Prague Masters: Praggnanandhaa scores first win, Aravindh shoots to sole lead

Prague, Mar 1 (PTI) Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa cruised to a smooth victory against Nguyen Thai Dai Van of Czech Republic, while Aravindh Chithambaram emerged as the sole leader, defeating top seed Wei Yi of China in the third round of the Prague Masters here.

It was a swift and commanding victory for Praggnanandhaa, widely regarded as the biggest favourite to win this tournament.

It was a Nimzo-Indian defense and in Praggnanandhaa’s words it was “just a position to play”. The middle game surfaced with Dai Van being on the defensive despite his extra pawn, a typical feature of the structure and the Indian navigated the complexities with ease.

The decisive moment came on the 14th move itself when Praggnanandhaa got an undeniable advantage and after that though the game took a few twists but the result was never in doubt.

Having played two draws in the first two rounds, it was an essential victory for Praggnanandhaa and he achieved the final result in style. The Indian won a rook for a minor piece and when it comes to technicalities, no one can doubt the acumen of Praggnanandhaa.

“Yesterday (the second round) was nothing, in the first round I had a good position”, was how the Indian reflected on his performance thus far.

While Praggnanandhaa scored his first win, compatriot Aravindh Chithamabaram announced his arrival in the elite circles by entering the world top 20 in live ratings for the first time.

Aravindh showed deeper opening understanding in the Ragozin where the Chinese played as black. The middle game approached with a dynamic balance but Aravindh out-calculated Yi and launched a king side attack, sacrificing two pawns on the other flank.

The game lasted 44 moves.

The victory took Aravindh to 2.5 points out of a possible 3 on a day when American Sam Shankland lost to Vincent Keymer of Germany. The second place is now shared by Praggnanandhaa and Keymer on two points apiece.

Sharing the fourth spot is Quang Leim Le of Vietnam, David Navara of Czech Republic, Anish Giri of Holland and Shankland, a half point ahead of Dai Van and Gurel Ediz of Turkey.

Top seed Wei Yi is surprisingly at the bottom of the table with six rounds still remaining in the 10-player round-robin tournament.

In the challengers’ section being played simultaneously, Divya Deshmukh succumbed to her second defeat in three days, losing to Nodirbek Yakubboev of Uzbekistan.

Results round 3: Sam Shankland (Usa, 1.5) lost to Vincent Keymer (Ger, 2) Aravindh Chithambaram (Ind, 2.5) beat Wei Yi (Chn, 0.5); Anish Giri (Ned, 1.5) drew with David Navara (Cze, 1.5); R Pragnnanandhaa (Ind, 2) beat Nguyen Thai Dai Van (Cze, 1); Quang Leim Le (Vie, 1.5) drew with Gurel Ediz (Tur, 1).

Challengers: Stamatis Kourkoulous-Arditis (Ger, 1) drew with Vaclav Finek ((Cze, 1.5); Ma Qun (Chn, 1.5) drew with Marc`andria Maurizzi (Fra, 1); Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb, 2.5) beat Divya Deshmukh (Ind, 1); Richard Stalmach (Cze, 0.5) lost to Jonas Buhl Bjerre (Den, 2.5); Jachym Nemec (Cze, 1.5) beat Ivan Salgado Lopez (Esp, 1.5).