Prague Chess Festival, Round 3: Shankland beats Navara

by Johannes Fischer
6/17/2021 – David Navara, the number one Czech player, started the Masters at the Prague Chess Festival with two losses, and in round 3 he had to play against Sam Shankland, who seems to be in good shape in Prague. But Navara still played ambitiously which allowed Shankland to counter and to win a fine game. With 2.5/3 Shankland is now the sole leader at the Masters. | Photo: Lennart Ootes
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For some time Navara and Shankland followed a currently popular line in the English, in which Navara soom ambitiously pushed his kingside pawns ahead. But Shankland, who has written two excellent books about pawn play in modern chess (Small Steps to Giant Improvement: Master Pawn Play in Chess and Small Steps 2 Success: Mastering Passed Pawn Play) knew what to do and countered Navara's pawn push effectively and soon seized the initiative and developed a strong and successful counterattack.

 
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1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Bc5 7.0-0 0-0 8.d3 Re8 9.Bg5 Nxc3 10.bxc3 f6 11.Bc1 Be6 12.Bb2 Bf8 13.Qc2 Qd7 14.Rfd1 Qf7 15.e4?! More flexible is 15.Nd2!? 15...Na5 15...Bxa2?! is a move a human does not play because White answers with 16.c4 which traps the bishop. However, the engines calculate Nb4 17.Qc3 a5 and though the bishop is trapped it is not easy for White to exploit that. After 18.Qa3 Black has b5 19.Rxa2 Nxa2 20.Qxa2 a4 21.d4 b4 and Black's two passed pawns are pretty annoying. 16.Nd2 Rad8 17.d4 More careful was 17.Nf1!? 17...c6 18.f4 White plays very actively. exf4! 19.gxf4 f5 Blocking the white pawns. 20.e5 What else? But now the white pawns are blocked and the white bishop on b2 is hemmed in by its own pawns. c5 21.Nf3 Be7 22.Kh1 Nc4 23.Qe2 Qh5 Black's position is easier to play. 24.a4 Nb6 Black wants to play Nd5 to target the weak pawn on f4. 25.dxc5 Bxc5 26.Qb5? More stubborn was 26.a5 Bc4 27.Qe1 Nd5 28.Bc1 26...Be3 27.Rxd8 Rxd8 28.a5 Nc4 29.a6 bxa6 30.Qxa6 Bd5 31.Rd1 Bd2 32.Bc1 Kh8 But not 32...Bxc1?? 33.Rxd5 Rxd5 34.Qe6+ 33.Rxd2 33.Bxd2 Bxf3-+ 33...Nxd2 34.Qa5 A last attack... 34.Nxd2 Bxg2+ 35.Kxg2 Qg4+ 36.Kf2 Qxf4+ and White loses more material. 34...Rd7 0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Navara,D2697Shankland,S26910–12021A293rd Prague Masters 20213.4

David Navara | Photo: Vladimir Jagr

Jorden van Foreest is the winner of last year's Challenger at the Prague Chess Festival and since then he has become even stronger. At the beginning of the year he sensationally won the Tata Steel Tournament in which he started as a complete outsider. With a current Elo of 2701 he is the Dutch number two behind Anish Giri and number 38 in the world.

Against Radoslaw Wojtaszek he tried to win by soon liquidating into an endgame rook vs two minor pieces in a well-known line of the Nimzo-Indian but failed to achieve anything tangible.

 
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1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd3 c5 6.Nf3 d5 7.0-0 dxc4 8.Bxc4 cxd4 9.exd4 b6 10.Bg5 Bb7 11.Ne5 Nbd7 12.Nxf7 Rxf7 13.Bxe6 Qf8 14.Qb3 Bxc3 15.bxc3 Re8 16.Bxf7+!? Qxf7 17.Qxf7+ Kxf7 White now has a rook and two pawns for the two knights. The chances are about equal. 18.c4 Rc8 19.Rfc1 Ba6 20.c5 Nd5 20...bxc5 21.dxc5 Nxc5 Or 21...Rxc5 22.Rxc5 Nxc5 23.Be3 Nfd7 24.Rc1 22.Be3 Nfd7 23.Rc3 Ne6 24.Rxc8 Bxc8 25.Bxa7 would be good for White. 21.Rab1 bxc5 22.dxc5 Nxc5 23.Be3 Nxe3 24.fxe3 Ke6 25.Rb4 g6 26.h3 Ke5 27.Rf4 Ke6 28.Rc3 Nd3 29.Rxc8 Bxc8 30.Rf8 Bb7 31.Rh8 Bd5 32.Rxh7 Bxa2 33.Rxa7 Bc4 34.Ra4 Ne5 35.Kf2 Kf5 36.Ra8 Ke4 37.Re8 Bb5 38.Re7 Kf5 39.g4+ Kf6 40.Rb7 Bc6 41.Rb8 g5 42.Kg3 Bd7 43.Rb6+ Be6 44.h4 gxh4+ 45.Kxh4 Nxg4 46.Rxe6+ Kxe6 47.Kxg4 Ke5 48.e4 Kxe4 ½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Van Foreest,J2701Wojtaszek,R2687½–½2021E54Prague Festival Masters 20213.2

The two other games also ended in a draw. After three rounds Shankland is sole leader with 2.5/3.

Standings after round 3

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Games Masters

 
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Open

In the Open, rounds three and four were played on the same day. After four rounds six players share the lead with 3.5/4 each.

Standings

Rk. Name Pts.  TB1 
1 Nasuta Grzegorz 3,5 9,0
2 Krzyzanowski Marcin 3,5 9,0
3 Petr Martin 3,5 8,5
4 Plat Vojtech 3,5 8,5
5 Blohberger Felix 3,5 7,5
6 Sorm Daniel 3,5 7,5
7 Greenfeld Alon 3,0 9,0
8 Kraus Tomas 3,0 9,0
9 Finek Vaclav 3,0 8,5
10 Sreyas Payyappat 3,0 8,0
11 Seemann Jakub 3,0 8,0
12 Hollan Petr 3,0 8,0
13 Pavlidis Anastasios 3,0 8,0
14 Wachinger Nikolas 3,0 7,5

99 players

Games Open

 
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Games Futures

 
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Johannes Fischer was born in 1963 in Hamburg and studied English and German literature in Frankfurt. He now lives as a writer and translator in Nürnberg. He is a FIDE-Master and regularly writes for KARL, a German chess magazine focusing on the links between culture and chess. On his own blog he regularly publishes notes on "Film, Literature and Chess".

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