Will Harikrishna win Prague Masters for the second year in-a-row?

by Shahid Ahmed - 30/06/2023

Pentala Harikrishna scored a crucial win in the penultimate round of 5th Prague International Chess Festival 2023 Masters. He defeated Hao Wang for the first time in nearly six years in a rated game. The China no.3 went wrong in the endgame, Harikrishna being an expert in that phase, had no trouble seizing his opportunity and scoring his first win of the event. He is now just a half point behind the leaders Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU) and Ray Robson (USA) at 5/8 each. The Romanian defeated Thai Dai Van Nguyen to join the lead with Robson. In the Karel Janeček Open, GM Deep Sengupta won against IM Mai Narva (EST) to join the lead with GM Tomas Polak (CZE) and IM Jakub Fus (POL). Deep will face the top seed GM Vojtech Plat (CZE) in the final round. Round 9 Masters, Challengers and Open starts today at 11 a.m. local time, 2:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival

Deep in a three-way lead 7/8

GM Deep must win the last round and hope the top board result works out in his favor to win the tournament, as he does not have the best tie-break scores among the leaders. Seven players including IM Anwesh Upadhyaya is at 6.5/8. He is followed by GM Mitrabha Guha, FM Sharan Rao and IM Ameya Audi at 6/8 each.

GM Pentala Harikrishna has an outside chance to defend his Prague Masters title | Photo: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival

Masters: Harikrishna - Hao: 1-0

The only time Pentala Harikrishna (2704) defeated Hao Wang (CHN, 2722) in a Classical rated game was back in 2005, almost 18 years ago. The last time Harikrishna won against Hao was in February 2016 in a rated Blitz game. It was time for him to get that statistics in his favor.

Position after 36...h5

Harikrishna's strong suit is endgame. One cannot afford to make a tiny bit of inaccuracy. Black played the inoccuous 36...h5 37.fxg5 Bxg5 38.h4 Re3 39.Rb2 Bf6 40.Rbc2 Kg6 41.Bf3 Re6 42.Rd2 Rae5 43.Rc8 Ra5 44.Rd7 White sacrificed to attack on Black's vulnerable king Rxa4 45.Rg8+ Kh6 46.Bxh5 Rd4 47.Rf7 Rdd6 48.Kh3 and White won.

Pentala Harikrishna signing a memorabilia | Photo: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival

Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU) defeated Thai Dai Van (CZE) to get back in the lead | Photo: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival

David Navara (CZE) - Ray Robson (USA): 0.5-0.5 | Photo: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival

Ray Robson (USA) won Game of the Round 7 prize for his win against Vincent Keymer (GER) | Photo: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival

Ceremonial first move of Round 8 was made on Harikrishna-Hao's board | Photo: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival

Deep - Mai

Position after 45.c5

45.c5 created two split pawns on c and e-file for White. GM Deep Sengupta (2473) converted his advantage comfortably against IM Mai Narva (EST, 2387) to win the game and become one of the three leaders 7/8 heading into the final round.

GM Deep Sengupta 7/8 | Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Schedule

The Round-Robin tournaments will take place from 21st to 30th June 2023. Every day except the last round, games will start at 3 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST). Monday 26th June is a rest day. The ninth round game on 30th June will start at 11 a.m. local time, 2:30 p.m. IST.

Replay live stream

5th Prague International Chess Festival 2023 Round 8 Master and Challengers live commentary by IM Lawrence Trent (ENG) and WIM Natacha Benmesbah (FRA) | Video: Prague International Chess Festival

Replay Round 8 Masters games

Replay Round 8 Challengers games

Replay Round 8 Open games

Masters Round 8 results

Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	10	2704	GM	HARIKRISHNA Pentala	1 - 0	GM	WANG Hao	2722	9	PGN
2	1	2653	GM	NGUYEN Thai Dai Van	0 - 1	GM	DEAC Bogdan-Daniel	2693	8	PGN
3	2	2690	GM	KEYMER Vincent	½ - ½	GM	GELFAND Boris	2668	7	PGN
4	3	2689	GM	NAVARA David	½ - ½	GM	ROBSON Ray	2689	6	PGN
5	4	2711	GM	SHANKLAND Sam	½ - ½	GM	MARTIROSYAN Haik M.	2685	5	PGN

