Challengers Tour Finals: Pragg and Yoo make it through

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
10/17/2021 – It was a rather short day at the office for the semifinalists of the Julius Baer Challengers Tour Finals, as Praggnanandhaa and Christopher Yoo only needed three games to knock out Vincent Keymer and Awonder Liang respectively. After an astounding win by Pragg, Vladimir Kramnik was full of praise for his play, even comparing him with Magnus Carlsen. “He’s playing almost like a real world champion, not a future one”, said Kramnik.

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Three and out

The two players who made it into the final of the Julius Baer Challengers Tour certainly left a strong impression on Saturday. While Christopher Yoo beat Awonder Liang 3-0, Praggnanandhaa got the better of Vincent Keymer by a 2½-½ score — moreover, the Indian prodigy agreed to a draw from a winning position in the third encounter! Thus, we were inches away from seeing clean sweeps by both finalists.

Vladimir Kramnik, who is providing commentary together with Judit Polgar, was full of praise for Pragg, who made it look easy against the player that won the last two “Challenges” of the tour. The former world champion went as far as saying that the Indian’s play was at top-10 level. Kramnik later emphasized:

I have no words! He is playing just absolutely fantastically. Amazing chess. He is playing almost like a real world champion, a level close to Magnus Carlsen. Very strong, really!

Meanwhile, back-to-back blunders by Liang gave Yoo an almost unsurmountable edge in the other semifinal. The younger American (Liang is 18, while Yoo is still 14) made the most of Liang’s risky play and scored a third win to make it into the final. Yoo later confessed:

I was definitely excited about the match. I did not get much sleep, but I feel extremely good after the match!

Julius Baer Challengers Tour Finals 2021

Pragg kicked off the day with the black pieces. By move 27, he had an advantage thanks to his mobile pawn majority on the queenside.

 
Keymer vs. Praggnanandhaa

Here Keymer faltered with 27.Bh5, which turned out to be too slow — the German’s best chance to fight for a draw was 27.bxa5 Ra8 28.Rf1 Rxa5 29.f4, with quicker counterplay than in the game. After the text, Pragg immediately grabbed the initiative with 27...axb4 28.axb4 Rd4.

Six moves later, the Indian prodigy showed the strength of his active rook on the fourth rank.

 

34...Rb4 was the critical move in the whole variation. Black later captured Keymer’s b-pawn and went on to get a rather simple technical win. 

In the second game, Pragg was again in the driver’s seat, and handled his edge almost flawlessly, except for a tactical trick he failed to foresee...

 
Praggnanandhaa vs. Keymer - Game #2

White’s 41.Ng1 looks logical, preparing to get rid of the annoying black knight on e2. However, it is a mistake. Keymer could have changed the course of the match had he found the surprising 41...Ne3+, when White’s only move 42.fxg3 is met by 42...Ng3+ 43.Kf2 Ne4+, followed by grabbing the rook on e2. Knights are tricky pieces!

 
Analysis diagram

None of this appeared on the board, though, as Keymer played 41...Rxa5 instead and resigned the game 12 moves later.

The first game of the match was analysed by our in-house endgame specialist Karsten Müller.

