Pragnanandhaa: Five wins and a miscalculation

by André Schulz
7/17/2023 – Four games, four wins — that was Praggnanandhaa’s tally at the start of Geza Hetenyi Memorial in Budapest. Pragg thus became the eighth Indian to break the 2700-elamark. However, the Indian speed train was stopped in the fifth round when he lost to Amin Tabatabaei. The prodigy returned to his winning ways the very next round, as he defeated Peter Prohazka with black on Sunday. | Photo: Zoltan Fülöp

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One more 2700+ Indian player

Praggnanandhaa is leading the standings at the Geza Hetenyi Memorial 2023 in Budapest, a classical round-robin tournament in Budapest, where the pieces are placed in the basic position according to the old-fashioned rules — and the result is also recorded classically, with one point for a winner and half a point for each player in case of a draw

The organisers have put together an interesting field, including a number of young talents. Indian rising star Praggnanandhaa recorded a rocket start with 4 out of 4 and naturally became the player to beat in the early stages of the tournament.

In the fifth round, he reached an imbalanced endgame against Iran’s Amin Tabatabaei — queen, rook and a minor piece against a queen and two rooks — with roughly equal chances. Tabatabaei, playing white, already had an advanced passed pawn. But his unsteady king limited his options.

After an inaccurate queen move, however, the game tilted in Tabatabaei’s favour.

Tabatabaei, M. Amin26891–0Praggnanandhaa R2690
5th Hetenyi Memorial 2023
Budapest15.07.2023[Schulz,A]
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.Nbd2 Be7 10.c3 Nc5 11.Nd4 Nxe5 12.Bc2 Qd6 13.b4 Na4 14.Re1 Bg4 15.N2f3 Nxf3+ 16.gxf3 Be6 17.Nxe6 fxe6 18.f4 g6 19.Qg4 Kf7 20.f5 exf5 21.Bxf5 gxf5 22.Qxf5+ Ke8 23.Bg5 Rg8 24.f4 Nxc3 25.Qxh7 Rxg5+ 26.fxg5 Qxb4 27.Qg8+ Kd7 28.Qe6+ Kd8 29.g6 Qd4+ 30.Kh1 Qf6
31.Qg4 The chances in this endgame are about equal. White has a nice passed pawn on g6, but his king is rather weakened. Qg7? The correct way to get counterplay was with 31...Qh4 32.Qe6 32.Rg1? Ne4 and 33.g7?? is bad due to Nf2+ 32.Qxh4? Bxh4 33.g7 Kd7 34.Rg1 Rg8 35.Raf1 Ne4 and 36.Rf8 fails due to Leads to a rook ending that is winning for for Black is: 36.Rg6 Bf6 37.Rfxf6 Nxf6 38.Rxf6 Rxg7 39.h4 d4 36...Nf2+-+ 32...Qf6 Black must not allow g7. 33.Qg4 Draw. 32.Rf1 Ne4 33.Rad1 Nd6 33...c6? 34.Qxe4 34.Rxd5 White's advantage is now clear. c6 35.Rh5 Kc7 36.Qe6 Rf8 37.Re1 Nc8 38.Rh7 Qc3 39.Rxe7+ Nxe7 40.Qxe7+ Kb6 41.Qe3+ Qxe3 42.Rxe3 Rg8 43.Rg3 The rook ending is now winning for White. c5 44.h4 c4 45.h5 b4 46.h6 c3 47.g7 c2 48.Rg1 Rd8 49.Rc1 Rd1+ 50.Kh2 Rxc1 51.g8Q Rh1+ 52.Kxh1 c1Q+ 53.Qg1+
1–0

In the sixth round, an unfazed Praggnanandhaa claimed his fifth win in the sixth game against Hungary's Peter Prohaszka.

In the live ratings list, Praggnanandhaa gained 17.6 points in this tournament and jumped over the 2700 barrier and remains with momentum to up his gains. 

Following one point behind is Tabatabaei, who had 4/5 points after beating Praggnanandhaa. In the sixth round, however, the Iranian lost to the experienced Pavel Eljanov. 

This unusual geometric setup emerged from a Giuoco Piano:

White won after 43.Rxc7 Rxh5 44.Kh2 Rf5 45.Rh4+ Kg6 46.Rg4+ Kf6 47.Kg3 Rb8 48.Rcc4 Rb3 49.Rgf4 and 1-0

Radoslaw Wojtaszek, Pavel Eljanov, Sanan Sjugirov and Maxim Matlakov all stand a half point behind second-placed Tabatabaei. 

Standings - Round 5

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André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.

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