Prague Masters 2025 R1: Keymer and Shankland make a winning start

by Shahid Ahmed - 27/02/2025

The seventh edition of Prague International Chess Festival 2025 is off to a great start. Both Masters and Challengers sections witnessed two decisive games each. Vincent Keymer (GER) and Sam Shankland (USA) scored the wins over Wei Yi (CHN) and Ediz Gurel (TUR) respectively. Thai Dai Van Nguyen (CZE) missed a great winning opportunity against Aravindh Chithambaram. The game eventually ended in a draw. R Praggnanandhaa shared the point with David Navara and the former was certainly not happy with the outcome. IM Divya Deshmukh suffered a loss against GM Ivan Salgado Lopez (ESP). The second round for Masters, Challengers and Futures, and Round 1 Open starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 7:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

Thai Dai Van misses a win against Aravindh

All five games of the Future section ended decisively.

Vincent Keymer (GER) continues his great form from Freestyle Grand Slam Stage 1 in Weissenhaus, Germany

Keymer - Wei: 1-0

Vincent Keymer (GER, 2731) and Wei Yi (CHN, 2755) had played two Classical rated games against each other, until today. Both ended in draws. Wei decided to sacrifice an exchange which was quite fine.

Position after 48...Bf5??

Wei Yi needed to find the correct continuation 48...Ra1 49.Rf1 Ra2 50.Rxe4 d2 would have kept the game going. Instead, 48...Bf5?? turned things in White's favor 49.Rf4 d2 50.Bxd2 and White won the game in five more moves.

Vincent Keymer - Wei Yi, Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Vincent Keymer (GER) defeated Wei Yi (CHN) for the first time in a Classical rated game

Aravindh - Thai Dai: 0.5-0.5

Aravindh Chithambaram (2729) faced Thai Dai Van Nguyen (CZE, 2668) for the first time in a Classical rated game. The Czech Republic no.2 was pressing for the better part of the game.

Position after 66.Rc1?

In time trouble, White made an error 66.Rc1? which allowed Black to sacrifice an exchange 66...Rxc3! to gain a decisive advantage. 67.Bxc3 Qxf2+ 68.Kh3 bxc3 69.Qd4 Bc7 70.Rxc3 Qxe2? Instead 70...Bd6 would have been winning for Black. Being low on time, it became difficult for Black to spot the win and the game ended in a draw via perpetual check.

Aravindh Chithambaram - Thai Dai Van Nguyen, Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Thai Dai Van Nguyen (CZE) missed a winning opportunity against Aravindh Chithambaram

Sam Shankland (USA) capitalized on Ediz Gurel's (TUR) tactical mistake

The absolute gentleman of the game, David Navara (CZE) thwarted all attempts by R Praggnanandhaa

Liem Quang Le (VIE) - Anish Giri (NED): 0.5-0.5

Marc` Andria Maurizzi (FRA) was in trouble against Richard Stalmach (CZE)

Tournament Director - Petr Boleslav making announcements

Round 1 in progress

Don't forget to cast your vote for the best game of Round 1. For more Round 1 photos, please click here.

Schedule

The Round-Robin tournaments will take place from 26th February to 7th March 2025. Every day except the last round, games will start at 3 p.m. local time, 7:30 p.m. IST. Monday 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 Live Commentary by IM Sagar Shah and GM Harshit Raja | Video: ChessBase India

Replay Round 1 Masters games

Replay Round 1 Challengers games

Round 1 Masters results

Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.
1	1	2731	GM	KEYMER Vincent	1 - 0	GM	WEI Yi	2755	10
2	2	2729	GM	ARAVINDH Chithambaram Vr.	½ - ½	GM	NGUYEN Thai Dai Van	2668	9
3	3	2670	GM	SHANKLAND Sam	1 - 0	GM	GUREL Ediz	2624	8
4	4	2741	GM	PRAGGNANANDHAA R	½ - ½	GM	NAVARA David	2677	7
5	5	2739	GM	LE Quang Liem	½ - ½	GM	GIRI Anish	2728	6

