Prague (Czech Republic), March 1: World champion D Gukesh’s hunt for his first victory continued as he was held to a draw by David Navara of Czech Republic in the fourth round of the Prague International Chess Festival here.
On a day when Jorden van Foreest of Holland nosed ahead of the field with his third victory in four games, defending champion Aravindh Chithambaram went down fighting against Vincent Keymer of Germany.
Van Foreest defeated Nodirbek Yakubboev of Uzbekistan while the other two games in the 10-player round-robin tournament ended in draws.
American Hans Moke Niemann drew with Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran and David Anton Guijarro got the same result against Nodirbek Yakubboev of Uzbekistan.
With five rounds still to come and the event knocking on the doors of crossing the half-way barrier, van Foreest, on three points, is now followed by Abdusattorov and Navara, who in turn are a half point ahead of Yakubboev, Keymer and Guijarro.
The remaining four participants – Chithambaram, Gukesh, Niemann and Maghsoodloo – are all tied on the seventh spot on 1.5 points apiece.
Navara may be past his prime but, having played chess at a high level in the past, has helped him a great deal here. The Czech number one had to defend a difficult position against Gukesh out of a Ruy Lopez Berlin but he denied the world champion any decisive advantage.
The end result was a level rook and pawns endgame wherein Gukesh had to split the point when bare kings remained on board after 72 moves.
Chithamabaram’s choice of sticking to the Philidor defence came as a surprise to Keymer who seized the initiative early with a king side attack. The Indian lost a pawn in the tactical melee and then lost a Bishop without much counter play in this nearly one-sided encounter.
Van Foreest has been in great form recently and followed up with his victory over Gukesh by scalping for Yakubboev. The Dutchman was tenacious in a difficult middle game and hung in with his black pieces as white tried to penetrate with his heavy pieces and in the end was rewarded as Yakubboev blew his position away.
Meanwhile, in the challengers section being organised simultaneously, world women’s cup winner Divya Deshmukh drew with sole leader Vanclav Finek of Czech Republic while the other Indian Surya Shekhar Gnaguly signed peace with Stepn Herbek of the host country.
Divya is on 1.5 points in the event and Ganguly has one point from his four outings in the tournament that is being led by Finek on 3 points. (PTI)
