What tension, what a surprise: for a long time everything seemed set for an unchanged situation at the top of the standings. With balanced positions, the three leading players headed into their endgames. Jorden van Foreest was playing against Aravindh Chithambaram and the position was equal. But after an incautious knight jump followed by a faulty king move to the h-file, the Indian GM seized the opportunity to take down the Dutchman, who had led the standings for many rounds.
After a modest start, Aravindh Chithambaram has improved greatly in the last rounds, as he defeated former leader Jorden van Foreest in round eight | Photo: Nils Rohde / ChessBase
Almost simultaneously with van Foreest's defeat, Nodirbek Abdusattorov also converted a drawn position into a full point in the clash of direct pursuers against David Navara. Here is the decisive mistake by the Czech player, who had been performing strongly and had already won brilliancy prizes in Prague.
The position was almost equal and the result of a game that had stayed close to the 0.00 evaluation throughout. But Navara became careless, which Abdusattorov immediately exploited. The Prague-born local favourite played 53.g4? after probably underestimating Black's reply 53...Kd5!, and Black was already winning.
The game continued with 54.Rc3 Kd4 55.Rc6 Bc5 and the bishop on c2 was lost. After move 64, Navara resigned, as he could no longer prevent Black's b-pawn from queening.
After a strong tournament, David Navara saw his chances to take the title fade in round eight | Photo: Nils Rohde / ChessBase
The game between elite GMs Gukesh Dommaraju and Vincent Keymer ended in a draw | Photo: Nils Rohde / ChessBase
An exciting game was also played by Gukesh Dommaraju and Vincent Keymer, two players who are probably not entirely satisfied with their tournament so far. The Marshall Gambit led to a complicated middlegame. Keymer – who served as Gukesh's second during his World Championship victory – had to use queen and rook to prevent Gukesh from escorting his advanced passed pawn to promotion with the help of two rooks and knights. In the end, Keymer managed to do so with very careful defence. The draw was agreed on move 47.
Before round eight, Vincent Keymer received the brilliancy prize for his victory over David Anton in the previous round | Photo: Nils Rohde / ChessBase
Hans Niemann facing David Anton | Photo: Nils Rohde / ChessBase
Another player in the Prague Masters field who had reason for dissatisfaction was able to celebrate his first win: Hans Niemann defeated David Anton after showing great chess. Out of an Italian Opening, the American took control with the white pieces and never relinquished it. A key factor was that Niemann managed to use the g-file, which opened around the time control, to launch an attack. The Spaniard found no adequate defence against the assault by rook and queen.
Nodirbek Yakubboev v. Parham Maghsoodloo ended in a draw | Photo: Nils Rohde / ChessBase
The final round will begin earlier than usual, at 11:00 CET. Leader Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who holds a half-point advantage, will face Hans Niemann with the white pieces. Jorden van Foreest will try to regain first place in his game with black against Parham Maghsoodloo.
The remaining pairings: Aravindh Chithambaram v. David Navara, Vincent Keymer v. Nodirbek Yakubboev and David Anton v. Gukesh Dommaraju.
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