Hou Yifan Challenge: Pragg still perfect

Barely any draws

Due to the odd number of players, five players had a bye round on Saturday. Rating favourites Praggananandhaa and Vincent Keymer — the only two players with a 2600+ rating — were not among them though, and they finished the day as the top scorers with 5/5 and 4/5 points respectively.

Master Class Vol.5: Emanuel Lasker

The name Emanuel Lasker will always be linked with his incredible 27 years reign on the throne of world chess. In 1894, at the age of 25, he had already won the world title from Wilhelm Steinitz and his record number of years on the throne did not end till 1921 when Lasker had to accept the superiority of Jose Raul Capablanca. But not only had the only German world champion so far seen off all challengers for many years, he had also won the greatest tournaments of his age, sometimes with an enormous lead. The fascinating question is, how did he manage that?

Much like Pragg, Keymer collected four wins in the first four rounds, but a loss against Christopher Yoo prevented him from keeping up with his younger colleague’s pace — Keymer was born nine months before Pragg. Yoo’s victory over the German star was no fluke, as the 14-year-old Californian IM was the only player other than the leader to finish the day undefeated (Yoo is in third place at the moment, with 3½/4 points).

Among the girls — six female participants are in the mix — Vaishali Rameshbabu, Pragg’s sister, had the strongest performance on the first day of action. The Indian WGM is on 2½/4, as she only lost against her sibling on Saturday.

Pragg is not only an excellent tactician, but he also knows how to convert a strategic advantage into a win when the opportunity arises. Facing Balaji Daggupati in the first round, the Indian star showed good technique in a good knight vs bad bishop position.

35.Rd5 was Daggupati’s losing mistake. Pragg quickly swapped the rooks, as his knight will be the stronger minor piece in the technical endgame. Daggupati resigned 20 moves later.

Endgame specialist Karsten Müller sent a more in-depth analysis of Pragg’s instructive win.

While her brother got the better of Daggupati, Vaishali was defending an inferior endgame against Polish IM Pawel Teclaf.

Magical Chess Endgames Vol. 1 & 2 + The magic of chess tactics

In over 4 hours in front of the camera, Karsten Müller presents to you sensations from the world of endgames - partly reaching far beyond standard techniques and rules of thumb - and rounds off with some cases of with own examples.

GM Müller reminds us that we should not rush in the endgame, as Teclaf’s 44...f5+ came too early. At this point, the winning move was 44...h4, leaving White in zugzwang.

After Teclaf’s mistake, Vaishali continued to defend until getting the draw six moves later. Do not miss GM Müller’s instructive analysis in the replayer below.

Standings after round 5

All games

Links

• Official site
• The new Julius Baer Challengers Chess Tour
• Keymer edges out Liang to win Kramnik Challenge
• Gukesh D. wins the Gelfand Challenge
• Impressive Praggnanandhaa wins Polgar Challenge