Harikrishna or Liem - Who will win Prague Chess Masters 2022?

by Shahid Ahmed - 17/06/2022

Pentala Harikrishna scored an important victory in the penultimate round against the UAE no.1 Salem Saleh. This win put him in the championship contention with Liem Quang Le. Both of them are now at 5.5/8. It all comes down to the final round and how each of them fare. Harikrishna will face Spain no.2 David Anton Guijarro and Liem will go against Spain no.1 Francisco Vallejo Pons. Harikrishna also moved to India no.2 and World no.27 once again in the live ratings. Final Round 9 starts today at 11 a.m. local time (2:30 p.m. IST). It will be either Harikrishna or Liem who will win the Prague Chess Festival 2022 Masters. Photo: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival

Harikrishna climbs to India #2 and World #27

Vidit Gujrathi's search for the first win of the event continues as he made seventh consecutive draw. He is now at 3.5/8. Meanwhile, Sasikiran is at 50% score 4/8 at fourth place currently.

Harikrishna had a well contested draw with Liem | Photo: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival

Masters Round 8: Salem - Harikrishna: 0-1

Pentala Harikrishna (2701) scored a very nice win against the UAE no.1 Salem Saleh (2679).

Position after 17...Nxc5

White should have retreated his rook to a3. Instead, he stayed true to his style and opted for 17.Re1. Harikrishna played the precise move 17...Nxc5 clearing up the seventh rank, so that 18.Bd6 is met by Ra7. Even 17...bxa4 would have also been winning for Black, 17...Nxc5 is more definitive.

Harikrishna beats Salem with cool defence | Video: ChessBase India

Challengers Round 8: Sasikiran - Abdusattorov: 0.5-0.5

Krishnan Sasikiran (2635) had a solitary opportunity against the regining World Rapid champion, Uzbekistan no.2 Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2661).

Position after 26...b5

27.Nxb5 Bxb5 28.cxb5 keeps White's chances. However, the game continued 27.Re7 bxc4 28.Bxc4 and the game eventually ended in a draw.

Prague International Chess Festival 2022 Masters Round 7 Live Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Prague International Chess Festival 2022 Masters Round 8 Live Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Replay Round 7-8 Masters games

Replay Round 7-8 Challengers games

Schedule

The Round-Robin tournament will take place from 8th to 17th June 2022. Every day except the last round, games will start at 3 p.m. local time (6:30 p.m. IST). Sunday 12th June is a rest day. The ninth round game on 17th June will start at 11 a.m. local time (2:30 p.m. IST).

Masters Round 8 results

Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.
1	10	2692	GM	Anton Guijarro David	½ - ½	GM	Maghsoodloo Parham	2716	9
2	1	2681	GM	Navara David	½ - ½	GM	Shankland Sam	2718	8
3	2	2610	GM	Nguyen Thai Dai Van	½ - ½	GM	Vallejo Pons Francisco	2703	7
4	3	2709	GM	Le Quang Liem	½ - ½	GM	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi	2723	6
5	4	2679	GM	Salem A.R. Saleh	0 - 1	GM	Harikrishna Pentala	2701	5

Round 9 pairings

Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.
1	5	2701	GM	Harikrishna Pentala		GM	Anton Guijarro David	2692	10
2	6	2723	GM	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi		GM	Salem A.R. Saleh	2679	4
3	7	2703	GM	Vallejo Pons Francisco		GM	Le Quang Liem	2709	3
4	8	2718	GM	Shankland Sam		GM	Nguyen Thai Dai Van	2610	2
5	9	2716	GM	Maghsoodloo Parham		GM	Navara David	2681	1

Complete pairings

Standings after Round 8

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	5	GM	Harikrishna Pentala	IND	2701	5,5	0,5	21,00	4
2	3	GM	Le Quang Liem	VIE	2709	5,5	0,5	21,00	3
3	2	GM	Nguyen Thai Dai Van	CZE	2610	4,5	0,0	16,50	3
4	8	GM	Shankland Sam	USA	2718	4,5	0,0	15,75	5
5	1	GM	Navara David	CZE	2681	4,5	0,0	15,50	3
6	7	GM	Vallejo Pons Francisco	ESP	2703	4,0	0,0	14,50	5
7	6	GM	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi	IND	2723	3,5	0,5	14,25	5
8	9	GM	Maghsoodloo Parham	IRI	2716	3,5	0,5	13,00	5
9	4	GM	Salem A.R. Saleh	UAE	2679	2,5	0,0	8,00	3
10	10	GM	Anton Guijarro David	ESP	2692	2,0	0,0	8,50	4

Details

Challengers Round 8 results

Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.
1	10	2564	GM	Hracek Zbynek	0 - 1	GM	Warmerdam Max	2613	9
2	1	2675	GM	Keymer Vincent	½ - ½	GM	Stocek Jiri	2541	8
3	2	2635	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	½ - ½	GM	Abdusattorov Nodirbek	2661	7
4	3	2598	GM	Pechac Jergus	0 - 1	GM	Krzyzanowski Marcin	2535	6
5	4	2678	GM	Niemann Hans Moke	1 - 0	GM	Michalik Peter	2577	5

Round 9 pairings

Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.
1	5	2577	GM	Michalik Peter		GM	Hracek Zbynek	2564	10
2	6	2535	GM	Krzyzanowski Marcin		GM	Niemann Hans Moke	2678	4
3	7	2661	GM	Abdusattorov Nodirbek		GM	Pechac Jergus	2598	3
4	8	2541	GM	Stocek Jiri		GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	2635	2
5	9	2613	GM	Warmerdam Max		GM	Keymer Vincent	2675	1

Complete pairings

Standings after Round 8

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	7	GM	Abdusattorov Nodirbek	UZB	2661	5,5	1,0	20,50	5
2	4	GM	Niemann Hans Moke	USA	2678	5,5	1,0	20,25	3
3	1	GM	Keymer Vincent	GER	2675	5,5	1,0	19,75	3
4	2	GM	Sasikiran Krishnan	IND	2635	4,0	0,5	13,25	3
5	9	GM	Warmerdam Max	NED	2613	4,0	0,5	12,25	5
6	6	GM	Krzyzanowski Marcin	POL	2535	3,5	2,0	14,50	5
7	3	GM	Pechac Jergus	SVK	2598	3,5	1,0	14,25	3
8	8	GM	Stocek Jiri	CZE	2541	3,5	0,0	14,75	5
9	10	GM	Hracek Zbynek	CZE	2564	2,5	0,0	9,75	4
10	5	GM	Michalik Peter	CZE	2577	2,5	0,0	8,75	4

Details

Time Control

The time control is 90'/40 moves + 30'/end & 30"/move.

Links

Official site

Prague Chess Festival: fb. twitter, instagram and youtube

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