Last round results can make or break your events
Last rounds are extremely important. An entire event that was played well can spiral downwards if you lose the last round. At the same time a mediocre event can become the best if you manage to win your final game. At the World Team Championships team India's fate was spoiled by the last round loss to Russia. We had to settle for the fourth place without a medal. At the Prague Chess Festival both Harikrishna and Vidit were on 4.0/8 before the last round. Harikrishna lost his game to Gelfand and finished seventh out of ten players. On the other hand Vidit won the last round against Navara and finished second! Talk about last round result making or breaking an event!
Vidit Gujrathi was playing the top seed of the Prague Masters 2019 David Navara in the final round. Playing with the black pieces against an opponent like Navara is never easy. But at the same time the chances of winning a game against the Czech no.1 are tangible because of his uncompromising style of play. The game was quite unusual from many viewpoints. Firstly Navara played an opening idea which was not particularly strong giving Vidit easy equality and then in a relatively even position he blundered big time losing an exchange.
Final results in Masters
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
| 1 | 8 | GM | Vitiugov Nikita | RUS | 2726 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 24,25 | 5 | |
| 2 | 10 | GM | Vidit Santosh Gujrathi | IND | 2711 | 5,0 | 2,0 | 22,25 | 5 | |
| 3 | 1 | GM | Wojtaszek Radoslaw | POL | 2722 | 5,0 | 1,5 | 22,00 | 4 | |
| 4 | 9 | GM | Duda Jan-Krzysztof | POL | 2731 | 5,0 | 1,5 | 20,75 | 5 | |
| 5 | 6 | GM | Gelfand Boris | ISR | 2655 | 5,0 | 1,0 | 21,75 | 5 | |
| 6 | 7 | GM | Shankland Samuel | USA | 2731 | 4,5 | 0,0 | 20,25 | 5 | |
| 7 | 4 | GM | Harikrishna Pentala | IND | 2730 | 4,0 | 1,0 | 17,75 | 4 | |
| 8 | 2 | GM | Rapport Richard | HUN | 2738 | 4,0 | 1,0 | 17,00 | 4 | |
| 5 | GM | Navara David | CZE | 2739 | 4,0 | 1,0 | 17,00 | 4 | ||
| 10 | 3 | GM | Laznicka Viktor | CZE | 2670 | 3,0 | 0,0 | 14,50 | 4 |
Vidit's article on his website:
At halfway stage of the Prague Masters 2019 Vidit wrote a blog about his performance in the first five rounds. Here's one position for you to think:
Vidit vs Shankland, Round 5
Vidit: "Here black played 26..h5!! The point is if 26...Qb2 then 27.h5! Rxe2 28.Qd8+ Kg7 29.h6 is mate. h5 gets rid of all the mating ideas and although Black is three pawns down, his attack is unbearable."
Read Vidit's experience in his own words on his website.
Challengers section:
Final results in Challengers
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
| 1 | 7 | GM | Anton Guijarro David | ESP | 2643 | 6,0 | 0,0 | 24,50 | 5 | |
| 2 | 5 | GM | Krejci Jan | CZE | 2570 | 5,5 | 0,0 | 22,50 | 4 | |
| 3 | 10 | GM | Ju Wenjun | CHN | 2580 | 5,0 | 1,0 | 22,50 | 5 | |
| 4 | 6 | GM | Michalik Peter | CZE | 2565 | 5,0 | 0,0 | 23,25 | 5 | |
| 5 | 9 | GM | Stocek Jiri | CZE | 2592 | 4,5 | 1,0 | 19,25 | 5 | |
| 6 | 4 | GM | Shirov Alexei | ESP | 2667 | 4,5 | 0,0 | 18,75 | 4 | |
| 7 | 1 | GM | Nguyen Thai Dai Van | CZE | 2546 | 4,0 | 1,5 | 16,75 | 4 | |
| 8 | 3 | GM | Praggnanandhaa R | IND | 2532 | 4,0 | 1,0 | 18,75 | 4 | |
| 9 | 2 | GM | Paravyan David | RUS | 2627 | 4,0 | 0,5 | 16,75 | 4 | |
| 10 | 8 | GM | Bartel Mateusz | POL | 2600 | 2,5 | 0,0 | 11,00 | 5 |
Stany in the Open section:
The open section has the last round yet to played. In the eight rounds that have been completed GM Hannes Stefansson is the leader with 7.0/8. Indian GM Stany G.A is on 6.5/8.
We wish Stany the best in the final round. If he wins it, he might have a chance to win the Prague Open!
