Chithambaram beats Jorden van Foreest; Gukesh draws

Indian Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram defeated Netherland’s Jorden van Foreest but world champion D Gukesh’s winless run continued as he played out a draw yet again, this time against Vincent Keymer of Germany in the eighth and penultimate round of the Prague International chess festival here.

Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov leapfrogged to the pole position following a victory over local favourite David Navara.

With 5.5 points in his kitty, Abdusattorov enjoys a half-point lead over van Foreest with just one round remaining. After winning the Tata Steel Masters earlier in February, this could well be the second super-event win for the young Uzbek.

Navara is the lone player on 4.5 points occupying the third spot, while Aravindh elevated himself to joint fourth spot on four points with Keymer and Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran.

Nodirbek Yakubboev of Uzbekistan, Hans Moke Niemann of the United States and David Anton Guijarro of Spain are next in the standings on 3.5 points, a point clear of last-placed Gukesh.

It was a lot of drama in the final stages of the day as Abdusattorov and Chithambaram both won from positions that looked like headed for easy draws.

Abdusattorov benefitted through a Bishop blunder by Navara from a rook and minor piece endgame and Chithambaram got lucky as van Foreest also failed to spot a simple tactic in the endgame.

Gukesh drew with Keymer out of a King pawn game.

“It’s the typical position; if I had checked it for five minutes, I would have made a very easy draw but if I don’t, there were so many options. It’s kind of difficult for me to figure out what the right move was, and obviously I didn’t find the right way,” noted Keymer after the game.

As it happened, Gukesh was able to complicate matters with a queen sacrifice that saw his pawn move to the seventh rank. However, breaking through black’s defences did not prove to be easy as Keymer eventually got the half point.

In the challengers’ section being organised simultaneously, 16-year-old Czech International Master Finek Vanclav made another stride forward towards winning the title after holding Grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly to a draw.

Another Indian, Divya Deshmukh, also drew with Nemec Jachym.

Results after round 8:

Masters: Nodirbek Yakubboev (UZB, 3.5) drew with Parham Maghsoodloo (IRI, 4); D Gukesh (IND, 2.5) drew with Vincent Keymer (GER, 4); Jorden van Foreest (NED, 5) lost to Aravindh Chithambaram (IND, 4); David Navara (CZE, 4.5) lost to Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB, 5.5); Hans Moke Niemann (USA, 3.5) beat David Anton Guijarro (ESP, 3.5).

Challengers: Zhu Jiner (CHN, 2.5) drew with Thomas Beerdsen (NED, 4); Daniil Yuffa (ESP, 5) beat Jonas Bjerre Buhl (DEN, 3.5); Finek Vanclav (CZE, 5.5) drew with Surya Shekhar Ganguly (IND, 3); Benjamin Gledura (HUN, 4.5) beat Hrbek Stepan (CZE, 3.5); Divya Deshmukh (IND, 4) drew with Nemec Jachym (CZE, 4.5).