R Praggnanandhaa Held Again, 25-Year-Old Indian Chess Star Makes Waves In Prague Masters

Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa played out a second straight draw against Turkey's Gurel Ediz while Aravindh Chithambaram crashed through the defences of Germany's Vincent Keymer in the second round of the Prague Masters here. Chithambaram, who has been knocking hard on the doors of elite circles, scored his first victory with black pieces after squeezing himself out of danger zone in his first-round game against Czech Grandmaster Nguyen Thai Dai Van. The Indian was involved in the sole decisive game of the day in the 10-players round-robin format, while the other matches ended in draws.

Dai Van drew his second game on the trot with Sam Shankland of the United States, top seeded Wei Yi from China opened his account after splitting the point with Dutchman Anish Giri, and Quang Leim Le of Vietnam achieved the same result against Navara David from Czech Republic.

With seven rounds to go, Chithambaram joined Shankland in lead on 1.5 points out of two games. They are followed by Giri, Le, Dai Van, David, Keymer and Praggnanandhaa.

Ediz and Wei Yi share the last spot on a half point apiece from their two games.

On a day when world champion Boris Spassky breathed his last, Chithambaram's victory had traits of the Russian's style of play to go for the kill at the first opportunity and not let it slip.

The Queen's gambit accepted may have a solid reputation with black pieces but the young Indian cavalry is all out to breakout of that stereotype.

How else could one explain Chithambaram's choice of move order that gave white the luxury of a dynamic centre? It was an inch-by-inch invasion that won Chithambaram a pawn in the middle game and the trade of queens was later forced by the Indian to harp on the better possibilities for his troupe.

Chithambaram was quite unstoppable as he kept increasing the pressure till Keymer walked in to a lost rook and pawns endgame — it took 45 moves in all.

Praggnanandhaa has shown his ability to play all openings with either colour and his choice of French defence turned out to be a good one guaranteeing an equal game.

The lone problem was to make something out of an equal position and the 16-year old Turk proved why he is hailed as one of the brightest among young Europeans, as he gave a little away.

The players signed the peace on move 46 when it was evident the rook endgame did not offer chances for either of them.

In the challengers' section which is being held simultaneously, Divya Deshmukh broke out of her shackles to score an impressive victory over Richard Stalmach of Czech Republic.

The adage about the King being a strong piece in the endgame came right for Divya, even though her position oscillated between better and winning.

In the end, Divya had two connected passed pawns in the middle of the board, well aided by her marching king. The game lasted 50 moves.

Results (round 2): Vincent Keymer (GER, 1) lost to Aravindh Chithambaram (IND, 1.5); Wei Yi (CHN, 0.5) drew with Anish Giri (Ned, 1); Nguyen Thai Dai Van (CZE, 1) drew with Sam Shankland (USA, 1.5); Gurel Ediz (TUR, 0.5) drew with R Praggnanandhaa (IND, 1); David Navara (CZE, 1) drew with Le Quang Leim (VIE, 1).

Challengers: Vaclav Finek (CZE, 1) drew with Ma Qun (CHN, 1); Marc`andria Maurizzi (FRA, 0.5) drew with Nodirbek Yakubboev (UZB, 1.5); Divya Deshmukh (IND, 1) beat Richard Stalmach (CZE, 0.5); Jonas Buhl Bjerre (DEN, 1.5) drew with Ivan Salgado Lopez (ESP, 1.5); Jachym Nemec (CZE, 0.5) drew with Stamatis Kourkoulous-Arditis (GER, 0.5). PTI COR DDV

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