Prague R5: Wei scores second win in a row

by Johannes Fischer
3/3/2025 – The fifth round of the Masters tournament in Prague brought only one victory. Wei Yi managed it against Sam Shankland, who completely failed in the opening. All four other games ended in draws, with Vincent Keymer missing a good chance to score. At the halfway stage, Aravindh Chithambaram and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu are in the joint lead with 3½ out of 5 points each, a full point ahead of the chasing pack. In the Challengers, Nodirbek Yakubboev leads the field with 4 out of 5 points. | Photo: Petr Vrabec

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Bouncing back

Chinese grandmaster Wei Yi started the Masters tournament in Prague as the top seed, but had a disastrous start: in round one he lost to Vincent Keymer, in round two he drew against Anish Giri and in round three he collected a second defeat against Aravindh Chithambaram. But then the tide turned, and he won convincingly against David Navara in round four.

In round five, he played with the black pieces against Sam Shankland, who was shipwrecked in the opening.

Wei Yi thus goes into the rest day with a 50% score and two wins in a row.

Before the fifth round, Keymer was the only player in the Masters who had not yet made a single draw. In round five, he played with black against Le Quang Liem and had a good chance of continuing this streak. Out of the opening, he gained the initiative, but was unable to exploit his advantage and found no way through against Le's good defensive efforts.

Le Quang Liem

Vincent Keymer had a good chance, but Le Quang Liem managed to escape with a half point | Photo: Petr Vrabec

The top pairing of the round was the game between the two leaders, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Aravindh Chithambaram. But Aravindh, who played with black, avoided taking too many risks in this game and seemed content with a draw from the start. After a quiet start in a harmless variation of the Berlin Defence, Aravindh lost a pawn, but managed to escape into a drawn endgame.

Aravindh Chithambaram, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu

The Indian duel between Aravindh Chithambaram and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu ended in a draw | Photo: Petr Vrabec

Anish Giri

Anish Giri and Thai Dai Van Nguyen also drew | Photo: Petr Vrabec

Ediz Gürel

Just like David Navara and Ediz Gürel | Photo: Petr Vrabec

This doesn't change anything at the top of the table - Praggnanandhaa and Chithambaram are still joint leaders with 3½ out of 5, a full point ahead of four players with 2½ out of 5.

Round 5 results

Standings

All games

Challengers: Yakubboev sole leader

Things were livelier in the Challengers, as three games ended decisively. And the games were exciting. In the encounter between Nodirbek Yakubboev and Jachym Nemec, for example, there were four queens on the board at some point, and as Yakubboev's queens were more active, he won the game.

The Spaniard Ivan Salgado Lopez also played for a win right from the start and tried to checkmate his opponent with all his might - and his strategy worked out well!

Rating favourite Yakubboev is alone at the top of the table with 4 out of 5 points. Jonas Buhl Bjerre follows half a point behind, while Salgado and Marc'Andria Maurizzi share third and fourth place with 3 out of 5 points.

Ivan Salgado

Ivan Salgado | Photo: Petr Vrabec

Round 5 results

Standings

All games

Links


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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