Prague, Round 7: Robson takes the lead

by Johannes Fischer
6/29/2023 – In the top match of the seventh round of the Masters at the Prague Chess Festival Ray Robson (pictured) beat Vincent Keymer and with this victory the American took the sole lead with 4.5 out of 7. The other four games ended in draws. In the Challengers, a draw against Jergus Pechac was enough for Benjamin Gledura to defend his sole lead. | Photo: Anezka Kruzikova
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Round 7

Vincent Keymer had a black day in round 7 of the Prague Chess Festival and suffered his first defeat of the tournament. Playing black against American grandmaster Ray Robson, he quickly ran into tactical problems after an inaccuracy in the Catalan. When the complications were over, Keymer was two pawns down and Robson slowly but surely converted his advantage.

With this win Robson took over the sole lead in the table. With 4.5 out of 7, he is half a point ahead of Bogdan-Daniel Deac, who is in sole second place with 4 out of 7. Behind him, no less than six players share places 3 to 8 with 3.5 out of 7 each.

Results - Round 7

Standings after 7 rounds

Games

Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam, editor-in-chief of the renowned chess magazine "New in Chess", plays the first move at the board of Boris Gelfand and Thai Dai Van Nguyen. With Gelfand it is usually 1.d4. | Photo: Petr Vrabec

Main arbiter Pavel Votruba and Dirk Jan ten Geuzendam look on as Tournament Director Petr Boleslav (right) awards the prize for the best game of round 6 before the start of round 7. The prize went to Vaclac Finek. | Photo: Petr Vrabec

Vaclav Finek | Photo: Petr Vrabec

Challengers: Gledura defends sole lead

In the Challengers, a draw with Black against Jergus Pechac was enough for leader Benjamin Gledura to defend his sole lead in the standings. With two rounds to go, Gledura is alone at the top with 5 out of 7, half a point ahead of Mateusz Bartel and Alexander Motylev.

Czech IM Jan Vykouk and Dutch GM Erwin L'Ami, who won a theoretically interesting game against Czech IM Richard Stalmach in round 7, follow in 4th and 5th place with 4 points each from 7 games.

Focused and theoretically very well versed: Erwin L'Ami | Photo: Petr Vrabec

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Results - Round 7

Standings after 7 rounds

Games

Tournament page

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".