Prague R1: Keymer and Shankland begin with victories

Two decisive games, a missed opportunity

Vincent Keymer had a good start at the Chess Festival in Prague when he played a good game against the Chinese GM Wei Yi from start to finish, which rarely loses and entered the Masters tournament as a top seed.

It was a difficult start for top -seed Wei Yi | Photo: Petr Vrabec

Sam Shankland won the Masters in Prague in 2021 and would of course like to repeat this success in 2025. He showed a remarkable persistence against the young Turkish grand master Ediz Gürel, who qualified for the event by winning the Challengers department in 2024.

Sam Shankland | Photo: Petr Vrabec

The three remaining games ended with a tie, although Thai Dai Van Nguyen missed a very good opportunity to start the tournament in his game with the black parts against Aravindh Chithambaram.

Aravindh Chithambaram | Photo: Petr Vrabec

Round 1 results

Rating

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Challenger: Salgado and Bjerre Score

The evaluation favorite in the challengers is the Uzbek grand master Nodirbek Yakubboev. As luck, he played in the first round against the second seed, China's Ma Qun. The game ended with a tie.

In the meantime, both Jonas Buhl Bjerre, the third seed, and Ivan Salgado Lopez, the fourth seed, scored full points to become the early co-leaders.

The arcade | Photo: Petr Vrabec

Round 1 results

Rating

All games

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