Prague R3: Aravindh wins again, leads

by Stefan Liebig
3/1/2025 – Aravindh Chithambaran grabbed a second win in a row to grab the sole lead at the Masters section of the Prague Chess Festival. Meanwhile, Vincent Keymer continues to play all or nothing - after his round-one win against Wei Yi, he lost to Aravindh, and has now defeated Sam Shankland with black. The third decisive game of the day in the Masters saw Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu beating Thai Dai Van Nguyen. | Photo: Petr Vrabec

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Aravindh sole leader

The Masters tournament at the Prague Chess Festival has been up and down for Weissenhaus winner Vincent Keymer: three games, three decisive results. In round three, he faced the US grandmaster Sam Shankland, who had started with 1½ out of 2 and was therefore half a point ahead of the German.

Out of an English opening, Keymer played with the better pawn structure in an equal position against the white bishop pair. He gradually took the initiative, was better from move 30 and won the full point thanks to his good endgame technique. Shankland was unable to keep the black passed pawns away from the promotion square for long.

Vincent Keymer

Vincent Keymer | Photo: Petr Vrabec

Keymer is now level on points with Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. The winner of the Tata Steel Masters Wijk aan Zee scored a full point on Friday as well - the game featured tripled pawn on the e-file. It was a nice attacking game against Thai Dai Van Nguyen, who had won the Challengers tournament in Wijk.

Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu

Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu next to his grandmaster colleagues during the opening ceremony | Photo: Petr Vrabec

Only Aravindh Chithambaram is now ahead of the aforementioned winners of the day - i.e. Keymer and Pragg. With a strong victory against Wei Yi, he grabbed the sole lead. After his loss against Keymer on Wednesday, the Chinese player has now suffered his second defeat - after such a poor start to the tournament, Wei now stands in last place with just half a point to his name.

The remaining two games ended drawn: Ediz Gurel was unable to make the most of a favourable position against Le Quang Liem, while Anish Giri reached an endgame with bishops of opposite colours - which was unwinnable - against David Navara.

Round 3 results

Standings

All games

Challengers: Yakubboev and Bjerre share the lead

There were also three decisive games in round three of the Challengers tournament. The Uzbek grandmaster Nodirbek Yakubboev defeated Indian IM Divya Deshmukh, who had beat Czech IM Richard Stalmach in the previous round.

Much like the Uzbek, Denmark's Jonas Buhl Bjerre now has 2½ points to his name. He won against Stalmach. Czech FM Jachym Nemec is half a point behind the leading duo after defeating former co-leader Ivan Salgado Lopez.

Nodirbek Yakubboev

Nodirbek Yakubboev | Photo: Petr Vrabec

Round 3 results

Standings

All games

Links


Stefan Liebig, born in 1974, is a journalist and co-owner of a marketing agency. He now lives in Barterode near Göttingen. At the age of five, strange pieces on his neighbour’s shelf aroused his curiosity. Since then, the game of chess has cast a spell over him. Flying high in the NRW youth league with his home club SV Bad Laasphe and several appearances in the second division team of Tempo Göttingen were highlights for the former youth South Westphalia champion.
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