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The fourth edition of the Prague Chess Festival kicked off on Wednesday. In the Masters section, three players returned to the Czech capital after participating in the 2021 edition: defending champion Sam Shankland, and local representatives David Navara and Thai Dai Van Nguyen. The Indian duo of Vidit Gujrathi and Pentala Harikrishna skipped last year’s event after playing the first two editions, and are now back in the mix.
In the first round, the Indians were paired against each other, with Harikrishna getting the better of his younger compatriot. Seven weeks from now, Vidit and Harikrishna will play on boards 1 and 2 for the local team at the Chess Olympiad in Chennai.
Master Class Vol. 12: Viswanathan Anand
This DVD allows you to learn from the example of one of the best players in the history of chess and from the explanations of the authors how to successfully organise your games strategically, and how to keep your opponent permanently under pressure.
The all-Indian confrontation was quite an exciting affair, but perhaps one of the quietest games of the day! That only goes to show how entertaining the remaining four encounters were. David Navara and Le Quang Liem scored fine victories with white, while Parham Maghsoodloo and Paco Vallejo failed to make the most of their superior positions with the black pieces.
As stated by the organizers, they want to create a long-lasting festival comparable to the traditional event held yearly in Wijk aan Zee — by what we saw in the first round, they seem to be on the right track!
Pentala Harikrishna | Photo: Petr Vrabec
Not surprisingly, a sharp struggle quickly emerged early in the game between David Navara and David Anton. The two Davids, who are close to the 2700-rating mark, are known for their willingness to enter sharp positions whenever they get a chance. On Wednesday, Navara gladly gave up two pawns for activity right off the bat.
This is still a theoretical position, and Navara’s 10.Qd2 had also been seen in the past. The first to deviate was Anton, who responded by 10...Qe4, when 10...e5 had been tried by Alexandr Fier in 2021 — note that 10...Qxh1 fails to 11.0-0-0, when in case of 11...Qe4, White counts with the beautiful 12.Be7!
In the game, Anton spent over a half hour as early as on move 12, while Navara needed 14 minutes and 16 minutes to decide what to do on moves 13 and 15 respectively.
Black Repertoire against 1.e4 Vol. 1: The Marshall Attack
The Marshall Attack is one of the most dynamic replies Black has at his disposal against 1.e4. At the cost of a pawn, Black takes over the initiative from the get - go and goes after the white king. Wrongly considered to be mainly a drawing weapon by some, this DVD offers many new ideas for Black, showing how to keep the queens on the board and to play for a win in almost all cases.
Despite the queens leaving the board on move 14, the battle did not lose in excitement, as Navara never stopped creating threats to make up for his material disadvantage. As confessed by the Czech star, “there were definitely some mistakes”, but he nonetheless emerged on top.
Anton’s 44...f4 was the final mistake, as 44...Ne6 leaves Black still in a very difficult position but with chances to create problems for his opponent. After the text, Navara found the winning 45.h5+, and the only reasonable response, 45...Nxh5, means the knight will not return to the queenside on time.
The game lasted five more moves.
The playing hall | Photo: Vladimír Jagr
Peter Michalik kicked off with a win | Photo: Petr Vrabec
