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Vincent Keymer has two wins and two defeats to his name after four days of play in Prague. He came out of the opening with a very strong position. Perhaps surprisingly, he started with 1.e4 and emerged out of a French Defence with an advantage. But his middlegame plan was not convincing. Instead of going for 19.Rxh7 and 20.c3, further advancing the a-pawn or activating the queenside rook via a3 would probably have been more advisable.
As a result, Pragg caught up with his compatriot Aravindh Chithambaram, who was the sole leader after three rounds. He was able to salvage a draw while a pawn down against Sam Shankland, who started the tournament with a victory in the first round.
Chess fans can look forward to the top match between the two leading Indians in Sunday's fifth round, the last one before the rest day.
Vincent Keymer has played four decisive games so far in Prague | Photo: Petr Vrabec
Wei Yi, who was in last place after three rounds with only half a point, was able to redeem himself, as he beat local hero David Navara out of an Italian Opening. The Chinese player responded strongly to the unconvincing novelty 11...h5 with 12.h4 and his precise tactical play quickly led to a deadly king attack, in which the black pieces on the queenside must have felt somewhat lost...
Wei Yi defeated David Navara | Photo: Petr Vrabec
The remaining games, featuring the four players still without a win in Prague, ended in draws: Ediz Gürel drew against Anish Giri while Le Quang Liem drew with Thai Dan Van Nguyen.
The two players sharing the lead in the Challengers, Danish GM Jonas Buhl Bjerre and Uzbek GM Nodirbek Yakubboev, faced each other on Saturday and agreed a draw after 37 moves. The only excitement came on moves 26 and 27. Yakubboev blundered, but Bjerre immediately gave up the advantage.
The runner-up and surprise third-placed Jachym Nemec could have drawn level with the two, but he lost the all-Czech duel against Richard Stalmach.
Marc'Andria Maurizzi defeated Vaclav Finek, while the games Ma Qun v. Divya Deshmukh and Ivan Salgado v. Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis ended in draws.
Richard Stalmach beat Jachym Nemec with the black pieces | Photo: Petr Vrabec
