Prague Chess Festival 2022 Masters R1: Harikrishna beats Vidit

by Shahid Ahmed - 09/06/2022

The battle between India no.3 Pentala Harikrishna and India no.2 Vidit Gujrathi ended in favor of the former. It was an interesting battle where Harikrishna sacrificed pawns for initiative in the first round of Prague International Chess Festival 2022 Masters. Vidit exchanged first a bishop then a rook for four pawns. However, he never got enough compensation for it and eventually lost the game. Sasikiran started his campaign in the Challengers section with a draw against Max Warmerdam (NED). He will face Vincent Keymer (GER) in Round 2. Vidit and Harikrishna will be up against top Spanish players David Anton Guijarro and Francisco Vallejo Pons respectively. Round 2 starts today at 3 p.m. local time (6:30 p.m. IST). Photo: Prague International Chess Festival

Sasikiran draws with Warmerdam

Both Masters and Challengers section had an identical three decisive games and two draws. White won them all.

Harikrishna got the better of Vidit | Photo: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival

Masters: Harikrishna - Vidit: 1-0

Pentala Harikrishna sacrificed two pawns to gain control in the center. Vidit Gujrathi decided to give up his bishop for two central pawns which means he had four pawns for a bishop. Although one of the pawns was a goner.

Position after 16.e5

Black played the obvious 16...Bxe5 17.dxe5 Rxe5. However, after 18.Bc3 instead of Nc6, the better option was 18...Bxb5. The game continued 19.Rd1 Qe7 20.Bxe5 Nxe5 21.0-0 and White went on to win the game. Giving up the entire rook for four pawns was a bit too much as Black did not have enough compensation for it.

Harikrishna vs Vidit | 43 minutes for one move?! | Video: ChessBase India

Prague International Chess Festival 2022 Masters Round 1 Live Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Krishnan Sasikiran drew with Max Warmerdam (NED) | Photo: Vladimir Jagr/Prague International Chess Festival

Inaugural first move is being made on Navara-Anton's board | Photo: Vladimir Jagr/Prague International Chess Festival

The playing arena at Don Giovanni Hotel at Prague, Czech Republic | Photo: Vladimir Jagr/Prague International Chess Festival

Replay Round 1 Masters games

Replay Round 1 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 1 results

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

Round 2 pairings

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

Complete pairings

Challengers Round 1 results

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

Round 2 pairings

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

Complete pairings

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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