Giri, Wei Yi win, Aravindh leads @ Prague Masters
GM Aravindh Chithambaram (India) with a solid draw against Czech GM David Navara maintained his sole lead with 5.5 points after the 8th and penultimate round of the Prague International Chess Festival 2025 organised by Novy Bor Chess Club at Hotel Don Giovanni, Prague. Right behind was fellow Indian GM Praggnanandhaa at 5.0 points, further half a point back at 4.5 points was top seed GM Wei Yi (China).
The final round promises to be an interesting fare, with three GMs having mathematical chances to take the title. With 5.5 points tournament leader GM Aravindh is the favorite, but a loss or draw against Turkish GM Gürel might take the title contention into tie-breaks. But before that, GMs Wei Yi (4.5) & Praggnanandhaa (5.0) would need to have the right results on the board against GM Le & Giri and hope for the best.
Earlier, Dutch GM Anish Giri got himself back on 50% score defeating GM Shankland Sam (USA) in an exciting Sicilian game. The game appeared to be going for the wire until the very last move was made. “Mostly he played very risky” said Giri on his opponent Shankland’s daring play. But precise counter from the experienced Dutch GM was the one that fetched him the win after 39 moves.
In the Challengers section, GM Yakubboev Nodirbek (Uzbekistan) emerged the sole leader with 6.5 points after eight rounds. Following the leader was GM Bjerre Jonas Buhl (Denmark) at 6.0 points. GM Maurizzi Marc’Andria (France) remained further full point behind in the third place with 5.0 points.
The final round starts four hours early on Friday, 7th March at 5 AM ET / 11 AM CET / 3:30 PM IST.
Shankland Sam (2670) – Giri Anish (2728) 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5 e6 7. Qd2 a6 8. Nxc6 bxc6 9. O-O-O Be7 10. f4 d5 11. Qe1 Rb8 12. exd5 cxd5 13. Bc4 O-O 14. Bb3 a5 15. Kb1 Bd7 16. a4 Rb4 17. f5 Qb6 18. fxe6 fxe6 19. Rxd5 Nxd5 20. Nxd5 exd5 21. Qxe7 Rxb3 22. cxb3 Bf5+ 23. Ka1 Qxb3 24. Qa3 Qc2
25. Be3? (GM Shankland continued to press with 25. Be3? and lost when 25. Rc1! might have helped restore parity) 25…Qxg2 26. Rg1 Qe4 27. Bb6 Bg6 28. Bxa5 Rf4 29. Bd2 Rg4 30. Rf1 h5 31. h3 Rg2 32. Ba5 Kh7 33. Qb4 Qd3 34. Rc1 Qxh3 35. Qb5 d4 36. Qd5 Qe3 37. Rd1 Qe2 38. Qxd4 Rg4 39. Qd7 Qc2 0-1
Wei Yi (2760) – Nguyen Thai Dai Van (2677) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5+ Bd7 7. Qe2 Be7 8. Nf3 Nxd5 9. Bxd7+ Qxd7 10. Nxe5 Qf5 11. d4 Nb4 12. Na3 O-O-O 13. Be3 Nbc6 14. Nxc6 Nxc6 15. c3 Bxa3 16. bxa3 Ne7 17. O-O Rhe8 18. c4 Qe4 19. d5 Nf5 20. Rae1 h6 21. h3 g6 22. a4 Re7 23. Rc1 Rde8 24. Rc3 Qd4 25. Qd2 Qxd2 26. Bxd2 Re2 27. Rd1 h5 28. Kf1 Nd6 29. Rcc1 b6 30. a5 Kd7 31. a3 R2e4 32. axb6 cxb6 33. c5 bxc5 34. Rxc5 Rd4 35. Rc7+ Kxc7 36. Ba5+ Kd7 37. Rxd4 Re4 38. Rd3 Ra4 39. Bd2 Nc4 40. Bb4 a5 41. Bf8 Nd6 42. Rc3 Ne4 43. Rc2 Rd4 44. f3 Ng3+ 45. Kf2 Nf5 46. g4 hxg4 47. hxg4 Ne7 48. Rc5 Nxd5 49. Rxa5 Rd2+ 50. Ke1 Rd3 51. Bh6 Ke6 52. Ke2 Rb3 53. Ra6+ Ke7 54. a4 Rb2+ 55. Bd2 Ra2 56. a5 f6 57. Kd3 Kd7 58. g5 fxg5 59. Rxg6 Nf4+ 60. Bxf4 Ra3+ 61. Ke2 gxf4 62. a6 Ke7 63. Rb6 Kf7 64. Rb7+ Kf6 65. a7 Ke5 66. Kd2 Kd4 67. Rd7+ Kc4 68. Kc2 Ra2+ 69. Kb1 Ra6 70. Kb2 Ra5 71. Rc7+ (Here black replied 71…Kd4? & lost when 71…Kb5! would have possibly saved him the day)
71…Kd4? 72. Kb3 Ke3 73. Kb4 Ra1 74. Rc3+ Kd4 75. Ra3 Rb1+ 76. Ka5 1-0
Masters (Round 8 Results): Wei Yi (4.5) bt Nguyen Thai Dai Van (2.5), Keymer Vincent (4.0) drew with Gürel Ediz (4.0), Shankland Sam (3.5) lost to Giri Anish (4.0), Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (5.0) drew with Le Quang Liem (3.5), Aravindh Chithambaram (5.5) drew with Navara David (3.5)
Challengers (Round 8 Results): Finek Vaclav (3.5) drew with Bjerre Jonas Buhl (6.0), Stalmach Richard (3.0) lost to Yakubboev Nodirbek (6.5), Salgado Lopez Ivan (4.0) drew with Ma Qun (4.5), Kourkoulos-Arditis Stamatis (3.0) lost to Maurizzi Marc’Andria (5.0), Nemec Jachym (2.5) drew with Divya Deshmukh (2.0)
Picture Courtesy: Prague Chess Festival 2025
Official Site: https://praguechessfestival.com/en/2025
