Prague Masters: Aravindh crushes Giri to surge ahead
Grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram crashed through the defence of super-solid Anish Giri to jump into sole lead after the end of the seventh round of Prague Masters chess tournament.
R Praggnanandhaa played out a draw with pre-event rating favourite Wei Yi of China. Aravindh took his tally to five points out of a possible seven and now enjoys a half-point lead over Praggnanandhaa.
Sam Shankland of United States defeated Quang Leim Le of Vietnam. Interestingly, both Quang Leim and Giri had drawn the first six games and the axe fell on them at the same time. In the other decisive game, 16-year-old Gurel Ediz of Turkey scored a win over local Nguyen Thai Dai Van. David Navara of Czech Republic played out a draw with Vincent Keymer of Germany. With two rounds to come, Aravindh and Pragg are followed by Wei Yi, Ediz, Keymer and Shankland on 3.5 points each.
In the challengers' section, Jonas Buhl Bjerre added to the woes of lone Indian Divya Deshmukh who remained at the last spot on 1.5 points from seven games. The lead in this section is shared by Bjerre and Nodirbek Yakubboev of Uzbekistan on 5.5 points each.
