Aravindh inches closer to Prague Masters title

Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram came within striking distance of winning his first major tournament after an easy draw with David Navara of Czech Republic in the eighth and penultimate round of Prague Masters tournament here.

With this result, Aravindh took his tally to 5.5 points, maintaining a half-point lead over compatriot R Praggnanandhaa, who drew with Vietnam's Quang Liem Le.

In the final round, Aravindh will face Turkey’s Ediz Gurel, while Praggnanandhaa has a tougher challenge against Anish Giri of the Netherlands.

After losing two of his first three games, top-seeded Chinese GM Wei Yi bounced back impressively, defeating local favorite Nguyen Thai Dai Van to move into sole third place with 4.5 points.

Vincent Keymer (Germany), Ediz Gurel, and Giri share fourth place with four points each, followed by Quang Liem, Navara, and Sam Shankland, all on 3.5 points.

Dai Van remains at the bottom with 2.5 points.

The Berlin defense is normally known to get balanced endgames and this time too, Navara had little trouble reaching an equal endgame.

A small oversight by both players at a critical moment briefly offered Aravindh a chance to push for victory, but the opportunity slipped, and both players signed truce in 32 moves.

Praggnanandhaa, playing White, opted for his pet Catalan opening against Le.

However, the Vietnamese GM found adequate counter play in the middle game by cornering the white queen.

Praggnanadhaa parted with a pawn for activity but the resulting position was only good enough to repeat. The game lasted 36 moves.

In the Challengers’ section, Divya Deshmukh drew with Czech player Nemec Jychym but remained in last place with two points.

Meanwhile, Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Yakubboev regained sole lead with 6.5 points after defeating Richard Stalmach.

Results (Round 8)

Aravindh Chithambaram (Ind, 5.5) drew with David Navara (Cze, 3.5); R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 5) drew with Quang Leim Le (Vie, 3.5); Sam Shankland (Usa, 3.5) lost to Anish Giri (Ned, 4); Wei Yi (Chn, 4.5) beat Nguyen Thai Dai Van (Cze, 2.5); Vincent Keymer (Ger, 4) drew with Gurel Ediz (Tur, 4).

Challengers: Richard Stalmach (Cze, 3) lost to Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb, 6.5); Finel Vaclav (Cze, 3.5) drew with Jonas Buhl Bjerre (Den, 6); Nemec Jychym (Cze, 2.5) drew with Divya Deshmukh (Ind, 2) Ivan Salgado Lopez (Esp, 4) drew with Ma Qun (Chn, 4.5); Stamatis Kourkoulous-Arditis (Gre, 3) lost to Marc`andria Maurizzi (Fra, 5).