Details

Standings after Round 8

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	8	GM	DEAC Bogdan-Daniel	ROU	2693	5	1	19,50	5
2	6	GM	ROBSON Ray	USA	2689	5	0	18,25	5
3	10	GM	HARIKRISHNA Pentala	IND	2704	4,5	0	17,50	4
4	3	GM	NAVARA David	CZE	2689	4	1,5	16,50	3
5	5	GM	MARTIROSYAN Haik M.	ARM	2685	4	1,5	15,50	4
6	4	GM	SHANKLAND Sam	USA	2711	4	1,5	15,50	3
7	2	GM	KEYMER Vincent	GER	2690	4	1,5	14,75	3
8	9	GM	WANG Hao	CHN	2722	3,5	0	13,50	5
9	7	GM	GELFAND Boris	ISR	2668	3	0,5	12,25	5
10	1	GM	NGUYEN Thai Dai Van	CZE	2653	3	0,5	12,25	3

Details

Round 9 pairings

Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	5	2685	GM	MARTIROSYAN Haik M.		GM	HARIKRISHNA Pentala	2704	10
2	6	2689	GM	ROBSON Ray		GM	SHANKLAND Sam	2711	4
3	7	2668	GM	GELFAND Boris		GM	NAVARA David	2689	3
4	8	2693	GM	DEAC Bogdan-Daniel		GM	KEYMER Vincent	2690	2
5	9	2722	GM	WANG Hao		GM	NGUYEN Thai Dai Van	2653	1

Details

Challengers Round 8 results

Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	10	2645	GM	GLEDURA Benjamin	0 - 1	GM	PULTINEVICIUS Paulius	2530	9	PGN
2	1	2609	GM	BARTEL Mateusz	1 - 0	GM	AKASH G	2483	8	PGN
3	2	2436	IM	STALMACH Richard	1 - 0	IM	VYKOUK Jan	2467	7	PGN
4	3	2409	FM	FINEK Vaclav	1 - 0	GM	L'AMI Erwin	2645	6	PGN
5	4	2611	GM	PECHAC Jergus	½ - ½	GM	MOTYLEV Alexander	2597	5	PGN

Details

Standings after Round 8

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	1	GM	BARTEL Mateusz	POL	2609	5,5	0	18,75	3
2	5	GM	MOTYLEV Alexander	ROU	2597	5	0	18,25	4
	10	GM	GLEDURA Benjamin	HUN	2645	5	0	18,25	4
4	9	GM	PULTINEVICIUS Paulius	LTU	2530	5	0	17,75	5
5	7	IM	VYKOUK Jan	CZE	2467	4	1	15,00	5
6	6	GM	L'AMI Erwin	NED	2645	4	0	14,75	5
7	3	FM	FINEK Vaclav	CZE	2409	3,5	1	11,50	3
8	4	GM	PECHAC Jergus	SVK	2611	3,5	0	13,50	3
9	2	IM	STALMACH Richard	CZE	2436	3	0	12,50	3
10	8	GM	AKASH G	IND	2483	1,5	0	6,75	5

Details

Round 9 pairings

Bo.	No.	Rtg		Name	Result		Name	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	5	2597	GM	MOTYLEV Alexander		GM	GLEDURA Benjamin	2645	10
2	6	2645	GM	L'AMI Erwin		GM	PECHAC Jergus	2611	4
3	7	2467	IM	VYKOUK Jan		FM	FINEK Vaclav	2409	3
4	8	2483	GM	AKASH G		IM	STALMACH Richard	2436	2
5	9	2530	GM	PULTINEVICIUS Paulius		GM	BARTEL Mateusz	2609	1

Details

Round 8 Open results

Bo.

No.

Name

FED

Rtg

Pts.

Result

Pts.

Name

FED

Rtg

No.

