Finek still a full point ahead
Round seven of the Challengers tournament at the Prague International Chess Festival saw the return of decisive action after a quieter sixth round, with three of the five games ending in wins. With two rounds remaining, Vaclav Finek continues to lead the standings by a full point.
The 16-year-old Czech IM faced top seed Benjamin Gledura with the white pieces in what became the longest game of the day by a wide margin. By move 28 the position had simplified into an endgame with rook and knight for each side, in which Finek held an extra pawn (six against five).
Engines considered the position balanced, but as the game progressed, Gledura's experience began to show. The Hungarian gradually improved his coordination and managed to create serious practical problems for his opponent.
By move 46, Gledura's queenside passer had become so dangerous that Finek was forced to sacrifice his knight in order to stop it.
In return, White obtained two additional pawns, though both were doubled on the f-file. Further exchanges eventually led to a theoretical rook and knight versus rook endgame. Despite the known drawing nature of the position, Gledura continued to press for a win for more than forty moves, attempting to convert his extra piece from move 91 onwards.
In this video course, GM Surya Ganguly joins IM Sagar Shah and drawing from his colossal experience, shares some uncommon endgame wisdom. The material mostly features positions with rook against rook and a pawn, and starts by covering the fundamentals.Only on move 134 did the players finally agree to a draw.
Vaclav Finek | Photo: Petr Vrabec / Prague Chess Festival
Two players had started the round sharing second place, a point behind Finek: Thomas Beerdsen and Stepan Hrbek. Coincidentally, both suffered defeats on Wednesday, and the players who beat them moved into their places in the standings.
Daniil Yuffa defeated Beerdsen in a sharp struggle (see game with annotations below), while Jachym Nemec obtained a technical victory against Hrbek after gradually outplaying his compatriot in a strategically favourable position. The results lifted Yuffa and Nemec into joint second place, each trailing the leader by a single point.
The remaining decisive game saw Surya Shekhar Ganguly claim his first victory of the tournament by beating Zhu Jiner.
Surya Shekhar Ganguly | Photo: Petr Vrabec / Prague Chess Festival
Beerdsen 0-1 Yuffa
Doesn’t every chess game get decided by mistakes? Absolutely. But most players never truly comprehend that they are making the same kind of mistakes over and over again.
Daniil Yuffa | Photo: Petr Vrabec / Prague Chess Festival
Round 7 results
Standings after round 7
All games
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