D Gukesh holds Niemann to tense draw in Prague Masters opener

D Gukesh

World champion D Gukesh survived some anxious moments in the early middle game before finally drawing with Hans Moke Niemann of the United States in the first round of the masters section of the Prague International Chess Festival here. The Berlin defense that went wrong for white could be a perfect heading for the encounter between the world champion and Niemann, who is walking his way to the elite chess circles after being indirectly accused of foul play.

It may be recalled that the American infamously won a game against world number one Magnus Carlsen, which will now be documented in a forthcoming Netflix series. Niemann came all guns blazing and sacrificed a piece with black piece as early as on move 13 to put Gukesh on the back foot despite having the white pieces. The Indian was down but not out which he proved as the game progressed, and even though, black seemed like pushing for more with his extra pawns in exchange for the sacrificed knight, Gukesh ensured that he stayed in the game.

The eventual outcome was a draw, the lone one in the 10-player, nine round tournament that saw everyone with white pieces triumph in contrasting styles. Defending champion Aravindh Chithambaram of India turned out to be on the wrong side of a position against Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan. The Philidor defense by the Indian generated enough evidence that every opening could be playable only till he walked into a deft manoeuvre.

Aravindh lost in the rook and minor piece endgame after losing one of his pawn, and if that was not enough top seeded Vincent Keymer of Germany was blown away by a resurgent Jorden van Foreest of The Netherlands. It was another Berlin defense wherein Foreest came out with a new idea that perplexed Keymer. As the opening concluded, the Dutchman had an advantage and he picked up a handful of pawns to register a comprehensive victory.

Also ending on a winning note was Abdusattorov's name sake and teammate Nodirbek Yakubboev who put it across David Anton Gujjaro of Spain, while in the other encounter of the day local favourite Navara David proved stronger against Iranian Parham Maghsoodloo. In the challengers section, women's world cup winner Divya Deshmukh drew with top seeded Benjamin Gledura of Hungary from a position of strength but Surya Shekhar Ganguly ended on the receiving end against Thomas Beerdsen of The Netherlands.

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