PGN

Fus, Jakub

POL

2426

6½

½ - ½

2417

2503

1 - 0

6½

2374

2473

1 - 0

2387

2407

5½

0 - 1

5½

2516

2405

5½

1 - 0

5½

2485

2353

5½

1 - 0

5½

2442

2414

5½

1 - 0

5½

Tsolakidou, Stavroula

2373

2374

5½

1 - 0

5½

Heimisson, Hilmir Freyr

2413

2259

5½

½ - ½

5½

2411

2507

1 - 0

5½

Panek, Bartosz

POL

2188

103

PGN

Details

Standings after Round 8

Rk.	SNo		Name	sex	FED	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	K	rtg+/-
1	3	GM	Polak, Tomas		CZE	2503	Sachovy klub Moravska Slavia	7	39,5	44	38,50	10	9,7
2	13	IM	Fus, Jakub		POL	2426	Polska	7	37	40,5	33,50	10	15,7
3	7	GM	Sengupta, Deep		IND	2473		7	36	40	35,00	10	9,7
4	1	GM	Plat, Vojtech		CZE	2516	SK JOLY Lysa nad Labem, z.s.	6,5	40,5	44	34,50	10	4
5	16		Psyk, Radoslaw		POL	2417		6,5	39,5	43,5	33,50	10	11,3
6	32	IM	Ozenir, Ekin Baris		TUR	2374		6,5	39,5	42,5	32,00	10	19,3
7	33	FM	Deuer, Marius		GER	2374	Schoenaich	6,5	35,5	39	31,50	20	29
8	23	GM	Jurcik, Marian		SVK	2405		6,5	34	37,5	30,50	10	7
9	17	IM	Baenziger, Fabian		SUI	2414		6,5	32	35	28,50	10	3,4
10	37	IM	Anwesh, Upadhyaya		IND	2353		6,5	30	33	26,75	10	7,1
11	2	GM	Mitrabha, Guha		IND	2507		6	37,5	41	29,75	10	-4,8
12	69	FM	Antova, Gabriela	w	BUL	2259		6	37,5	41	29,25	20	43,4
13	8	IM	Sokolovsky, Yahli		ISR	2464	Beer sheva	6	37,5	41	28,75	10	1,9
14	45	FM	Pasti, Aron		HUN	2335	Banyas SK Ajka	6	37,5	40,5	28,00	10	16,6
15	28	FM	Agdelen, Huseyin Can		TUR	2391	Turkiye	6	37	40,5	29,25	10	0,5
16	36	FM	Domalchuk-Jonasson, Aleksandr		ISL	2359	TR	6	37	40,5	27,75	20	19
17	30	IM	Narva, Mai	w	EST	2387		6	36,5	40	28,25	10	4,4
18	76	FM	Sharan, Rao		IND	2248	Rao's Chess Corner	6	36,5	39,5	28,25	20	54
19	29	FM	Yaniv, Yuval		ISR	2390		6	36	40	28,00	20	5,4
20	26	IM	Audi, Ameya		IND	2393		6	36	39,5	27,00	10	1,7

Details

Round 9 pairings

Bo.	No.		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Name	FED	Rtg	No.
1	13	IM	Fus, Jakub	POL	2426	7		7	GM	Polak, Tomas	CZE	2503	3
2	1	GM	Plat, Vojtech	CZE	2516	6½		7	GM	Sengupta, Deep	IND	2473	7
3	16		Psyk, Radoslaw	POL	2417	6½		6½	FM	Deuer, Marius	GER	2374	33
4	32	IM	Ozenir, Ekin Baris	TUR	2374	6½		6½	IM	Baenziger, Fabian	SUI	2414	17
5	37	IM	Anwesh, Upadhyaya	IND	2353	6½		6½	GM	Jurcik, Marian	SVK	2405	23
6	29	FM	Yaniv, Yuval	ISR	2390	6		6	GM	Mitrabha, Guha	IND	2507	2
7	8	IM	Sokolovsky, Yahli	ISR	2464	6		6	FM	Sharan, Rao	IND	2248	76
8	30	IM	Narva, Mai	EST	2387	6		6	GM	Petrov, Marian	BUL	2454	9
9	20	FM	Peyrer, Konstantin	AUT	2411	6		6	FM	Pasti, Aron	HUN	2335	45
10	26	IM	Audi, Ameya	IND	2393	6		6	CM	Carreto Nieto, Giovanni	MEX	2182	106

Details

Time Control

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

Links

Official site

Tournament Regulations: Masters, Challengers and Open

Prague Chess Festival: fb. twitter, instagram and youtube

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