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Will Harikrishna win Prague Masters for the second year in-a-row?

by Shahid Ahmed - 30/06/2023

Pentala Harikrishna scored a crucial win in the penultimate round of 5th Prague International Chess Festival 2023 Masters. He defeated Hao Wang for the first time in nearly six years in a rated game. The China no.3 went wrong in the endgame, Harikrishna being an expert in that phase, had no trouble seizing his opportunity and scoring his first win of the event. He is now just a half point behind the leaders Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU) and Ray Robson (USA) at 5/8 each. The Romanian defeated Thai Dai Van Nguyen to join the lead with Robson. In the Karel Janeček Open, GM Deep Sengupta won against IM Mai Narva (EST) to join the lead with GM Tomas Polak (CZE) and IM Jakub Fus (POL). Deep will face the top seed GM Vojtech Plat (CZE) in the final round. Round 9 Masters, Challengers and Open starts today at 11 a.m. local time, 2:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival

Deep in a three-way lead 7/8

GM Deep must win the last round and hope the top board result works out in his favor to win the tournament, as he does not have the best tie-break scores among the leaders. Seven players including IM Anwesh Upadhyaya is at 6.5/8. He is followed by GM Mitrabha Guha, FM Sharan Rao and IM Ameya Audi at 6/8 each.

GM Pentala Harikrishna has an outside chance to defend his Prague Masters title | Photo: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival

Masters: Harikrishna - Hao: 1-0

The only time Pentala Harikrishna (2704) defeated Hao Wang (CHN, 2722) in a Classical rated game was back in 2005, almost 18 years ago. The last time Harikrishna won against Hao was in February 2016 in a rated Blitz game. It was time for him to get that statistics in his favor.

Position after 36...h5

Harikrishna's strong suit is endgame. One cannot afford to make a tiny bit of inaccuracy. Black played the inoccuous 36...h5 37.fxg5 Bxg5 38.h4 Re3 39.Rb2 Bf6 40.Rbc2 Kg6 41.Bf3 Re6 42.Rd2 Rae5 43.Rc8 Ra5 44.Rd7 White sacrificed to attack on Black's vulnerable king Rxa4 45.Rg8+ Kh6 46.Bxh5 Rd4 47.Rf7 Rdd6 48.Kh3 and White won. 

Pentala Harikrishna signing a memorabilia | Photo: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival

Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU) defeated Thai Dai Van (CZE) to get back in the lead | Photo: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival

David Navara (CZE) - Ray Robson (USA): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival

Ray Robson (USA) won Game of the Round 7 prize for his win against Vincent Keymer (GER) | Photo: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival

Ceremonial first move of Round 8 was made on Harikrishna-Hao's board | Photo: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival

Deep - Mai

Position after 45.c5

45.c5 created two split pawns on c and e-file for White. GM Deep Sengupta (2473) converted his advantage comfortably against IM Mai Narva (EST, 2387) to win the game and become one of the three leaders 7/8 heading into the final round.

GM Deep Sengupta 7/8 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Schedule

The Round-Robin tournaments will take place from 21st to 30th June 2023. Every day except the last round, games will start at 3 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST). Monday 26th June is a rest day. The ninth round game on 30th June will start at 11 a.m. local time, 2:30 p.m. IST.

Replay live stream

5th Prague International Chess Festival 2023 Round 8 Master and Challengers live commentary by IM Lawrence Trent (ENG) and WIM Natacha Benmesbah (FRA) | Video: Prague International Chess Festival

Replay Round 8 Masters games

Replay Round 8 Challengers games

Replay Round 8 Open games

Masters Round 8 results

Bo.No.Rtg NameResultName RtgNo.PGN
1102704
GMHARIKRISHNA Pentala1 - 0GMWANG Hao
27229PGN
212653
GMNGUYEN Thai Dai Van0 - 1GMDEAC Bogdan-Daniel
26938PGN
322690
GMKEYMER Vincent½ - ½GMGELFAND Boris
26687PGN
432689
GMNAVARA David½ - ½GMROBSON Ray
26896PGN
542711
GMSHANKLAND Sam½ - ½GMMARTIROSYAN Haik M.
26855PGN

Details

Standings after Round 8

Rk.SNo NameFEDRtgPts. TB1  TB2  TB3 
18
GMDEAC Bogdan-DanielROU26935119,505
26
GMROBSON RayUSA26895018,255
310
GMHARIKRISHNA PentalaIND27044,5017,504
43
GMNAVARA DavidCZE268941,516,503
55
GMMARTIROSYAN Haik M.ARM268541,515,504
64
GMSHANKLAND SamUSA271141,515,503
72
GMKEYMER VincentGER269041,514,753
89
GMWANG HaoCHN27223,5013,505
97
GMGELFAND BorisISR266830,512,255
101
GMNGUYEN Thai Dai VanCZE265330,512,253

Details

Round 9 pairings

Bo.No.Rtg NameResultName RtgNo.PGN
152685
GMMARTIROSYAN Haik M.GMHARIKRISHNA Pentala
270410
262689
GMROBSON RayGMSHANKLAND Sam
27114
372668
GMGELFAND BorisGMNAVARA David
26893
482693
GMDEAC Bogdan-DanielGMKEYMER Vincent
26902
592722
GMWANG HaoGMNGUYEN Thai Dai Van
26531

