THE FINAL round in the top two boards of the 3rd Prague International Masters Tournament at the Czech Republic turned out to be an intense affair, but Sam Shankland weathered the storm to win the Category 18 (average Elo: 2677) event convincingly.
It took some patience, but Shankland defeated Jorden Van Foreest in 62 moves of a Catalan Opening. Van Foreest surprisingly made an all-out effort to win, but Shankland was up to the task and defended well until the Dutch GM finally blundered. While the two were still playing, top seed Jan Krzysztof Duda has already disposed of compatriot Radoslaw Wojtaszek in 37 moves of a Ruy Lopez and was actually leading the tournament at that point. Shankland’s victory doused Duda’s hopes of winning the event. The other final round matches were drawn, although the battle for solo 4th place between Nijat Abasov and Thai Dai Van Nguyen also proved dramatic. While the two drew their game after 55 moves of an Evan’s Gambit, both tried to beat the other in an interesting battle. Nils Grandelius and David Navara also drew after 32 moves of a Sicilian Rossolimo.
Shankland’s tournament triumph should propel the 2018 United States Champion back to the Elo 2700+ firmament.
The final standings: 1. Shankland, 5½; 2. Duda, 5; 3. Wojtaszek, 4; 4-5. Nguyen, Abasov, 3½; 6-7. Grandelius, Van Foreest, 2½; 8. Navara, 1½.
Navara, D (2697)-Grandelius, N (2670) [B52]
Prague (7.1) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Bd7 4.Bxd7+ Qxd7 5.c4 Nf6 6.Nc3 g6 7.d4 cxd4 8.Qxd4 Nc6 9.Qd3 Bg7 10.0-0 0-0 11.Bd2 Rad8 12.Rad1 Ng4 13.b3 f5 14.h3 Nge5 15.Nxe5 Nxe5 16.Qg3 fxe4 17.Nxe4 Qf5 18.Qh4 d5 19.cxd5 Rxd5 20.Bb4 Rxd1 21.Rxd1 h6 22.Bc3 g5 23.Qg3 Qxe4 24.Re1 Nf3+ 25.gxf3 Qxf3 26.Bxg7 Qxg3+ 27.fxg3 Kxg7 28.Rxe7+ Rf7 29.Re6 Rf6 30.Re7+ Rf7 31.Re6 Rf6 32.Re7+ ½-½
Shankland, S (2691)-Van Foreest, J (2701) [E06]
Prague (7.2) 2021
1.c4 Nf6 2.g3 e6 3.Bg2 d5 4.Nf3 Be7 5.d4 0-0 6.0-0 dxc4 7.Qc2 a6 8.a4 Bd7 9.Qxc4 Bc6 10.Bf4 Bd6 11.Qc1 Nbd7 12.Nc3 Ne4 13.Rd1 Nxc3 14.bxc3 a5 15.c4 Bxf4 16.Qxf4 Nb6 17.Rdc1 Bxa4 18.Qd2 Bc6 19.c5 Nd7 20.Rxa5 Rxa5 21.Qxa5 b6 22.cxb6 cxb6 23.Qa7 Be4 24.e3 Nf6 25.Ne5 Bxg2 26.Kxg2 h5 27.h3 Qd5+ 28.Kg1 Ne4 29.h4 Qa5 30.Ra1 Qc3 31.Ra2 Qb3 32.Kg2 Qd5 33.Kg1 Kh7 34.Nxf7 Qf5 35.Ng5+ Nxg5 36.hxg5 h4 37.gxh4 Qg4+ 38.Kf1 Rc8 39.Qa3 Qd1+ 40.Kg2 Rc1 41.Kg3 Qg1+ 42.Kf4 Qh2+ 43.Ke4 Qg2+ 44.f3 Qh3 45.Qf8 Rc8 46.Qf7 Qxh4+ 47.Qf4 Qxf4+ 48.Kxf4 b5 49.Rb2 Rb8 50.Ke5 Rb6 51.Rb4 Kg6 52.f4 Kf7 53.e4 Ke7 54.d5 g6 55.de6 Re6+ 56.Kd5 Rd6+ 57.Kc5 Rd1 58.Rb5 Rf1 59.Rb7+ Ke8 60.f5 gf5 61.g6 fe4 62.Rb8+ 1-0
Abasov, N (2665)-Nguyen, TDV (2577) [C52]
Prague (7.3) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 d6 7.Qb3 Qd7 8.0-0 Bb6 9.Nbd2 Na5 10.Qc2 Ne7 11.dxe5 0-0 12.Ba3 Bc5 13.Bb4 Bxb4 14.cxb4 Nac6 15.exd6 Qxd6 16.b5 Ne5 17.Nxe5 Qxe5 18.f4 Qc5+ 19.Rf2 Be6 20.Rc1 Bxc4 21.Qxc4 Qb6 22.Qc5 Qxc5 23.Rxc5 c6 24.bxc6 Rac8 25.c7 Nc6 26.Nc4 Rxc7 27.Na5 f6 28.Nxc6 Rxc6 29.Rxc6 bxc6 30.Rc2 Rb8 31.Rxc6 Rb1+ 32.Kf2 Rb2+ 33.Kf3 Rxa2 34.Rc8+ Kf7 35.Rc7+ Kf8 36.h4 Ra5 37.Ke3 Ra4 38.h5 h6 39.Kf3 Kg8 40.e5 fxe5 41.fxe5 Kf8 42.g4 Kg8 43.e6 Kf8 44.Rf7+ Kg8 45.Rf5 Rb4 46.e7 Rb8 47.Ra5 Kf7 48.Rxa7 Re8 49.Kf4 Rxe7 50.Rxe7+ Kxe7 51.g5 hxg5+ 52.Kxg5 Kf7 53.h6 Kg8 54.Kg6 gxh6 55.Kxh6 ½-½
Duda, J-K (2729)-Wojtaszek, R (2687) [C84]
Prague (7.4) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.d3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0-0 9.a4 Bd7 10.Bc2 Re8 11.Re1 h6 12.Nbd2 Bf8 13.Nf1 d5 14.exd5 Nxd5 15.Bd2 b4 16.a5 bxc3 17.bxc3 Nf6 18.Ng3 Rb8 19.Ba4 Bd6 20.Qc2 Na7 21.Bb3 Be6 22.Bxe6 Rxe6 23.d4 Nc6 24.Rad1 exd4 25.Rxe6 fxe6 26.cxd4 Qe8 27.Re1 Rb5 28.Ne4 Nxe4 29.Qxe4 Qd7 30.Bxh6 gxh6 31.Qg6+ Kh8 32.Qxh6+ Qh7 33.Qf6+ Qg7 34.Qxe6 Nxd4 35.Nxd4 Qxd4 36.Qh6+ Kg8 37.Re8+ 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Ng3!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…fxg3 2.Nf2#; 1…f3, Kh3/xg3 2.Qh2#; 1…Kg5 2.Qf6#./PN
