Aravindh Beats Keymer, Leads With Shankland
GM Aravindh Chithambaram defeated GM Vincent Keymer and has taken his place in the lead of the 2025 Prague Chess Festival Masters after round two. That was the only decisive game of the round. GM Sam Shankland remains in the lead after drawing with the black pieces in the King's Indian Defense against GM Thai Dai Van Nguyen, and three more draws leave the rest of the standings unchanged.
Round three is on Friday, February 28, starting at 9 a.m. ET / 3:00 p.m. CET / 7:30 p.m. IST.
Masters: Aravindh Takes Down Highflyer Keymer
Masters Results After Round 2
Aravindh won the only decisive game of the day. When looking for missed chances, we can say Van Nguyen had a sizeable chance against Shankland, but just for an advantage—he was never winning.
Masters Standings After Round 2
Aravindh is now one of the two leaders, along with Shankland. But there are seven rounds to go and every player is still within a point away.
Keymer 0-1 Aravindh
So far, so good for Aravindh as he defeated one of the tournament leaders. On the previous day, the Indian grandmaster survived a dead lost position against Van Nguyen, and the good fortune has extended another day. The opening worked out perfectly, as he got a position on the board that he had checked in the morning. He signed up for chaos, saying after the game, "Against Vincent I cannot go for positional chess; he's too good!"
Against Vincent I cannot go for positional chess; he's too good!
——Aravindh Chithambaram
The opening went swimmingly, and by move 14 Aravindh was already winning, but he had to find the spectacular, nearly unfindable quiet move 14...Be7!!. One major point is that Black threatens to grab on g2 now that the e4-knight doesn't hang with check.
But you also have to accurately calculate the discovered attack 15.Ne5. Long story short, the lines all work out for Black and he's winning—but even considering the quiet bishop move is the biggest hurdle. When told about this move on the broadcast, Aravindh said, "I mean, who would play ...Be7?"
I mean, who would play ...Be7?
—Aravindh Chithambaram
14...Nxd4 was played instead and Keymer still found himself down a pawn in the endgame. Some say you have to kill a grandmaster three times in a single game—that is, they'll survive twice before you finally land a knockout—and Aravindh accomplished the feat when he found the flashy sucker punch and only winning move 29...Re5!.
GM Rafael Leitao goes over the entire Game of the Day below.
Asked how he got over the scare from yesterday and returned to win, Aravindh told the broadcast, "I usually forget about my previous game." This is his approach even when things go well, so he said he'll forget about today's game as he prepares for tomorrow as well!
The rest of the games were drawn, with most of them being solid encounters with few chances for anyone.
Van Nguyen ½-½ Shankland
Shankland dusted off the King's Indian Defense, a risky opening that has been more or less abandoned at the top level, for his game with the black pieces. The modern treatment with 7...Bg4 caught Van Nguyen off-guard and caused him to start thinking early. The players were already in a new position after Shankland's 10...b6N, quickly played with three more minutes than he started with, while the Czech player was about 20 minutes down.
Van Nguyen's most significant chance at an advantage was after 23...Bxb5?, but he had to properly assess the zwischenzug 24.Rh3!, which leads to a favorable opposite-color bishop middlegame. By move 38, he could have pressed on by keeping the pieces on the board, but he had three minutes against a half hour (a similar time discrepancy to yesterday's game). Instead, he traded into an opposite-color bishop endgame which ended in a draw, even if he finished with an extra pawn.
Wei ½-½ Giri
It's a solid, second draw for GM Anish Giri while GM Wei Yi has stopped the bleeding after his loss to Keymer. Giri played the surprising 8...Bd7N, an early novelty in the Italian. One idea shown in the game is that Black can now capture on d5 with the knight, simplifying further.
It was a tense game, but at some point both players hit a wall; neither could make progress without concessions and they shuffled. Wei deserves credit for his bravery, declining a threefold repetition with 31.Rd1, when he had five minutes for nine moves and his opponent had 25, but ultimately the shuffling continued for 14 more moves until a draw was agreed.
Gurel ½-½ Praggnanandhaa
GM Ediz Gurel has also stopped the bleeding after losing to Shankland the previous day, while GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu makes his second draw in two rounds—nothing lost, nothing gained.
It was a mostly unblemished and accurate game in the French Defense, Tarrasch Variation. Gurel's only opportunity appeared when, with four minutes left for six moves, Praggnanandhaa played the imprecise 34...Qd2?!. White could have sacrificed a pawn to control the d-file. Besides that, though, a draw was the most logical result to the even game.
Navara ½-½ Le
Of the five games, this was most clearly headed for a draw as the players reached a rook endgame while other middlegames were still ongoing.
GM David Navara followed a Prague Chess Masters 2023 game until move 13 (Shankland-Martirosyan, Prague 2023), where White indeed got an opening advantage, but GM Liem Le's play gave no chances whatsoever. He confidently held the still-complicated rook endgame, and both players exhibited over 99 percent accuracy according to Game Review.
Aravindh will have an opportunity to test the top seed, who in round one had already shown he could be beaten. Shankland, on the other hand, may look to do the same against Keymer, who's coming off of a loss.
Pairings For Round 3 | Masters
Challengers: Yakubboev Joins Leaders, Divya Bounces Back
There were two decisive results in the Challengers. GM Nodirbek Yakubboev defeated GM Marc'Andria Maurizzi to join the lead, while IM Divya Deshmukh bounced back from yesterday's loss with a win over IM Richard Stalmach to finish on an even 1/2 score.
There were also two notable misses. GM Ma Qun failed to convert a winning knight endgame against IM Vaclav Finek. And FM Jachym Nemec was the exchange up with a big time advantage against GM Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis, but the Greek GM managed to evade his second loss in a row and drew the game.
GM Jonas Bjerre gained a fleeting advantage against GM Ivan Salgado Lopez, but it was never more than that.
Round 2 Results | Challengers
There are now three leaders and, like in the Masters, nobody is more than a point away from the lead.
Standings After Round 2 | Challengers
Salgado will have White against Nemec, while Bjerre will be defending with Black against Stalmach. Yakubboev may look to score a second win against Divya, who has already proven in round two to be a fighter even when things don't go her way.
Pairings For Round 3 | Challengers
How to review?
You can check out the games on our dedicated events page.
The 2025 Prague Chess Festival takes place on February 26-March 7 at the Don Giovanni Hotel in Prague, Czech Republic. The format is a round-robin with 10 players. The time control is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 more minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment per move starting on move one.
Previous coverage:
