Indian chess grandmaster D Gukesh faced another setback at the Prague International Chess Festival, drawing against Iran’s Parham Maghsoodloo as he continued his hunt for full points.
IMAGE: D Gukesh sits at the bottom of the table with two points from seven games at the Prague International Chess Festival. Photograph: Prague International Chess Festival/X
Key Points
- D Gukesh drew with Parham Maghsoodloo in the seventh round of the Prague International Chess Festival.
- Aravindh Chithambaram also drew his game, maintaining a fifty percent score.
- Vincent Keymer secured a victory, positioning Jorden van Foreest as the leader.
World Champion D Gukesh’s hunt for a win continued as Iran’s Parham Maghsoodloo held the Indian ace to a draw in the seventh round of the masters section of the Prague International chess festival on Thursday.
With just two rounds remaining, Gukesh occupies the last spot with two points.
The four draws have come alongside three painful defeats and this could well be the time for the youngest-ever world champion to look for certain reforms in his game.
Meanwhile, the other Indian in the fray, defending champion Aravindh Chithambaram, drew with Nodirbek Yakubboev of Uzbekistan to remain on a fifty percent score after seven games.
The lone winner of the day was Vincent Keymer of Germany who defeated David Anton Guijarro of Spain leaving Dutchman Jorden van Foreest half a point ahead of his closest rivals David Navara of Czech Republic and Nodribek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan.
Gukesh draws with black pieces
Gukesh employed the Berlin defense and got a solid position with his black pieces against Maghsoodloo.
The Iranian was happy to keep the position intact for a long time and once black’s queen side pawns were mobilised white was not too far away to take adequate measures in the centre.
The game was drawn after 49 moves.
In the challengers’ section, Grandmaster Divya Deshmukh had another good result, holding Jonas Buhl Bjerre of Denmark to a draw while Grandmaster Surya Shekhar Ganguly finally scored his first victory at the expense of Jiner Zhu of China.
Results (Round 7):
Masters: Parham Maghsoodloo (Iri, 3.5) drew with D Gukesh (Ind, 2); Aravindh Chithambaram (Ind, 3) drew with Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb, 3); Vincent Keymer (Ger, 3.5) beat David Anton Guijarro (Esp, 3.5); Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 4.5) drew with Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 5); David Navara (Cze, 4.5) drew with Hans Moke Niemann (Usa, 2.5).
Challengers: Thomas Beerdsen (Ned, 3.5) lost to Daniil Yuffa (Esp, 4); Surya Shekhar Ganguly (Ind, 2.5) beat Jiner Zhu (Chn, 2); Finek Vanclav (Cze, 5) drew with Benjamin Gledura (Hun, 3.5) Nemec Jachym (Cze, 4) beat Hrbek Stepan (Cze, 3.5); Jonas Bjerre Buhl (Den, 3.5) drew with Divya Deshmukh (Ind, 3.5).
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