Abdusattorov Wins Prague Masters

The 19-year-old Uzbek defeated Parham Maghsoodloo in a direct clash for the glory and became the sixth winner in the main tournament of the Prague International Chess Festival.

The third seeded player was of the favorites in the tournament. He took the lead after the fifth round when he dealt with last year's Challengers winner Mateusz Bartel. Abdusattorov lost only the Praggnanandhaa game in the eight rounds played so far, but his opponents didn’t take the chance to caught up with him. In the end he won with the last round to spare.

The even game in the eighth round became alive around the fiftieth move, when Maghsoodloo did not punish the Uzbek's pawn blunder. Later on came the hesitation of the Iranian chess player, which the leader punished and gained his victory of the Prague Masters.

“I’m very tired obviously, but at the same time, very happy to win this tournament. It’s huge achievement for me and my career, tournament was in general one of my best,“ said Abdusattorov directly after the last move and also praised his opponent Maghsoodloo. “He’s a great fighter, always fighting. But while creating chances for himself, he opens some for opponents as well. As many times earlier in our games, some crazy things happens. So I was hoping for that,” smiled the winner of the Masters.

Abdusattorov is the sixth champion of the prestigious chess festival. Success in the Czech capital added him into the company of Nikita Vitiugov, Alireza Firouzja, Sam Shankland, Pentala Harikrishna and Ray Robson. At the same time, he reached the fourth position in the world live ranking ahead of the reigning world champion Ding Liren.

Game of the day   Gukesh D (2743) vs. Keymer, Vincent (2738). 

Gukesh started well in Prague, but suffered two losses in a row, twice as White, in rounds five and six. He recovered well from that with a miraculous escape the other day against Praggnanandhaa, followed by a very good win today vs. Keymer.

The 19-year-old  Vincent from Mainz must have miscalculated something because, hardly out of the opening, he found himself in deep trouble. Gukesh had no mercy and played blow after blow, powerfully executing his attack. Nice gameto follow. 

Final Ranking after 9 Rounds

Rk.	SNo			Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	2		GM	Abdusattorov Nodirbek	UZB	2744	6,5	0	5	27,50
2	9		GM	Nguyen Thai Dai Van	CZE	2630	5	1,5	3	21,00
3	7		GM	Maghsoodloo Parham	IRI	2715	5	1	3	20,00
4	5		GM	Praggnanandhaa R	IND	2747	5	0,5	3	21,75
5	10		GM	Navara David	CZE	2667	4,5	1,5	1	19,25
6	8		GM	Rapport Richard	ROU	2717	4,5	1	1	20,25
7	3		GM	Gukesh D	IND	2743	4,5	0,5	2	20,50
8	4		GM	Bartel Mateusz	POL	2660	3,5	0,5	1	14,75
9	6		GM	Keymer Vincent	GER	2738	3,5	0,5	1	14,25
10	1		GM	Vidit Santosh Gujrathi	IND	2747	3	0	0	14,25

Schedule

The event starts on February 27 at 9 a.m. ET / 15:00 CET and ends on March 7.

Format

The players compete in a single round-robin: every player faces every other player in the field once. The player with the most points at the end of the tournament wins. 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.

Prizes

The organizers have not disclosed the prizes for the Masters tournament.

Location

The event will happen at the Don Giovanni Hotel in Prague, Czech Republic.

Prior Events

The Prague International Chess Festival is a yearly event that started in 2019. The Festival features one tournament divided into multiple sections and side events. Below, you can see a list of the past winners of the Masters section:

• 2023: GMRay Robson
• 2022: GMPentala Harikrishna
• 2021: GMSam Shankland
• 2020: GMAlireza Firouzja
• 2019: GMNikita Vitiugov