Prague R5: Wei scores second win in a row

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.

Shankland, S.2670

0–1

Wei Yi2755

7th Prague Masters 2025 Prague CZE02.03.2025[Johannes Fischer]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.g3 0-0 5.Bg2 d5 6.Nf3 dxc4 7.0-0 Nc6 8.a3 Bxc3 9.bxc3 Na5 10.Bg5 c5 11.e4 h6 12.Bh4

12...e5! With this strong counter, Black equalises the position. In this game, he even gains more than equality. 13.Bxf6 Qxf6 14.Qa4? Aggressive - and poor. 14.dxe5 Qe6 15.Qd6 Qe8 16.Rad1 leads to an interesting position with approximately equal chances. 14...Nb3 15.Nxe5 Be6! Black could have also taken the exchange. After 15...Nxa1 16.Rxa1 cxd4 17.cxd4 Qb6 18.Qxc4 Black has the better position, as White has little compensation. However, the move played in the game keeps several options open and puts White under even greater pressure. The engines even evaluate the position as clearly winning for Black. 16.Rad1 cxd4 17.Nxc4 Or 17.cxd4 Nxd4 18.Rxd4 Qxe5 and Black is a pawn up and winning. 17...b5! 18.Qxb5 Rab8 19.Qa4 dxc3

Black's passed pawn on c3 costs White material, and Wei Yi converts this advantage efficiently and energetically. 20.e5 Qe7 21.Nd6 c2 22.Rde1 Rfc8! 23.Nxc8 Rxc8 24.Rc1 Nxc1 25.Rxc1 Qd8 26.Qb5 Qd1+ 27.Qf1 Rd8 0–1

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 Liem2739

½–½

Keymer, Vincent2731

7th Prague Masters 2025 Prague CZE02.03.2025[Johannes Fischer]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d3 Bc5 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.Nbd2 Nd7 8.Nc4 0-0 9.Qe2 Re8 10.Bd2 Bd6 11.h4 Peter Leko, coach and second of Vincent Keymer, who provided live commentary in Prague alongside Sagar Shah and Harshit Raja, expressed concern for Black in this position, fearing that White might develop a strong king's attack. However, in the game, this attack proved to be rather harmless. Nf8 12.h5 c5 13.0-0-0 Ne6 14.g4 White, of course, cannot capture the e-pawn: 14.Nfxe5 Bxe5 15.Nxe5 Nd4 and Black wins a piece. 14...f6

15.Rhg1 If White wants to maintain attacking chances, he must sacrifice the g-pawn here. For example: 15.g5 fxg5 16.h6 g6 17.Qe3 g4 18.Nfxe5 Bxe5 19.Nxe5 Nd4 White has regained the pawn, and a double-edged position with chances for both sides has arisen. With the move played in the game, Black can block the position on the kingside and gradually take the initiative. 15...h6 16.Ne3 a5 17.Nf5 a4 18.Rg3 b5 19.Rdg1 Ng5 20.N3h4 Be6 21.Kb1 Qd7 22.c4 Rab8 23.Rc1 Bf7 24.Bxg5 fxg5 25.Ng2 Bf8 26.Ne1 c6 27.Rc2 Red8 28.Kc1 Bd6 29.Nxd6 Qxd6 Black is clearly better. White has no pawn breaks and can only defend. 30.Nf3 Rb7 31.Nd2 Be6 32.Qe3 Rf7 33.Kd1 White is better off leaving the pawn on c5 alone. After 33.cxb5 cxb5 34.Qxc5 Qb8! the position opens up, and White can no longer defend all his weaknesses. For example: 35.Kb1 Rc8 36.Qb4 Bxa2+ and Black regains the pawn with a winning position. 33...Qd7! With this move, Black forces a pawn gain. 34.f3 Qxd3 35.Qxd3 Rxd3 36.Ke2 Bxc4?! With little time left on the clock, Keymer forces the position. More winning chances were offered by 36...Rfd7 for example: 37.b3 bxc4 38.bxc4 Kf7 39.Rg2 and Black has an extra pawn and sustained pressure. 37.Nxc4 bxc4 38.Rxc4 Rfd7 39.Rg2! White defends the difficult position excellently. Black's rooks are very active, but there is no clear path to victory. a3 40.bxa3 Rxa3 41.Rf2! Rb7 42.Rxc5 Rb1 43.Rc2 Ra1 44.Rf1 R1xa2 45.Rxa2 Rxa2+ 46.Kd3 Kf7 47.Rb1 Ra3+ 48.Ke2 Ra7 49.Rb6 Rc7 50.Kd3 Ke6 51.Kc4 Kd6 52.Ra6 Rb7 53.Ra8 Rf7 54.Ra3 ½–½

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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.

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

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

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.

