Praggnanandhaa vs Chithambaram ends with a draw while the Indians continue to direct the classification – Firstpost

The great failures of India R Praggnanandhaa and Aravindh Chithambaram continue to be in the joint head after five rounds in the Prague Chess Festival Masters 2025. Praggnanandhaa and Chithambaram clashed in the last round, with the high octane match ending with a draw.

The GM of China Wei Yi was the only player to win a fifth round victory in the Masters section while he was beating the American Grand Master Sam Shankland, in 27 movements, while Vincent Keymer, who lost against Praggnanandhaa and Chithambaram in the previous round, was the only other GM to obtain a significant advantage but could not force a victory against Vietnam Vietnam Lê Quang Liêm.

Praggnanandhaa vs chithambaram ends with a draw

The Praggnanandhaa vs Chithambaram match was a quiet affair because none of the table toppers got into four to take an unnecessary risk. Praggnanandhaa, playing with white pieces, opted for an opening from Ruy Lopez, followed by Chithambaram for the defense of Berlin. The two players retaining a high precision, the match finally ended with a draw after 59 movements.

“It’s the trick, you know. You pretend to be a tactical like Aravindh, then you have an easy draw in Berlin, “said Dutch grand master Anish Giri in the analysis of the Praggnanandhaa VS Chithambaram match.

Praggnanandhaa will now face Shankland on the sixth round, while Chithambaram will face Lê Quang Liêm.

Divya Deshmukh undergoes another loss

In the Challengers section. Divya Deshmukh of India (19) lost against Marc’andria Maurizzi, 17, from France.

IM DESHMUKH is currently ninth in the position with only 1.5 point out of five possible. His next match is against the Finek Vaclav of the Czech Republic.

Prague Chess Festival Masters Ranking

Row	Player	Points
1	Aravindh Chithambaram	3.5
2	Praggnanandhaa rashbabu	3.5
3	Vincent Keymer	2.5
4	Lim	2.5
5	Anish Giri	2.5
6	Wei Yi	2.5
7	Sam Shankland	2
8	David Navara	2
9	Thai Dai Van Nguyen	2
10	Ediz Gurel	2

Prague Chess Festival Challengers rankings

Row	Player	Points
1	GM NODIRBEK YAKUBBOEV	4
2	GM Jonas Buhl Bjerre	3.5
3	GM Ivan Salgado Lopez	3
4	GM Marc’andria Maurizzi	3
5	GM Ma QU	2.5
6	Im Richard Stalmach	2
7	GM Stamatis Kourkoulos -arditis	2
8	FM Jachym Nemec	2
9	Im Divya Deshmukh	1.5
10	Im Vaclav Finek	1.5