Duda beats Navara in the first round of the Prague Chess Festival

The festival is to become a permanent institution, following the example of the tournaments in Wijk aan Zee. Due to the Corona pandemic, however, the 2021 edition was postponed by a few months and will now open with a Masters, a junior tournament, a rating tournament, an Open and a few other tournaments.

The Czech number one David Navara, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Sam Shankland, Nils Grandelius, Jorden van Foreest, Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Nihat Abasov and the young Czech grand champion Ngyuen Thai Dai Van take part in the Masters and play a seven-round round robin tournament.

In round one three of the four games ended in a draw. Jan-Krzysztof Duda who played against David Navara, was the only one to win.

The chances in this complicated endgame are about equal though White is slightly more active.

25.Nf5 Ba6?! Aimed against d3. But Black now gets under pressure. 25...f6!? or 25...g6!? 26.Nd6 Re7= might have been better alternatives.

26.Bd6 Threatening to win the exchange with Ne7.

26...Kh8 26...Ng5 27.Rf2

27.Bb4 Rec8

28.Kd1 Nc5 The start of a forced sequence. The passive 28...R6c7 29.Nd6 Rb8 30.Rf2 f6 31.Rf5 did not appeal to Black.

29.Ne7 Nb3 30.Nxc6 Nxa1 31.Nxd4 After 31.Ne7!? Re8 32.Rf2 f6 33.h4 the black knight on a1 is trapped.

31...Rd8 32.Bc3 b4 33.axb4 Bxd3 34.Rd2 Bxe4 35.Nf5 Re8 35...Bc2+ 36.Ke2 Re8+ 37.Kf3 f6 might have been a bit more stubborn.

36.Rd7 Bf3+ Harassing the white king, who has just enough squares to avoid being mated.

37.Kc1 Nb3+ 38.Kb1 Bc6 39.Rxf7 Be4+ 40.Ka2 Nd4 40...Nc1+ 41.Ka3 yields nothing for Black.

41.Rxg7 Bd5+ 42.Ka3 Nb5+ 43.Kxa4 Bc6

44.Ka5 Black chases the white king but the king can escape.

44...Nxc3 45.bxc3 Bg2 46.Re7 White repelled the attack and is winning.

46...Ra8+ 47.Kb6 Bxh3 48.Ne3 Rc8 49.c4 Bxg4 50.Nxg4 Rxc4 51.Nf6 Rxb4+ 52.Kc6 Rh4 53.Kd7 Rh1 54.Ke8 Ra1 Or 54...Rh2 55.Kf7 -- 56.Re8# 55.Rxh7# 1–0

About a 100 players start in the Open. The number one seed is GM Vjotech Plat