Yakubboev, Nodirbek2659

1–0

Nemec, Jachym2433

7th Prague Challengers Prague CZE02.03.2025[Johannes Fischer]

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 e6 4.0-0 Nge7 5.d4 cxd4 6.Nxd4 Ng6 7.Be2 Be7 8.c4 0-0 9.Nc2 b6 10.Nc3 Bb7 11.Be3 Rc8 12.f4 Na5 13.b3 Bf6 14.e5 Be7 15.Qd2 Nh4 16.g3 Nf5 17.Bf2 d5 18.exd6 Nxd6 19.Nd4 Qd7 20.Rad1 Rfd8 21.Bf3 Bf6 22.Qe2 Qe7 23.Rd3 Bxd4 24.Rxd4 Nf5 25.Rxd8+ Rxd8 26.Rd1 Rxd1+ 27.Qxd1 h6 28.Ne4 Qc7 29.Kg2 Bc6 30.g4 Ne7 31.Qd6 Qb7 32.Qd8+ Kh7 33.Qd3 f5 34.gxf5 exf5 35.Nd2 Qc7 36.Be3 Nb7 37.Kf2 Bxf3 38.Nxf3 Nd6 39.Ne5 Ne4+ 40.Kf1 Nf6 41.Bd4 Qb7 42.Kg1 Qc7 43.Be3 Qb7 44.a4 Qc7 45.b4 Qb7 46.b5 Qc7 47.h3 Qb7 48.Kh2 Qc7 49.Qd4 Qb7 50.a5 bxa5 51.Qxa7 Qe4 52.Qd4 Qc2+ 53.Qd2 Qb3 54.Bd4 a4 55.Qc3 Qd1 56.Qd3 Qc1 57.Qe3 Qc2+ 58.Qf2 Qb1 59.Qg1 Qe4 60.Qe3 Qc2+ 61.Qf2 Qb1 62.b6 a3 63.Qg2 Nh5 64.Nd7

64...Qc1? The position is highly complicated, and with only a minute left on the clock, Black overlooks White's threat. With 64...Ng6 Black could have held the position, as after 65.b7 Nhxf4 66.b8Q Qxb8 67.Nxb8 Nxg2 68.Kxg2 Nf4+ 69.Kf2 Ne6 70.Ba1 Nc5 White cannot win despite the extra piece, e.g. 71.Nc6 g5 72.Nb4 Kg6 73.Bd4 Nb3 74.Bb6 Nd2 75.c5 Nc4 76.Ba7 Kf6 77.c6 Ke6 and Black maintains the balance. 65.Nf8+ Kg8 66.Ne6! Now White is winning. a2 67.b7 Qb1 68.Bxg7 Kf7 69.Bb2 a1Q 70.b8Q

70...Qa6 71.Qf8+ Kxe6 72.Qe2+ 1–0

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!

Salgado Lopez, I.2599

1–0

Finek, Vaclav2478

7th Prague Challengers Prague CZE02.03.2025

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.b3 e6 3.Bb2 Be7

4.g4 0-0 5.g5 Ne4 6.h4 d5 7.d3 Nd6 8.e4 c5 9.Nbd2 Nc6 10.Bg2 d4 11.e5 Nf5 12.Kf1 Rb8 13.Ne4 b5 14.Bc1 c4 15.Nh2 Kh8 16.Ng4 Nb4

17.Ngf6 Nd5 18.Qh5 gxf6 19.gxf6 Bxf6 20.exf6 Nxf6 21.Qg5 Nd5 22.Qxd8 Rxd8 23.Bg5 Rf8 24.Nf6 h6 25.Bxd5 hxg5 26.hxg5+ Kg7 27.Be4 Rh8 28.Rxh8 Kxh8 29.Ke2 Kg7 30.Rh1 Bb7 31.Rh7+ Kg6 32.f4 Bxe4 33.dxe4 d3+ 34.cxd3 Nd4+ 35.Ke3 cxb3 36.axb3 Nxb3 37.Rh6+ Kg7 38.Nh5+ Kg8 39.f5 exf5 40.exf5 Rb7 41.Nf6+ Kf8 42.Rh8+ Ke7 43.Ne4

43...Rb6 44.d4 Nxd4 45.Kxd4 b4 46.Kd5 b3 47.f6+ Kd7 48.Nc5+ Kc7 49.Nxb3 1–0

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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 | Photo: Petr Vrabec

Round 5 results

Standings

All games

Links

• Official site
• Two Knights Talk: Who will win in Prague?
• Robson beats Deac in exciting playoff, wins Prague Masters (2023)
• Harikrishna and Keymer clinch Prague Festival titles (2022)
• Shankland wins Prague Masters after dramatic final round (2021)
• Alireza Firouzja wins Prague Masters in blitz playoff (2020)
• Vitiugov victorious in Prague Masters (2019)