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 a6 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 Be6 7.e3 Nbd7 8.h3 Bd6 9.Bd3 Qe7 10.0-0 h6 11.Bf4 g5 12.Bxd6 Qxd6 13.e4 dxe4 14.Nxe4 Nxe4 15.Bxe4 c6 16.Re1 0-0-0 17.Qc2 Kb8 18.Bf5 Bd5 19.Ne5 Nxe5 20.dxe5 Qb4 21.Re3 Rhe8 22.a3 Qc4 23.Rae1 Qxc2 24.Bxc2 Be6 25.b4 Kc7 26.Bd1 a5 The queenside majority. In an endgame a pawn majority on the queenside can be an advantage, if it can be mobilised quickly: 27.Bh5? White does not have time for this ambitious attack. 27.bxa5 Ra8 28.Rf1 Rxa5 29.f4 offered much better drawing chances. But Black is still for choice of course. 27...axb4 28.axb4 Rd4 29.Rb1 Bd5 29...Kb6!? 30.b5 c5 31.b6+ 31.e6? is met by Bxe6 32.b6+ Kd6 33.Bf3 Re7-+ 31...Kc6 32.e6? This runs into a tactical refutation. But White is probably lost in any case, e.g. 32.g3 c4 33.Bd1 Ra8-+ 32...Rxe6 33.Bxf7 Rxe3 34.fxe3 Rb4! The refutation of White's concept. However 34...Rd2-+ wins as well. 35.Be8+ 35.Rf1 Bxf7 36.Rf6+ Kd5 37.Rxf7 Rxb6-+ 35...Kxb6 36.Rd1 Be4 37.Rd6+ Kc7 The direct 37...Ka5 is stronger. 38.Re6 38.Rd7+ would probably now have been met by Kb6 39.Rd6+ Ka5 40.Re6 b5-+ 38...Bd5 39.Re7+ 39.Rxh6 Rb1+ 40.Kf2 c4 41.Rh7+ Kd6 42.Rd7+ Kc5 43.Rc7+ Kb4-+ 39...Kb6 40.Bg6 c4 41.e4 Bc6 42.e5 c3 43.Rf7 Rb2 44.e6 44.Rf2 Kc5 45.e6 Kd6 46.Bf5 Bd5-+ 44...Rxg2+ 45.Kf1 c2 46.Bxc2 Rxc2 47.Rf6 Bb5+ 48.Kg1 Re2 49.Rxh6 Kc5 50.Rg6 Re5 51.Kf2 Bc4 52.e7 Rxe7 53.Rxg5+ Bd5 54.h4 b5 55.h5 b4 56.h6 b3 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Keymer,V2630Praggnanandhaa R26180–12021Challengers Chess Tour Finals8
Praggnanandhaa R2618Keymer,V26301–02021Challengers Chess Tour Finals9
Keymer,V2630Praggnanandhaa R2618½–½2021Challengers Chess Tour Finals10
Praggnanandhaa R2618Keymer,V26302021Challengers Chess Tour Finals11

In addition to the pressure for playing in a prestigious event, the fact that the tournament is taking place online with a quick time control can prompt any player to falter either with a blunder or a mouse-slip. In the semifinals, Liang twice hung pieces to enter completely lost positions.

 
Liang vs. Yoo - Game #2

In game 2, Liang was worse with the white pieces, but there was plenty to play for still on a board full of pieces. However, after 25.Qe4 Black can simply capture a rook with 25...Qxa4 — perhaps Liang thought he was just giving up an exchange, as he had 26.Qxe7, but failed to notice his other rook is now hanging on d1.

Resignation came four moves later.

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.0-0 a6 6.Ba4 Be7 7.e5 Ne4 8.Nxd4 0-0 9.Nf5 Nc5 10.Qg4 g6 11.Bxc6 dxc6 12.Nxe7+ Qxe7 13.Qg3 Bf5 14.Bg5 Qe6 15.Nd2 Rfe8 16.Rfe1 b6 17.Nf3 Be4 18.b4 Bxf3 19.bxc5 Bd5 20.cxb6 cxb6 21.Bf6 h6 22.c4 Bxc4 23.Re3 Kh7 24.Qh4 h5 25.Rg3 Be2 26.Re1 Qc4 27.Qg5 Qb4 28.Rc1 Ra7 29.Rh3 Rd7 30.Rh4 Qd2 31.Qxd2 Rxd2 32.Ra4 c5 33.h3 a5 34.Ra3 c4 35.Kh2 Bd3 36.Kg3 Rb2 37.e6 Re2 38.exf7 Rf8 39.Bd4 Re6 40.Rd1 Rxf7 41.Rd2 Rd7 42.Be3 Rc6 43.Rb2 Rdd6 44.Rc3 Kg7 45.a4 Kf7 46.f3 Be2 47.Rxe2 Rd1 48.Rec2 Re6 49.Kf2 Ra1 50.Rxc4 Ra3 51.Bd4 Rd6 52.Rb2 Ke6 53.Rxb6 1–0
  • Start an analysis engine:
  • Try maximizing the board:
  • Use the four cursor keys to replay the game. Make moves to analyse yourself.
  • Press Ctrl-B to rotate the board.
  • Drag the split bars between window panes.
  • Download&Clip PGN/GIF/FEN/QR Codes. Share the game.
  • Games viewed here will automatically be stored in your cloud clipboard (if you are logged in). Use the cloud clipboard also in ChessBase.
  • Create an account to access the games cloud.
WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Yoo,C2485Liang,A25901–02021Challengers Chess Tour Finals8
Liang,A2590Yoo,C24850–12021Challengers Chess Tour Finals9
Yoo,C2485Liang,A25901–02021Challengers Chess Tour Finals10
Liang,A2590Yoo,C24852021Challengers Chess Tour Finals11

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.

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