Details

Challengers Round 8 results

Bo.No.Rtg NameResultName RtgNo.PGN
1102645
GMGLEDURA Benjamin0 - 1GMPULTINEVICIUS Paulius
25309PGN
212609
GMBARTEL Mateusz1 - 0GMAKASH G
24838PGN
322436
IMSTALMACH Richard1 - 0IMVYKOUK Jan
24677PGN
432409
FMFINEK Vaclav1 - 0GML'AMI Erwin
26456PGN
542611
GMPECHAC Jergus½ - ½GMMOTYLEV Alexander
25975PGN

Details

Standings after Round 8

Rk.SNo NameFEDRtgPts. TB1  TB2  TB3 
11
GMBARTEL MateuszPOL26095,5018,753
25
GMMOTYLEV AlexanderROU25975018,254
10
GMGLEDURA BenjaminHUN26455018,254
49
GMPULTINEVICIUS PauliusLTU25305017,755
57
IMVYKOUK JanCZE24674115,005
66
GML'AMI ErwinNED26454014,755
73
FMFINEK VaclavCZE24093,5111,503
84
GMPECHAC JergusSVK26113,5013,503
92
IMSTALMACH RichardCZE24363012,503
108
GMAKASH GIND24831,506,755

Details

Round 9 pairings

Bo.No.Rtg NameResultName RtgNo.PGN
152597
GMMOTYLEV AlexanderGMGLEDURA Benjamin
264510
262645
GML'AMI ErwinGMPECHAC Jergus
26114
372467
IMVYKOUK JanFMFINEK Vaclav
24093
482483
GMAKASH GIMSTALMACH Richard
24362
592530
GMPULTINEVICIUS PauliusGMBARTEL Mateusz
26091

Details

Round 8 Open results

Bo.No. NameFEDRtgPts.ResultPts.NameFEDRtg No.PGN
113
IMFus, JakubPOL2426½ - ½6Psyk, RadoslawPOL2417
16PGN
23
GMPolak, TomasCZE250361 - 0IMOzenir, Ekin BarisTUR2374
32PGN
37
GMSengupta, DeepIND247361 - 06IMNarva, MaiEST2387
30PGN
422
IMGrabinsky, AaronUSA24070 - 1GMPlat, VojtechCZE2516
1PGN
523
GMJurcik, MarianSVK24051 - 0IMKosakowski, JakubPOL2485
4PGN
637
IMAnwesh, UpadhyayaIND23531 - 0IMAdair, James RENG2442
10PGN
717
IMBaenziger, FabianSUI24141 - 0IMTsolakidou, StavroulaGRE2373
34PGN
833
FMDeuer, MariusGER23741 - 0IMHeimisson, Hilmir FreyrISL2413
18PGN
969
FMAntova, GabrielaBUL2259½ - ½FMPeyrer, KonstantinAUT2411
20PGN
102
GMMitrabha, GuhaIND250751 - 0CMPanek, BartoszPOL2188
103PGN

Details

Standings after Round 8

Rk.SNo NamesexFEDRtgClub/CityPts. TB1  TB2  TB3 Krtg+/-
13
GMPolak, TomasCZE2503Sachovy klub Moravska Slavia739,54438,50109,7
213
IMFus, JakubPOL2426Polska73740,533,501015,7
37
GMSengupta, DeepIND24737364035,00109,7
41
GMPlat, VojtechCZE2516SK JOLY Lysa nad Labem, z.s.6,540,54434,50104
516
Psyk, RadoslawPOL24176,539,543,533,501011,3
632
IMOzenir, Ekin BarisTUR23746,539,542,532,001019,3
733
FMDeuer, MariusGER2374Schoenaich6,535,53931,502029
823
GMJurcik, MarianSVK24056,53437,530,50107
917
IMBaenziger, FabianSUI24146,5323528,50103,4
1037
IMAnwesh, UpadhyayaIND23536,5303326,75107,1
112
GMMitrabha, GuhaIND2507637,54129,7510-4,8
1269
FMAntova, GabrielawBUL2259637,54129,252043,4
138
IMSokolovsky, YahliISR2464Beer sheva637,54128,75101,9
1445
FMPasti, AronHUN2335Banyas SK Ajka637,540,528,001016,6
1528
FMAgdelen, Huseyin CanTUR2391Turkiye63740,529,25100,5
1636
FMDomalchuk-Jonasson, AleksandrISL2359TR63740,527,752019
1730
IMNarva, MaiwEST2387636,54028,25104,4
1876
FMSharan, RaoIND2248Rao's Chess Corner636,539,528,252054
1929
FMYaniv, YuvalISR23906364028,00205,4
2026
IMAudi, AmeyaIND239363639,527,00101,7

Details

Round 9 pairings

Bo.No. NameFEDRtgPts.ResultPts.NameFEDRtg No.
113
IMFus, JakubPOL242677GMPolak, TomasCZE2503
3
21
GMPlat, VojtechCZE25167GMSengupta, DeepIND2473
7
316
Psyk, RadoslawPOL2417FMDeuer, MariusGER2374
33
432
IMOzenir, Ekin BarisTUR2374IMBaenziger, FabianSUI2414
17
537
IMAnwesh, UpadhyayaIND2353GMJurcik, MarianSVK2405
23
629
FMYaniv, YuvalISR239066GMMitrabha, GuhaIND2507
2
78
IMSokolovsky, YahliISR246466FMSharan, RaoIND2248
76
830
IMNarva, MaiEST238766GMPetrov, MarianBUL2454
9
920
FMPeyrer, KonstantinAUT241166FMPasti, AronHUN2335
45
1026
IMAudi, AmeyaIND239366CMCarreto Nieto, GiovanniMEX2182
106

Details

Time Control

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

Links

Official site

Tournament Regulations: Masters, Challengers and Open

Prague Chess Festival: fbtwitter, instagram and youtube



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