Details

Standings after Round 1

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB2	TB3
1	1	GM	KEYMER Vincent	GER	2731	1	0,00	0
	3	GM	SHANKLAND Sam	USA	2670	1	0,00	0
3	6	GM	GIRI Anish	NED	2728	0,5	0,25	1
	7	GM	NAVARA David	CZE	2677	0,5	0,25	1
	9	GM	NGUYEN Thai Dai Van	CZE	2668	0,5	0,25	1
6	2	GM	ARAVINDH Chithambaram Vr.	IND	2729	0,5	0,25	0
	4	GM	PRAGGNANANDHAA R	IND	2741	0,5	0,25	0
	5	GM	LE Quang Liem	VIE	2739	0,5	0,25	0
9	8	GM	GUREL Ediz	TUR	2624	0	0,00	1
	10	GM	WEI Yi	CHN	2755	0	0,00	1

Details

Round 2 pairings

Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.
1	10	2755	GM	WEI Yi		GM	GIRI Anish	2728	6
2	7	2677	GM	NAVARA David		GM	LE Quang Liem	2739	5
3	8	2624	GM	GUREL Ediz		GM	PRAGGNANANDHAA R	2741	4
4	9	2668	GM	NGUYEN Thai Dai Van		GM	SHANKLAND Sam	2670	3
5	1	2731	GM	KEYMER Vincent		GM	ARAVINDH Chithambaram Vr.	2729	2

Details

Round 1 Challengers results

Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.
1	1	2433	FM	NEMEC Jachym	½ - ½	IM	FINEK Vaclav	2478	10
2	2	2580	GM	KOURKOULOS-ARDITIS Stamatis	0 - 1	GM	BJERRE Jonas Buhl	2640	9
3	3	2599	GM	SALGADO LOPEZ Ivan	1 - 0	IM	DIVYA Deshmukh	2490	8
4	4	2449	IM	STALMACH Richard	½ - ½	GM	MAURIZZI Marc`andria	2581	7
5	5	2659	GM	YAKUBBOEV Nodirbek	½ - ½	GM	MA Qun	2645	6

Details

Standings after Round 1

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB2	TB3
1	9	GM	BJERRE Jonas Buhl	DEN	2640	1	0,00	1
2	3	GM	SALGADO LOPEZ Ivan	ESP	2599	1	0,00	0
3	6	GM	MA Qun	CHN	2645	0,5	0,25	1
	7	GM	MAURIZZI Marc`andria	FRA	2581	0,5	0,25	1
	10	IM	FINEK Vaclav	CZE	2478	0,5	0,25	1
6	1	FM	NEMEC Jachym	CZE	2433	0,5	0,25	0
	4	IM	STALMACH Richard	CZE	2449	0,5	0,25	0
	5	GM	YAKUBBOEV Nodirbek	UZB	2659	0,5	0,25	0
9	8	IM	DIVYA Deshmukh	IND	2490	0	0,00	1
10	2	GM	KOURKOULOS-ARDITIS Stamatis	GRE	2580	0	0,00	0

Details

Round 2 pairings

Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.
1	10	2478	IM	FINEK Vaclav		GM	MA Qun	2645	6
2	7	2581	GM	MAURIZZI Marc`andria		GM	YAKUBBOEV Nodirbek	2659	5
3	8	2490	IM	DIVYA Deshmukh		IM	STALMACH Richard	2449	4
4	9	2640	GM	BJERRE Jonas Buhl		GM	SALGADO LOPEZ Ivan	2599	3
5	1	2433	FM	NEMEC Jachym		GM	KOURKOULOS-ARDITIS Stamatis	2580	2

Details

Time Control

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

Links

Official site

Tournament Regulations: Masters, Challengers, Futures and Open

Prague Chess Festival: fb. twitter, instagram and youtube

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