Prague 2019 R01-03: Vidit beats Gelfand, Hari's beauty against Duda
The Prague Chess Festival has organized six events simultaneously - Masters, Challengers, Open, E, F, G tournaments. All eyes are on the Masters section where we have eight out of the ten players above the rating of 2700 fighting it out for the top spot. You know it is a strong event when Boris Gelfand is the last seed. India no.2 and 3 Harikrishna and Vidit are both participating in the event and the duo have shown some sparkling chess in last two rounds. Vidit managed to beat Boris Gelfand by showcasing flawless technique, while Harikrishna showed how important development is in chess by beating Jan Krzsyztof Duda. After three rounds Vitiugov, Duda, Vidit and Wojtaszek jointly lead the tournament.
Prague is home to a very strong event. There are 10 players and only two of them are below the rating of 2700. One of them is the local star Viktor Laznicka and the other is World Championship Challenger Boris Gelfand. Two of our strongest players - India no.2 Harikrishna Pentala and Vidit Gujrathi are participating in the event.
Starting rank list of players
| No. | Name | FideID | FED | Rtg | ||
| 5 | GM | Navara David | 309095 | CZE | 2739 | |
| 2 | GM | Rapport Richard | 738590 | HUN | 2738 | |
| 9 | GM | Duda Jan-Krzysztof | 1170546 | POL | 2731 | |
| 7 | GM | Shankland Samuel | 2004887 | USA | 2731 | |
| 4 | GM | Harikrishna Pentala | 5007003 | IND | 2730 | |
| 8 | GM | Vitiugov Nikita | 4152956 | RUS | 2726 | |
| 1 | GM | Wojtaszek Radoslaw | 1118358 | POL | 2722 | |
| 10 | GM | Vidit Santosh Gujrathi | 5029465 | IND | 2711 | |
| 3 | GM | Laznicka Viktor | 316385 | CZE | 2670 | |
| 6 | GM | Gelfand Boris | 2805677 | ISR | 2655 |
After three rounds that have been played Vidit has scored one win and two draws, while Harikrishna is on 50% with one win, one draw and one loss. Vidit's win came against Boris Gelfand, and he drew his games with black against Wojtaszek and Rapport. Harikrishna had an edge in round one against Shankland but had to split the point. In round two he lost to Vitiugov after he overlooked a powerful move in the opening and in round three he played a superb game to beat Jan Krzysztof Duda.
Vidit opened the game with 1.e4 and Gelfand played the Petroff. They followed the line of Carlsen vs Caruana in the World Championship 2019. The position was around even when Gelfand committed a positional/tactical blunder.
Vidit vs Gelfand, Round 2
Vitiugov vs Harikrishna
Bh6! Objectively the move may not give White a concrete advantage, if Black defends correctly, but the psychological effect was so huge that Black crumbled on the next move itself.
Harikrishna rarely loses games in this style. Well, it was time to for revenge! In the third round Hari played a fantastic game to beat Jan-Krzysztof Duda.
Harikrishna vs Duda
Bd2! It's a simple move once you see it, but sometimes quite easy to miss it. It includes the final piece in the play and threatens both Bb4 and Ba5.
First win for Harikrishna! "I was happy to get a fighting game after yesterday's loss. I think the crucial mistake in the game was 10...Ng6, and after 13.Bd2 Black's position was quite difficult" #chess #picf2019 #c24live pic.twitter.com/PAn0FmU2zk
— Prague Chess Festival (@PragueChess) March 8, 2019
Standings after round 3
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
| 1 | 8 | GM | Vitiugov Nikita | RUS | 2726 | 2,0 | 0,0 | 2,75 | 2 | |
| 10 | GM | Vidit Santosh Gujrathi | IND | 2711 | 2,0 | 0,0 | 2,75 | 2 | ||
| 3 | 1 | GM | Wojtaszek Radoslaw | POL | 2722 | 2,0 | 0,0 | 2,00 | 1 | |
| 4 | 9 | GM | Duda Jan-Krzysztof | POL | 2731 | 2,0 | 0,0 | 1,50 | 2 | |
| 5 | 4 | GM | Harikrishna Pentala | IND | 2730 | 1,5 | 0,0 | 2,50 | 1 | |
| 6 | 5 | GM | Navara David | CZE | 2739 | 1,5 | 0,0 | 2,25 | 1 | |
| 7 | 6 | GM | Gelfand Boris | ISR | 2655 | 1,5 | 0,0 | 1,75 | 2 | |
| 8 | 3 | GM | Laznicka Viktor | CZE | 2670 | 1,0 | 0,0 | 2,00 | 1 | |
| 9 | 7 | GM | Shankland Samuel | USA | 2731 | 1,0 | 0,0 | 1,50 | 2 | |
| 10 | 2 | GM | Rapport Richard | HUN | 2738 | 0,5 | 0,0 | 1,00 | 1 |
Rank after Round 3
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
| 1 | 10 | GM | Ju Wenjun | CHN | 2580 | 2,5 | 0,0 | 4,00 | 2 | |
| 2 | 6 | GM | Michalik Peter | CZE | 2565 | 2,0 | 0,0 | 3,00 | 2 | |
| 3 | 1 | GM | Nguyen Thai Dai Van | CZE | 2546 | 2,0 | 0,0 | 2,75 | 1 | |
| 4 | 7 | GM | Anton Guijarro David | ESP | 2643 | 1,5 | 0,0 | 1,75 | 2 | |
| 5 | 5 | GM | Krejci Jan | CZE | 2570 | 1,5 | 0,0 | 1,75 | 1 | |
| 6 | 9 | GM | Stocek Jiri | CZE | 2592 | 1,5 | 0,0 | 1,50 | 2 | |
| 7 | 3 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | IND | 2532 | 1,0 | 0,0 | 1,75 | 1 | |
| 8 | 2 | GM | Paravyan David | RUS | 2627 | 1,0 | 0,0 | 1,50 | 1 | |
| 9 | 8 | GM | Bartel Mateusz | POL | 2600 | 1,0 | 0,0 | 1,00 | 2 | |
| 10 | 4 | GM | Shirov Alexei | ESP | 2667 | 1,0 | 0,0 | 1,00 | 1 |
Live games begin every day at 7.30 p.m. IST and you can follow them on ChessBase Live.
