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The following article was first published in three parts during the Prague Chess Festival on Thorsten Cmiel's chess blog Chess Ecosystem (in German).
Reprinted with kind permission. We have slightly shortened the entire article here with regard to images and divided it into two parts.
This is the second part. Read the first instalment here.
The two Challengers tournaments in Wijk aan Zee and Prague have established themselves as youth tournaments for future grandmasters. In the Netherlands, the average Elo rating was 2547 points, and in Prague, it was slightly higher this year at 2555 points. In Wijk, 9 of the 14 participants were already GMs. In Prague, 6 of the 10 participants were GMs.
Round 6: Vaclav Finek (Czech Republic)
At 15 years old (born on 1 January 2010), Vaclav was the youngest participant in the field. Like Divya, he had scored 1½ points in the first 5 rounds. Vaclav was awarded the International Master title in 2023 at the same (third) congress as Divya. He thus became the youngest Czech player ever to achieve this title.
Last year was very successful for Vaclav. He caused a surprise at the Czech Open 2024 by winning the event, securing victory in the final round against Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu in a rook endgame. He also won the U14 European Youth Championship in Prague.
The game featured an interesting opening phase. With her eighth move, Divya chose a line that her opponent had never faced before on the board. The opening phase clearly favoured the Indian player, who achieved a balanced position. However, on move 19 she made a positional error from which she could not recover. The conversion phase by Vaclav Finek was an overall strong performance, seen below in the second pgn analysis.
Photo: Petr Vrabec
Round 7: Jonas Buhl Bjerre (Denmark)
Jonas is 20 years old and only moved out of the junior category this year. The Dane has been a grandmaster since 2020, which attests to his exceptional talent. However, his progress has plateaued for some time. Bjerre is currently the number one active Danish player.
His game against Divya turned into a "sea serpent", meaning a very long game. Bjerre is usually well-prepared in the opening and generally has a positional style. Divya came through the opening phase reasonably well, but then showed that she was not comfortable with the type of position that arose.
This fact became more pronounced in the subsequent phase, and by the time control, the Indian player was in a losing position and resigned a few moves later.
Jonas Buhl Bjerre | Photo: Petr Vrabec
Round 8: Jachym Nemec (Czech Republic)
Jachym is part of the young generation of Czech players aspiring to achieve the GM title. The Czech is three years younger than Divya and currently holds the FIDE Master title, but he has already reached the required Elo rating of 2400 points. The course of the game proved tragic for the Czech player, who completely collapsed in the final phase of the game, despite his getting a winning position soon after the time control.
Jachym Nemec | Photo: Petr Vrabec
Round 9: Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis (Greece)
The 26-year-old Greek GM recently won the Greek National Championship in December with a score of 7½ out of 9. At the European Championship in Petrovac, Stamatis also achieved a very solid result with 7 points in 11 games. Things did not go particularly well for the Greek player in Prague. Then the following position arose in his game against Divya.
The Greek had just moved his rook from a8 to b8. What are we to make of that? Can and should Divya take the pawn on g7? And if so, how exactly should she proceed?
The Challengers tournament in Prague was won by Uzbek GM Nodirbek Yakuboev, whom Divya had already faced in Wijk. Divya won the direct encounters against the two players tied on points with her, which placed her in seventh position overall. She won both games in convincing fashion and was awarded the spectators' prize for the best game of the round in round two.
The tournament ended on a conciliatory note for Divya. The result meant a slight rating loss of just over six points.
Final standings
| Rk. | Name | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM | YAKUBBOEV Nodirbek | 2659 | 7 | 0,5 | |
| 2 | GM | BJERRE Jonas Buhl | 2640 | 7 | 0,5 | |
| 3 | GM | MAURIZZI Marc`andria | 2581 | 6 | 0 | |
| 4 | GM | MA Qun | 2645 | 5,5 | 0 | |
| 5 | GM | SALGADO LOPEZ Ivan | 2599 | 4 | 1 | |
| 6 | IM | FINEK Vaclav | 2478 | 4 | 0 | |
| 7 | IM | DIVYA Deshmukh | 2490 | 3 | 2 | |
| 8 | GM | KOURKOULOS-ARDITIS Stamatis | 2580 | 3 | 0,5 | |
| 9 | IM | STALMACH Richard | 2449 | 3 | 0,5 | |
| 10 | FM | NEMEC Jachym | 2433 | 2,5 | 0 |
The Prague tournament showed that Divya can still improve her play in positional battles against very strong opponents. At the same time, her victory in the final round clearly demonstrated how dangerous it is to enter tactical complications against her. Divya's opening preparation was generally excellent, but her choice of black opening systems seems to need improvement. A long and arduous defensive battle such as those that can arise from the Tarrasch Defence with an isolated d-pawn does not seem to suit her strengths in concrete play. Fans have reason to be excited.
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