GM Deep Sengupta defeated FM Jakub Stinka (CZE) to stay in the championship hunt at Karel Janeček Open, part of 5th Prague International Chess Festival 2023. Five players are in the lead 5.5/6 including the top seed GM Vojtech Plat (CZE) and previous round leader, IM Stavroula Tsolakidou (GRE). GM Pentala Harikrishna drew his sixth consecutive game in the Masters section. It was a 73-move long battle against one of the three leaders, GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac (ROU). GM Hao Wang (CHN) outplayed GM Boris Gelfand (ISR) in a positional battle. Round 7 Masters, Challengers and Open starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 6:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival
Hao outplays Gelfand
GM Akash G drew against the sole leader GM Benjamin Gledura (HUN) comfortably in the sixth round of the Challengers section. After Deep, GM Mitrabha Guha, FM Sharan Rao and IM Anwesh Upadhyaya are the three Indians at 4.5/6 each in the Karel Janeček Open event.
Round 6 Open in progress | Photo: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival
Masters: Hao - Gelfand: 1-0
Six years ago, Hao Wang (CHN, 2722) eliminated Boris Gelfand (ISR, 2668) from the FIDE World Cup. That was the last time they faced each other in a Classical rated game. In the sixth round, Hao showed fantastic positional understanding to outplay the legend.
Position after 23.Nf7+
White increased his advantage by beautifully maneuvering his bishop from f3-g2-h3-e6 and Nf7+ to gain an exchange. 23...Rxf7 24.Bxf7 Re7 25.Bb3 e4 26.Kg2 Ne5 27.Bf4 Bb6 28.f3 White neutralized Black's control of the center. 28...Qc6 29.Bxe5 Rxe5 30.fxe4 Rxe4 31.Qf3 White won the game in another ten moves.
Hao Wang played beautifully against Boris Gelfand | Photo: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival
Challengers: GM Akash G drew comfortably against the sole leader GM Benjamin Gledura (HUN) 4.5/6 | Photo: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival
Ceremonial first move of Round 6 was made on Harikrishna-Deac's board | Photo: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival
GM Ray Robson (USA) won the Game of the Round 5 prize for his win against GM Hao Wang (CHN)
| Photo: Petr Vrabec/Prague International Chess Festival
Karel Janeček Open: GM Deep Sengupta 5/6 | 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 6 Master and Challengers live commentary by IM Lawrence Trent (ENG) and WIM Natacha Benmesbah (FRA) | Video: Prague International Chess Festival