Gürel & Pragg miss wins, lead unchanged @ Prague Masters

GMs Gürel Ediz & Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu missed wins, while the lead remained unchanged after the sixth round of the Prague International Chess Festival 2025 organised by Novy Bor Chess Club at Hotel Don Giovanni, Prague. Indian GMs Pragg & Aravindh maintained their lead with 4.0 points after all the games were drawn. With 3.0 points, GMs Le, Keymer, Giri & Wei Yi kept themselves in striking distance behind the leaders.

Two games stood out among the all drawn affair in the sixth round. 16-year-old Tukish Grandmaster Gürel Ediz had the top seed GM Wei Yi (China) on the ropes, but failed to land the winning blow. An exchange sacrifice, 45…Rxb4, at an appropriate time would have landed GM Gürel his first win in Prague.

Also missing a possible win in a game of fluctuating fortunes was GM Praggnanandhaa. Playing against former Prague champion GM Shankland (USA) the Indian World No. 7 defended accurately when the American exploded with a raging sacrificial attack. Subsequent to the calm after the storm, Pragg let go of an initiative that looked very promising and the game got drawn by repetition.

Except the relatively quick draw between GMs Aravindh Chithambaram (India) and Le Quang Liem (Vietnam), rest of the Masters games ran the full distance, before concluding without a result.

In the Challengers section, GMs Yakubboev Nodirbek (Uzbekistan) and Bjerre Jonas Buhl (Denmark) led jointly with 4.5 points after six rounds. Following the leaders were GMs Ma Qun (China) and Salgado Lopez Ivan (Spain) at 3.5 points.

Round seven starts by Wednesday, 5th March at 9 AM ET / 3 PM CET / 7:30 PM IST.

Shankland Sam (2670) – Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (2758) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 d6 5. d3 h6 6. Nbd2 a6 7. Nf1 Nf6 8. Ng3 Ba7 9. a4 O-O 10. O-O Ne7 11. Bb3 Ng6 12. d4 Bg4 13. h3 Bxf3 14. Qxf3 exd4 15. cxd4 Bxd4 16. Nf5 Be5 17. Kh1 c6 18. Qe2 d5 19. f4 Bc7 20. e5 Ne4 21. Bc2 Ne7 22. Bxe4 dxe4 23. Nxh6+ gxh6 24. f5 Bxe5 25. Bxh6 Qd6 26. Qg4+ Kh7 27. Bxf8 Rxf8 28. Qh4+ Kg7 29. Qg5+ Kh7 30. f6 Ng6 31. Rae1 Bf4 32. Qh5+ Bh6 33. Rxe4 Qd3 34. Rfe1 Qg3 35. Rd1

35…Qf2 ? (Here Pragg missed a good continuation 35…Nf4 36 Qf5+ Kh8 37 Rd2 which possibly keeps black on winning track) 36. Qe2 Qxf6 37. Rf1 Qg5 38. h4 Nxh4 39. Rg4 Qd8 40. Rd1 Qf6 41. Rf1 Qd8 42. Rd1 Qf6 43. Rf1 1/2-1/2

Wei Yi (2760) – Gurel Ediz (2620) 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nd2 d6 6. Bd3 Be7 7. Qe2 O-O 8. O-O Nbd7 9. b3 Nc5 10. c4 Nxd3 11. Qxd3 Bd7 12. a4 a6 13. Ba3 Re8 14. Rfe1 Qc7 15. Bb2 Rad8 16. a5 h6 17. h3 Bc8 18. Qg3 Nh5 19. Qf3 Nf6 20. Qg3 Nh5 21. Qf3 Nf6 22. Bc3 Nd7 23. Nf1 Bf6 24. Ne3 Ne5 25. Qg3 Qe7 26. Rad1 Bh4 27. Qh2 Bf6 28. Qg3 Bh4 29. Qh2 Bf6 30. Re2 Ng6 31. Red2 h5 32. Bb4 Be5 33. g3 Qc7 34. f4 Bf6 35. Ndc2 Be7 36. Qf2 b6 37. axb6 Qxb6 38. Ng2 Qc6 39. Re1 Bb7 40. Ba5 Rb8 41. Kh2 Ba8 42. Rd3 Qc5 43. Qd2 h4 44. g4 e5 45. Bb4 Qc8?

(With 45…Qc8? GM Gürel Ediz is letting go a big opportunity. An exchange sacrifice of 45…Rxb4 would have given black an excellent attack) 46. f5 Nf4 47. Nxf4 Bg5 48. Kg1 exf4 49. Bxd6 Bxe4 50. Rd4 Rxb3 51. Rexe4 Rg3+ 52. Kf1 Rf3+ 53. Kg2 Rg3+ 54. Kf1 Rf3+ 55. Kg2 Rg3+ 56. Kf1 1/2-1/2

Masters (Round 6 Results): Wei Yi (3.0) drew with Gürel Ediz (2.5), Nguyen Thai Dai Van (2.5) drew with Navara David (2.5), Keymer Vincent (3.0) drew with Giri Anish (3.0), Aravindh Chithambaram (4.0) drew with Le Quang Liem (3.0), Shankland Sam (2.5) drew with Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (4.0)

Challengers (Round 6 Results): Kourkoulos-Arditis Stamatis (2.5) drew with Yakubboev Nodirbek (4.5), Bjerre Jonas Buhl (4.5) bt Maurizzi Marc’Andria (3.0), Salgado Lopez Ivan (3.5) drew with Stalmach Richard (2.5), Finek Vaclav (2.5) bt Divya Deshmukh (1.5), Nemec Jachym (2.0) lost to Ma Qun (3.5)

Picture Courtesy: Prague Chess Festival 2025 Facebook page

Official Site: https://praguechessfestival.com/en/2025