Who will win in Prague?

Prague Chess Festival, Round 8

Masters

Romanian Grandmaster Bogdan-Daniel Deac was the winner of round 8. He scored a convincing win with Black against Thai Dai Van Nguyen to catch up with leader Ray Robson, who drew against David Navara.

The second win of the day came from Pentala Harikrishna against Wang Hao. Harikrishna is now only half a point behind the two leaders Deac and Robson before the last round.

Pentala Harikrishna | Photo: Petr Vrabec

Wang Hao | Photo: Petr Vrabec

The other three games of the round all ended in draws.

So theoretically - if Deac and Robson both lose in the ninth and final round, and Harikrishna doesn't win - no fewer than seven players still have a chance of taking sole or joint first place.

This year marks the 5th anniversary of the Prague Chess Festival and each of the previous winners of the Masters not only won prize money and prestige, but were also honoured with a portrait by the Czech painter and sculptor Ladislav Vlna. Vlna's portraits, however, are not classical paintings on canvas, but made of welded steel.

At the premiere of the Prague Chess Festival 2019, the winner was Nikita Vitiugov, who became Russian Champion in 2021, but has been living in Spain since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Nikita Vitiugov | Picture: Ladislav Vlna | Photo: Claudia Mätzold

The Prague Chess Festival 2020 was won by Alireza Firouzja, currently the world number two according to the June 2023 FIDE World Ranking List.

Alireza Firouzja | Picture: Ladislav Vlna | Photo: Claudia Mätzold

The 2021 Masters was won by American grandmaster Sam Shankland. Shankland, like Pentala Harikrishna, has played in all five Masters tournaments in Prague.

Sam Shankland | Picture: Ladislav Vlna | Photo: Claudia Mätzold

The winner of the 2022 Masters is Pentala Harikrishna. He was born in 1986 in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh in India, but has been living in Prague with his wife, the Serbian Nadezda Stojanovic, since 2018. With a little luck, Harikrishna could repeat his 2022 success this year and become the first player to win the Prague Chess Festival twice in a row.

Pentala Harikrishna | Picture: Ladislav Vlna | Photo: Claudia Mätzold

Round 8 results

Standings after 8 rounds

Games

Challengers: Mateusz Bartel takes the lead

In the Challengers, there was a change at the top of the table: Hungarian GM Benjamin Gledura, who had been leading for a long time, lost to GM Paulius Pultinevicius from Lithuania in round 8, and Polish grandmaster Mateusz Bartel took advantage of this to take the lead.

In his game against Pultinevicius, Gledura was not greedy enough at the crucial moment:

Bartel, on the other hand, managed a convincing attacking win against the Indian GM Akash:

This puts Bartel half a point ahead of Gledura and Alexander Motylev going into the final round. In the final round, Bartel will play Pultinevicius with Black, while Gledura will play Motylev with Black. So everything is still up for grabs in the Challengers.

Round 8 results

Standings after 8 rounds

Games

A special tournament in Prague is the so-called Futures. Here young talents compete against each other and play alongside the participants of the Masters and Challenger to gain experience for later top tournaments.

The development of 13-year-old Czech FM Vaclav Finek shows how successful this concept can be. In 2020 he won the Futures, three years later he entered the Challengers where he did more than respectably and is ranked 7th to 8th after 8 rounds with 3.5 out of 8.

In 2023, 13-year-old Polish FM Patrik Cieslak, U12 European Champion 2022, has the best chance of winning the tournament. He leads with 3 out of 4 after four of five rounds.

Patryk Cieslak | Photo: Petr Vrabec

An Open is also an integral part of the Prague Chess Festival. The winner qualifies for next year's Challengers. In this year's Open, three players are in the lead, with 7 out of 8 going into the final round.

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And so excitement is guaranteed in all four tournaments of the Prague Chess Festival before the final round, which starts at 11 am local time on 30 June.

Tournament page