Prague Masters: Praggnanandhaa to take on Shankland after lone rest day

Prague (Czech Republic): With a career-high world ranking of No.8 as per the latest published list, Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa will take on American Sam Shankland in the sixth round of the Prague Masters after a rest day on Tuesday.

Tied at the top spot with compatriot and friend Aravindh Chithambaram, Praggnanandhaa tried to break the defences of his fellow countryman for a long time but only ended up with a draw.

The two are now on 3.5 points each out of a possible five.

Aravindh was surprised after his second win in the tournament.

"I don't know what's happening to me here," said Aravindh, who has also beaten top seed Wei Yi of China in the tournament.

The Indian, who has arrived big time in to the elite circles, now will have to tackle the experienced Quang Leim Le of Vietnam in the next round.

The two Indians are followed by a pack of four players having 2.5 points each.

The most dangerous of the lot is Wei Yi who started with two losses in the first three rounds and then won two in a row to send warning signals to his competitors.

Anish Giri and Quang Leim hold the dubious distinction of drawing all the five games thus far while Vincent Keymer has lost two, drawn one and won two out of his five games.

Aravindh has been the pick of the tournament so far, as not many had given him a chance. The former national champion has been working very hard and this is the first time he has got a real platform to showcase his real skill-set against the top GMs.

Praggnanandhaa has been exceptional in his two victories thus far, against Keymer and Nguyen Thai Dai Van. But his white pieces are not necessarily giving him any serious advantage.

It is well known that he makes up for it with his superior calculation skills, and much will depend on it especially against Shankland who also leaves no stone unturned in trying to carve out a niche for himself.

Following the contest against Shankland, Praggnanandhaa will have white pieces against Quang Leim and Wei Yi while in the last round he is pitted against the super-solid Giri.

For Aravindh, the road could be slightly easier as he has only the bottom field to compete against. In the seventh round, the Indian will play Giri, followed by David Navara of the Czech Republic before finally taking on Gurel Ediz of Turkey in his last round.

In the Challengers section, the lone Indian, Divya Deshmukh has got 1.5 points. She will try to gain some important rating points in the last four rounds, which will help her regain some confidence after the losses in the Tata Steel tournament earlier this month.

Pairings (Round 6): Sam Shankland (USA, 2) vs R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 3.5); Aravindh Chithambaram (Ind, 3.5) vs Quang Leim Le (Vie, 2.5); Wei Yi (Chn, 2.5) vs Gurel Ediz (Tur, 2); Nguyen Thai Dai Van (Cze, 2) vs David Navara (Cze, 2); Vincent Keymer (Ger, 2.5)vs Anish Giri (Ned, 2.5).

Challengers: Finel Vaclav (Cze, 1.5) vs Divya Deshmukh (Ind, 1.5); Ivan Salgado Lopez (Esp, 3) vs Richard Stalmach (Cze, 2); Stamatis Kourkoulous-Arditis (Gre, 2) vs Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb, 4); Jonas Buhl Bzerre (Den, 3.5) vs Marc`andria Maurizzi (Fra, 3); Nemec Jychym (Cze, 2) vs Ma Qun (Chn, 2.5).