Courtesy: Google
In the sixth round of the Prague Chess Festival Masters 2025, all the five boards had drawn matches, which meant that the Indian Grandmaster duo of Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Aravindh Chithambaram found themselves in joint lead by a point. After a pulsating battle with American Sam Shankland with the black pieces, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa managed to earn a draw, while Aravindh Chithambaram agreed to a much simpler draw with Chinese Le Quang Liem.
Confronting an Italian Opening, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa was struggling at one stage in the middlegame against Sam Shankland, who had sacrificed his knight on the kingside, forcing the Indian to give up the rook for a minor piece. But, ultimately, the defensive skills of Praggnanandhaa shone through as he made Shankland into a three-fold repetition, to secure a well-deserved draw after 43 moves.
In a Queen’s Gambit declined game with the white pieces, Aravindh Chithambaram had the control of the centre, but Le Quang Liem had a solid defense to counter any complications. Within the first 20 moves, both the players exchanged three minor pieces and two pawns, which led to the simplification of the position before it turned into a rook-and-pawn endgame, following which Chithambaram and Liem agreed to a 32-move draw.
Praggnanandhaa and Chithambaram in joint lead with four points each in Prague
Following the conclusion of the six rounds in the Prague Chess Festival Masters 2025, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Aravindh Chithambaram have four points to their name, at least one-point more than the rest of the field. The joint third place belongs to the likes of Anish Giri, Vincent Keymer, Wei Yi, and Le Quang Liem with three points, while names like Sam Shankland, David Navara, Ediz Gurel, and Thai Dai Van Nguyen sharing the joint seventh place with 2.5 points to their names.
