Keymer, Shankland win, Aravindh escapes at Prague Masters
It was drama all the way at Prague, as GMs Keymer and Shankland secured wins while GM Aravindh scripted a great escape in the opener at Prague International Chess Festival 2025 at Hotel Don Giovanni, Prague. Former Prague champion GM Shankland was an early winner disposing teenager Ediz Gurel in a middle game tactic that left the Turkish GM a piece down.
In a first, in-form German Grandmaster Vincent Keymer accounted for the top seed and higher rated Chinese GM Wei Yi. The Nimzo-Indian classical variation game had all ingredients for entertainment. Early king-side aggression by Wei Yi on an uncastled King was well countered by Keymer. At an appropriate time the German turned the tables on Wei Yi who found himself lacking resource to hold on to a draw. 48…Bf5? was the last straw after which Wei Yi couldn’t save the game.
Drawn were the games between Praggnanandhaa – Navara, Le Quang Liem – Giri, while the final draw was a thriller between Aravindh and Nguyen which turned out to be a heart breaker for the Czech Grandmaster. With gun on his head, Aravindh found himself with little or no hope as Nguyen squeezed the Indian into a zug-zwang. Facing the barrel Aravindh took his chances playing for time, since Nguyen had bare few seconds to effect a precise win. But the position was overwhelming, when for a moment Nguyen might have thought he’d the game sewed up.
But 70…Qxe2? threw away all the hard work done, leaving the Czech GM with nothing but a draw by perpetual check. A bishop sortie through 70…Bd6 or Bb8 might have easily fetched the Tata Steel Challengers winner a full point. After several hours of toil on the board, the move can only attributed to the precious seconds of time remaining on GM Nguyen’s clock.
One can but remember the former world champion Bobby Fischer’s famous quote, “Chess is not for light-hearted men”.
In the Challengers section Yakubboev – Ma Qun, Nemec – Finek, Stalmach – Maurizzi ended in draws. Danish GM Bjerre Jonas Buhl defeated Kourkoulos-Arditis Stamatis (2580) with black pieces, while Spaniard Salgado Lopez Ivan scored over IM Divya Deshmukh (India).
Round two starts by Thursday, 27th February, at 9 AM ET / 3 PM CET / 7:30 PM IST.
Aravindh Chithambaram (2729) – Nguyen Thai Dai Van (2668) 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. d4 Nf6 5. O-O O-O 6. c4 c6 7. Qb3 a5 8. cxd5 a4 9. Qd1 cxd5 10. Nc3 Ne4 11. Ng5 Nxc3 12. bxc3 h6 13. Nh3 Qc7 14. Bd2 Bxh3 15. Bxh3 e6 16. Rb1 Nd7 17. Rb4 Nb6 18. Qb1 Ra6 19. Rc1 Nc4 20. Be1 Rb8 21. Qd3 Bf8 22. Rbb1 Ba3 23. Rc2 Rb6 24. Qd1 Nb2 25. Qd2 Nc4 26. Qd1 Rxb1 27. Qxb1 b5 28. Bf1 Kg7 29. e3 h5 30. Qd1 Rb6 31. Qf3 Qc6 32. h3 Qb7 33. Kh2 Bd6 34. Kg1 Ba3 35. Be2 Bd6 36. Rc1 Ba3 37. Rb1 Bd6 38. Bf1 Na3 39. Rc1 Qc6 40. Qd1 Rb8 41. Qd2 Bc7 42. h4 Rc8 43. Qb2 Nc4 44. Qb1 Ba5 45. Bd3 Nd6 46. Rc2 Nc4 47. Rc1 Nd6 48. Rc2 Qd7 49. Kg2 Qb7 50. Qd1 Rc7 51. Kh2 Qc8 52. Qc1 Rc6 53. Kg2 Qc7 54. Kh2 Qc8 55. Kg2 Qc7 56. Kh2 Qe7 57. Qb1 Qb7 58. Qc1 Qc7 59. Kg2 Qc8 60. Kh2 Rc7 61. Qa3 Nc4 62. Qc1 e5 63. dxe5 Nxe5 64. Be2 b4 65. Qd1 Qf5 66. Rc1 Rxc3 67. Bxc3 Qxf2+ 68. Kh3 bxc3 69. Qd4 Bc7 70. Rxc3 Qxe2? 71. Rxc7 Qf1+ 72. Kh2 Qf2+ 73. Kh3 Qf1+ 74. Kh2 Qf2+ 75. Kh3 Qf1+ 76. Kh2 1/2-1/2
Masters (Round 1 Results): Keymer Vincent bt Wei Yi, Aravindh Chithambaram drew with Nguyen Thai Dai Van, Shankland Sam bt Gurel Ediz, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu drew with Navara David, Le Quang Liem drew with Giri Anish.
Challengers (Round 1 Results): Nemec Jachym drew with Finek Vaclav, Kourkoulos-Arditis Stamatis lost to Bjerre Jonas Buhl, Salgado Lopez Ivan bt Divya Deshmukh, Stalmach Richard drew with Maurizzi Marc’andria, Yakubboev Nodirbek drew with Ma Qun.
Picture Courtesy: Petr Vrabec/Prague Chess Festival Facebook page
Official Site: https://praguechessfestival.com/en/2025
