Masters: Abdusattorov, Yakubboev and Navara share the lead
The first two rounds of the Prague Chess Festival could have gone better for Hans Niemann. In the opening round, he pushed world champion Gukesh Dommaraju to the brink of defeat with the black pieces, but ultimately had to settle for a draw. In round two, he had a winning position against Aravindh Chithambaram before eventually losing.
With 2 out of 2 he could have been the sole leader, but instead he finds himself at the bottom of the table with ½ points to his name.
In the first part of the video series, we will look at White’s four main moves: 6. Bg5, 6. Be3, 6. Be2 and 6. Bc4.
Aravindh Chithambaram | Photo: Petr Vrabec / Prague Chess Festival
Jorden Van Foreest has also experienced fluctuating fortunes. In round one, he outplayed top seed Vincent Keymer from the opening and reached a winning position, but then faltered in a tactically complex situation - giving Keymer a chance to win with a counterblow. Keymer, however, overlooked this opportunity, and Van Foreest eventually prevailed.
In round two, Van Foreest had the black pieces against David Anton and was less fortunate. Once again he emerged from the opening with a clearly superior position, but he was tactically inaccurate and, this time, there was no reprieve as he lost the game.
The other three games of the round ended quietly in draws. After two rounds, Nodirbek Yakubboev, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and David Navara share the lead with 1½ points each. Following his draw against Navara in round two, Keymer is on ½/2 and shares places eight to ten with Niemann and Parham Maghsoodloo.
Round 2 results
Standings after round 2
All games
Challengers: Favourites struggle, Beerdsen and Hrbek tied for first place
By Stefan Liebig
Five wins with black, one win with white and four draws make up the record of the first two rounds. A further look at the standings shows that this has not been the tournament of the favourites so far: of the five highest-rated players in this ten-player round-robin, Jonas Buhl Bjerre is currently the best placed in fourth position with 1 out of 2. The other four occupy the bottom four places in the table after round two.
The most remarkable result was probably Stepan Hrbek's victory over women's world number two Zhu Jiner. The 20-year-old Czech IM was not unsettled by the Chinese player's relatively rare fourth move. With his second win in his second game, the lowest-seeded player in the field moved to the top of the table, jointly with Thomas Beerdsen. Here is his convincing victory against Zhu.
In this Fritztrainer: “Attack like a Super GM” with Gukesh we touch upon all aspects of his play, with special emphasis on how you can become a better attacking player.
Stepan Hrbek | Photo: Petr Vrabec / Prague Chess Festival
Thomas Beerdsen's defensive performance was also impressive. The Dutchman played against top seed Benjamin Gledura. The Hungarian sacrificed a piece to push his passed d-pawn towards promotion. When Beerdsen carelessly captured the sacrificed knight, Gledura obtained a winning position. However, an inaccurate exchange turned this into a losing position, which Beerdsen converted with confidence.
The third winner in round two was the 16-year-old Czech IM Vaclav Finek. He defeated his compatriot Jachym Nemec, who is only two years older, with the black pieces.
As a result, the two top seeds have already had to concede early setbacks: the 27-year-old Hungarian Gledura, rated 2652, is number one on the starting list ahead of the five-years-younger Jonas Buhl Bjerre, who has a rating of 2629.
Round 2 results
Standings after round 2
All games
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