Gukesh ends winless streak, Aravindh shines at Prague International Chess Festival

World Champion D Gukesh ended his winless run by defeating David Anton Guijarro in the final round of the Prague Masters. Aravindh Chithambaram finished joint second, while Divya Deshmukh secured third in the Challengers section of the festival

Prague (Czech Republic): World Champion D Gukesh ended a winless streak, beating David Anton Guijarro of Spain in the ninth and final round of the Masters section of the Prague International Chess Festival that concluded here.

Aravindh Chithambaram also sparkled in the last round, defeating David Navara of Czech Republic to finish joint second.

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After a string of draws and three losses earlier in the tournament, Gukesh finally showed his strength in a well-played game. Guijarro, who suffered his third loss in a row, could not match Gukesh in creativity and struggled in the endgame.

Meanwhile, Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan won the tournament after an easy draw with white against Hans Moke Niemann of United States. The Uzbek had earlier won the Tata Steel Masters in February. He scored three victories and six draws to remain undefeated here.

Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran, Jorden van Foreest of Holland, and Aravindh scored five points each to tie for second place. For Aravindh, it was an excellent recovery at the end. Against Navara, the Indian played his trademark complicated chess and created threats on both sides of the board.

Van Foreest, who led the tournament for the first seven rounds, lost his second straight game to Maghsoodloo.

Navara and Uzbek Nodirbek Yakubboev tied for fifth place with 4.5 points, a half point ahead of German Vincent Keymer and Niemann. Gukesh and Guijarro tied for ninth in the ten-player round-robin Masters tournament.

In the Challengers’ section, Divya Deshmukh defeated Hrbek Stepan of Czech Republic to finish third. This performance will send warning signals to her opponents ahead of the Women’s Candidates Tournament in Cyprus later this month.

Grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly also ended on a high, defeating higher-rated Benjamin Gledura of Hungary in his final game.

The 16-year-old Finek Vanclav of Czech Republic won the event with 6.5 points, half a point ahead of Daniel Yuffa of Spain.

Results:
Masters: Vincent Keymer (Ger, 4) lost to Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb, 4.5); Parham Maghsoodloo (Iri, 5) beat Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 5); David Anton Guijarro (Esp, 3.5) lost to D Gukesh (Ind, 3.5); Aravindh Chithambaram (Ind, 5) beat David Navara (Cze, 4.5); Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 6) drew with Hans Moke Niemann (Usa, 4).

Challengers: Jonas Bjerre Buhl (Den, 4.5) beat Zhu Jiner (Chn, 2.5); Thomas Beerdsen (Ned, 4) lost to Finek Vanclav (Cze, 6.5); Nemec Jachym (Cze, 4.5) lost to Daniil Yuffa (Esp, 6); Surya Shekhar Ganguly (Ind, 4) beat Benjamin Gledura (Hun, 4.5); Hrbek Stepan (Cze, 3.5) lost to Divya Deshmukh (Ind, 5).