Prague, Round 7: Robson takes the lead

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.

Robson, Ray2689

1–0

Keymer, Vincent2690

Prague Festival Masters 2023 28.06.2023[Johannes Fischer]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Be7 6.Bg2 0-0 7.0-0 c6 8.Qc2 Nbd7 9.Bf4 b6 10.Rd1 Bb7 11.Ne5 Nh5 12.Bd2 Nhf6 13.cxd5 cxd5 14.Nc6 Bxc6 15.Qxc6 Rc8 16.Qb5 Ne8 17.Qa6

17...Rc4!? This seems to be a new move. 18.e4 Nc7 19.Qxa7 Nb5 20.Qa6 Nxd4 21.exd5

21...b5? After this move Black is in serious trouble and soon lands in a lost endgame. The engines like 21...exd5 better, e.g. 22.Bxd5 Rc5 23.Nc3 Nc2 24.Be4 Nxa1 25.Be3 Rxc3 26.bxc3 Nc5 27.Qe2 Qc8 with a slight advantage for White. 22.Ba5 Qe8 23.Bf1 Nc2 24.Bxc4 bxc4 25.dxe6 Nc5 26.Qxc4 Nxa1 27.Nd2 Nxe6 28.Rxa1 The complications are over and White is two pawns up. Though Keymer offers stubborn resistance, Robson has no trouble to win the game. Qa8 29.Bc3 Rd8 30.Qe4 Qa7 31.Nf3 Bc5 32.Qe2 h6 33.a4 Rb8 34.a5 Bb4 35.Bxb4 Rxb4 36.a6 Rb3 37.Ra3 Rxa3 38.bxa3 Qb6 39.Qc4 Qa5 40.Qc8+ Kh7 41.Qb7 Nc5 42.Qxf7 Nxa6 43.Qb3 Kh8 44.h4 Qf5 45.Kg2 Qe4 46.Qb6 Qa4 47.Qd8+ Kh7 48.Qd3+ Kg8 49.Ne5 Qa5 50.Ng6 Nc7 51.Ne7+ Kf7 52.Qd7 Kf8 53.Ng6+ Kg8 54.Qd8+ Kf7 55.Nh8+ 1–0

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.

L'Ami, Erwin2645

1–0

Stalmach, Richard2436

Prague Festival Challengers 2023 28.06.2023[Johannes Fischer]

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.g3 Bb7 5.Bg2 Be7 6.0-0 0-0 7.Nc3 Ne4 8.Bd2 d5 9.cxd5 exd5 10.Ne5 Nd7 11.Rc1 c5 12.Nxd7 Qxd7 13.dxc5 Bxc5

14.Bxe4!? An interesting decision. White gives up his white-squared bishop that covers the white squares around his king to weaken Black's pawns. dxe4 15.Be3 Qh3 16.Bxc5 bxc5 17.Qd6 Rae8 18.Nd5 Bxd5 19.Qxd5 Re6 20.Qd7 The white king seems to be in danger, but White can parry all attacking attempts by Black and eventually gets a better endgame. Qh5 21.e3 Rh6 22.h4 Rg6 23.Qe7 Qf3 24.Qe5 f5 25.Qf4 Qxf4 26.exf4 Rd8 27.Rxc5 e3 28.Kg2 Rd2 29.Rxf5 Rxb2 30.Re5 exf2 31.Ra5 a6 32.Rxf2 White is a pawn up, but in rook endings this is often not enough to win. However, Black is under pressure and in the game he did not find an adequate defense. Rb5 33.Ra3 h5 34.Re2 Rc6 35.Re8+ Kf7 36.Ra8 Rbb6 37.Kf3 g6 38.Ra7+ Kf6 39.g4 hxg4+ 40.Kxg4 Rd6 41.Ra5 Rdc6 42.h5 gxh5+ 43.Rxh5 Ke6 44.a4 Black resigned. He will lose the a-pawn. 1–0

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

_REPLACE_BY_ADV_1

Results - Round 7

Standings after 7 rounds

Games

Tournament page