 17 gave the Indian Grandmaster a better position to play with. The resultant pawn up rook and knight ending saw black improvising its position slowly by steadily.
GM Keymer appeared to be moving from bad to worse, as he missed his chances, when precise play might have helped him hold GM Aravindh. 29. Rc5 may have triggered a slide, when the German missed 29. Rc2 with better defending chances. With knights getting traded-off the extra black pawn in the rook ending became more painful for white. Advanced black king eased Aravindh to victory in 46 moves.
All other games viz., Nguyen Thai Dai Van – Shankland Sam, Gurel Ediz – Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Navara David – Le Quang Liem, Wei Yi – Anish Giri ended in draws.
In the Challengers Group, the game between leaders GM Bjerre Jonas Buhl (Denmark) and GM Salgado Lopez Ivan (Spain) ended in a draw. Uzbek GM Yakubboev Nodirbek caught up with the leaders defeating former World Junior Champion Maurizzi Marc’Andria (France). IM Divya Deshmukh (India) bounced back from yesterday’s defeat putting it across IM Stalmach Richard (Czech Rep).
Round three starts by Friday, 28th February, at 9 AM ET / 3 PM CET / 7:30 PM IST.
Vincent Keymer (2731) – Aravindh Chithambaram (2729) 1. d4 d5 2. c4 dxc4 3. Nf3 a6 4. e3 b5 5. a4 Bb7 6. b3 Nf6 7. bxc4 b4 8. c5 Nc6 9. Qb3 e5 10. Bc4 Qd7 11. Bb2 exd4 12. Bxd4 Ne4 13. Qc2 Qg4 14. Be2 Nxd4 15. Nxd4 Qxg2 16. Bf3 b3 17. Bxg2 bxc2 18. Nd2 Nxc5 19. Bxb7 Nxb7 20. Ke2 Bb4 21. Rhc1 Bxd2 22. Kxd2 O-O-O 23. Rxc2 Rhe8 24. Rg1 g6 25. Rc6 Rd6 26. Rgc1 Rxc6 27. Rxc6 Nd6 28. f3 Kb7 29. Rc5 Re5 30. Rc2 c5 31. Ne2 Rh5 32. Ke1 Kb6 33. Nf4 Re5 34. e4 c4 35. Kd2 f5 36. Ke3 fxe4 37. Kd4 Re8 38. Kd5 Nf5 39. Rb2+ Ka5 40. fxe4 c3 41. Rb1 Rd8+ 42. Ke5 Ne3 43. Nd5 Nxd5 44. exd5 Kxa4 45. Ra1+ Kb3 46. Kd4 0-1
Masters (Round 2 Results): Nguyen Thai Dai Van (1.0) drew with Shankland Sam (1.5), Gurel Ediz (0.5) drew with Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (1.0), Navara David (1;0) drew with Le Quang Liem (1.0), Wei Yi (0.5) drew with Giri Anish (1.0), Keymer Vincent (1.0) lost to Aravindh Chithambaram (1.5)
Challengers (Round 2 Results): Bjerre Jonas Buhl (1.5) drew with Salgado Lopez Ivan (1.5), Finek Vaclav (1.0) drew with Ma Qun (1.0), Maurizzi Marc’Andria (0.5) lost to Yakkubboev Nodirbek (1.5), Divya Deshmukh (1.0) bt Stalmach Richard (0.5), Nemec Jachym (1.0) drew with Kourkoulos-Arditis Stamatis (0.5)
Picture Courtesy: C V Rajagopalan
Official Site: https://praguechessfestival.com/en/2025
