Prague Masters 2024 R1: Praggnanandhaa makes a scintillating start
R Praggnanandhaa scored a fantastic victory over Vincent Keymer in the first round of Prague International Chess Festival 2024 Masters. The world no.13 made a thematic knight sacrifice in the Italian opening against the Germany no.1. The exposed kingside is not practically easy to defend. Keymer eventually faltered and his opponent seized his advantage. D Gukesh had a small opportunity to avoid the trade of queens against Richard Rapport (ROU). It would have allowed him to maintain pressure on his opponent's kingside. Rapport managed to alleviate the attacking chances by exchanging queens. Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) and Parham Maghsoodloo (IRI) are the only two other victors in the Masters section. It will be Parham vs Praggnanandhaa, Thai Dai Van Nguyen (CZE) vs Gukesh and Vidit vs Abdusattorov in Round 2. The second round for Masters, Challengers and Futures start today at 3 p.m. local time, 7:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival
Aansh Nerurkar scores a win
The four-time Ukraine champion, GM Anton Korobov scored the sole win in the Challengers section against GM R Vaishali. Aansh Nandan Nerurkar scored a victory against Aayansh R Guntaka (USA) in the Futures section.
Praggnanandhaa - Keymer: 1-0
R Praggnanandhaa (2747) has never lost a Classical rated game against Vincent Keymer (GER, 2738). That statistic remained unchanged yesterday. Their last Classical encounter was a little over a year ago. It ended in a draw.
White made a thematic knight sacrifice 13.Nxg5 hxg5 14.Bxg5 Kh7 15.Qf3 Kg6 it is better to defend it like this as it attacks the bishop and delays White's development of his queenside pieces momentarily.
A absolute pinned pawn at g4, doing a double attack/fork on two pieces and one of them is also in an absolute pin is not something you see every day in a tournament game. The game continued 26...dxc3 27.bxc3 Nxe5 28.g5+ Qxg5 29.Bxg5+ Rxg5+ 30.Kh2 Ng6 31.Qxg5+ White does not need to keep his queen and complicate things when it can simplify and win material in the process too. 31...Kxg5 32.Rxe8 and White won the game in the next few moves.
Gukesh - Rapport: 0.5-0.5
D Gukesh (2743) faced Richard Rapport (ROU, 2717) only once in a Classical rated game at Tata Steel in 2023. It ended in a draw. This time also the result was same. However, he had an opportunity to press on his advantage.
30.Ka1 avoiding the queen exchange would have been the best choice for White to continue his attack on the kingside. Instead, 30.Qxd3 Qc2+ 31.Ka1 Qxd3 32.Rxd3 neutralized White's attacking chances and the game soon ended in a draw.
Schedule
The Round-Robin tournaments will take place from 27th February to 7th March 2024. Every day except the last round, games will start at 3 p.m. local time, 7:30 p.m. IST. Sunday 3rd March is a rest day. The ninth round game on 7th March will start at 11 a.m. local time, 3:30 p.m. IST.
Replay Round 1 Masters games
Replay Round 1 Challengers games
Replay Round 1 Futures games
Round 1 Masters results
Standings after Round 1
Round 2 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | PGN | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | 2667 | GM | Navara David | GM | Keymer Vincent | 2738 | 6 | ||||
| 2 | 7 | 2715 | GM | Maghsoodloo Parham | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | 2747 | 5 | ||||
| 3 | 8 | 2717 | GM | Rapport Richard | GM | Bartel Mateusz | 2660 | 4 | ||||
| 4 | 9 | 2630 | GM | Nguyen Thai Dai Van | GM | Gukesh D | 2743 | 3 | ||||
| 5 | 1 | 2747 | GM | Vidit Santosh Gujrathi | GM | Abdusattorov Nodirbek | 2744 | 2 |
Round 1 Challengers results
Standings after Round 1
Round 2 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | PGN | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | 2560 | IM | Gurel Ediz | IM | Vaishali Rameshbabu | 2481 | 6 | ||||
| 2 | 7 | 2426 | IM | Hrbek Stepan | GM | Korobov Anton | 2666 | 5 | ||||
| 3 | 8 | 2434 | IM | Stalmach Richard | GM | Santos Latasa Jaime | 2612 | 4 | ||||
| 4 | 9 | 2636 | GM | L'ami Erwin | IM | Finek Vaclav | 2429 | 3 | ||||
| 5 | 1 | 2627 | GM | Mishra Abhimanyu | GM | Rodshtein Maxim | 2590 | 2 |
Round 1 Futures results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | PGN | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 1822 | Peglau Paul David | ½ - ½ | Siskou Evangelia | 1745 | 10 | PGN | ||||
| 2 | 2 | 1915 | Andre Tomas | ½ - ½ | Brzezina Pawel | 1914 | 9 | PGN | ||||
| 3 | 3 | 1738 | Jakubse Tamae Severina | 1 - 0 | Stara Zuzana | 1678 | 8 | PGN | ||||
| 4 | 4 | 1724 | Markina Sofiia | 1 - 0 | Mrozowski Nikodem | 1636 | 7 | PGN | ||||
| 5 | 5 | 1786 | Aansh Nandan Nerurkar | 1 - 0 | Guntaka Aayansh R | 1767 | 6 | PGN |
Standings after Round 1
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | Jakubse Tamae Severina | CZE | 1738 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 | ||
| 4 | Markina Sofiia | CZE | 1724 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 | |||
| 5 | Aansh Nandan Nerurkar | IND | 1786 | 1 | 0 | 0,00 | 0 | |||
| 4 | 9 | Brzezina Pawel | POL | 1914 | 0,5 | 0 | 0,25 | 1 | ||
| 10 | Siskou Evangelia | GRE | 1745 | 0,5 | 0 | 0,25 | 1 | |||
| 6 | 1 | Peglau Paul David | GER | 1822 | 0,5 | 0 | 0,25 | 0 | ||
| 2 | Andre Tomas | SVK | 1915 | 0,5 | 0 | 0,25 | 0 | |||
| 8 | 6 | Guntaka Aayansh R | USA | 1767 | 0 | 0 | 0,00 | 1 | ||
| 7 | Mrozowski Nikodem | POL | 1636 | 0 | 0 | 0,00 | 1 | |||
| 8 | Stara Zuzana | CZE | 1678 | 0 | 0 | 0,00 | 1 |
Round 2 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | Name | Result | Name | Rtg | No. | PGN | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | 1745 | Siskou Evangelia | Guntaka Aayansh R | 1767 | 6 | ||||||
| 2 | 7 | 1636 | Mrozowski Nikodem | Aansh Nandan Nerurkar | 1786 | 5 | ||||||
| 3 | 8 | 1678 | Stara Zuzana | Markina Sofiia | 1724 | 4 | ||||||
| 4 | 9 | 1914 | Brzezina Pawel | Jakubse Tamae Severina | 1738 | 3 | ||||||
| 5 | 1 | 1822 | Peglau Paul David | Andre Tomas | 1915 | 2 |
Time Control
The time control is 90'/40 moves + 30'/end & 30"/move.
Links
Tournament Regulations: Masters, Challengers and Open
Prague Chess Festival: fb. twitter, instagram and youtube
