Prague R8: Giri -Scores, Aravindh closer to the tournament victory

Giri and Wei jump back

Anish Giri recovered well from his defeat against Aravindh Chithambaram in round seven by defeating the US grandmaster Sam Shankland in round eight rounds. Giri showed why bishops opposite colors are good for the attacker in the middle game.

Anish Giri signs an autograph | Photo: Petr Vrabec

The Chinese grand master Wei Yi started the tournament as a top seeds, but only scored half a point in the first three rounds. But then he recovered and scored 4 points from the next 5 games and now even has a theoretical chance of winning the tournament. Before the last round he stands a point behind the leader Aravindh and half a point behind the second -placed Pragnanandhaa. When Wei Yi wins in the last round, Praggnanandhaa and Aravindh loses that the three would create first place and decide the tournament winner in a play-off. However, such a scenario is not very likely.

Wei had an advantage in his encounter against Thai Dai van Nguyen for almost the entire game, but only won after Nguyen had made a mistake in a balanced end.

Wei Yi | Photo: Petr Vrabec

The three remaining games of the round ended with a draw. Aravindh played it against David Navara, Praggnanandhaa played a tactically and strategically demanding game against Le Quang Liem, which ended with a repetition, and Vincent Keymer put Ediz Gürel under constant pressure, but could not turn this pressure into something tangible.

Round 8 results

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Challenger: Yakubboev beats stalmach, leads

In the challengers, Uzbek Grand Master Nodirbek Yakubboev has the best chance to win the tournament. In the eighth round he won convincingly with Black against Richard Stalmach and secured the only tour in the table because Jonas Buhl Bjerre could not go beyond a tie against Vaclav Fink.

Yakubboev therefore goes into the last round with half a point and will win the tournament and qualify for Masters next year when he beats Finek.

Nodirbek Yakubboev during the seventh round | Photo: Petr Vrabec

Round 8 results

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