11. - 22. February 2020
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Firouzja wins Masters, Van Foreest winner of Challengers

22 Feb 2020

It was a thriller final round at the Prague International Chess Festival. With the games Duda vs Vidit and Shankland vs Vitiugov finishing with the decisive results, and Firouzja surviving against Anton, there was a 5-way tie for the 1st place. Despite losing to Duda, the tournament leader Vidit Gijrathi had the best tie-break and he was to play against Firouzja. The Indian lost the play-off with 2-0, which did not come as a surprise since it was already very difficult to play after losing two final games. What could have been one of the best performances of his life, in the end, turned out to be a horror ending for Vidit, who could not keep up with the pressure. 


Rk. Name ELO FED 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pts. DE SB B
1 GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi 2721 IND * 1 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 5 2,5 22,50 4
2 GM Alireza Firouzja 2726 FID 0 * 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ 5 2,0 22,25 4
3 GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda 2755 POL 1 0 * ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 5 2,0 22,00 5
4 GM David Anton Guijarro 2697 ESP ½ ½ ½ * ½ 0 ½ ½ 1 1 5 2,0 21,25 5
5 GM Sam Shankland 2683 USA 0 ½ ½ ½ * 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 5 1,5 21,25 5
6 GM Nikita Vitiugov 2731 RUS ½ ½ ½ 1 0 * ½ ½ ½ ½ 0,5 20,25 4
7 GM Harikrishna Pentala 2713 IND ½ 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ 1 ½ 0,5 19,75 5
8 GM Markus Ragger 2670 AUT 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * ½ ½ 4 0,5 18,00 5
9 GM David Navara 2717 CZE 1 ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ * 1 4 0,5 17,25 4
10 GM Nils Grandelius 2659 SWE ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 * 3 0,0 14,00 4

After starting with 5 draws, Jorden Van Foreest (Netherlands) scored 3.5 out of the last four rounds and became the clear winner of the Challengers tournament. In the final round, he defeated Hannes Stefansson and with 6.5 points won the event, and more importantly, qualified for the next edition of PICF Masters tournament.

There was a tie for the second place between Nijat Abasov and Andrey Esipenko. Thanks to the tie-break, the top seed from Azerbaijan finished second and the 17-year-old Russia came third.

Rk. Name ELO FED 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pts. DE SB B
1 GM Jorden Van Foreest 2667 NED * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ ½ 1 6 0,0 25,50 5
2 GM Nijat Abasov 2670 AZE ½ * 1 1 0 ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1,0 23,75 5
3 GM Andrey Esipenko 2654 RUS ½ 0 * 1 ½ ½ ½ 1 1 ½ 0,0 22,50 5
4 GM Kacper Piorun 2611 POL ½ 0 0 * 1 1 ½ ½ 1 ½ 5 2,0 20,75 4
5 GM Mateusz Bartel 2639 POL ½ 1 ½ 0 * ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 5 0,5 21,50 4
6 GM Hannes Stefansson 2529 ISL 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ * ½ 1 1 1 5 0,5 18,75 4
7 GM Van Dai Thai Nguyen 2560 CZE 0 ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ * 1 ½ ½ 0,0 19,00 4
8 IM Lukáš Černoušek 2442 CZE ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 0 * 1 ½ 0,0 14,50 5
9 IM Tadeáš Kriebel 2524 CZE ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 ½ 0 * 1 1,0 10,25 5
10 GM Jan Krejčí 2559 CZE 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 0 ½ ½ 0 * 0,0 12,00 4

This year besides the regular prizes, the organizers of the Prague Chess Festival included one special trophy. The Vugar Gashimov Prize for Fair Play was awarded in person by the brother of the late Azerbaijani Grandmaster, Mr. Sarkan Gashimov. The prize in the Challengers went to Mateusz Barte, while in Masters section the winner was Grandmaster David Navara.


Local hero Václav Finěk triumphed in the Futures tournament, the newest addition to the Prague Chess Festival. He defeated Roy Vagman from Israel, while, at the time tournament leader, Ediz Gurel from Turkey lost to Mongolian Chinguun. They both ties for the 1st place with 6 points, but Finek had better tie-breaks. The third place went to another Czech player Jáchym Němec with 5 points.


Rk. Name ELO FED 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pts. DE SB B
1 FM Václav Finěk 2220 CZE * ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 6 0,5 27,25 5
2 CM Ediz Gurel 2125 TUR ½ * ½ 1 1 1 ½ ½ 0 1 6 0,5 26,25 4
3 Jáchym Němec 2069 CZE 0 ½ * ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 1 1 5 0,5 19,75 4
4 Jan Klimkowski 2229 POL 0 0 ½ * 0 1 1 1 ½ 1 5 0,5 19,50 5
5 CM Roy Vagman 2141 ISR 0 0 ½ 1 * 1 1 0 ½ ½ 2,0 19,25 4
6 CM Nikola Kanov 2129 BUL ½ 0 1 0 0 * ½ ½ 1 1 0,5 17,75 5
7 WCM Gulenay Aydin 1964 TUR ½ ½ 0 0 0 ½ * 1 1 1 0,5 17,75 4
8 WFM Viktória Nadzamová 1960 SVK 0 ½ ½ 0 1 ½ 0 * 1 ½ 4 0,0 16,50 5
9 CM Bayaraa Chinguun 2049 MGL 1 1 0 ½ ½ 0 0 0 * 0 3 0,0 16,75 5
10 Karel Brožka 2045 CZE ½ 0 0 0 ½ 0 0 ½ 1 * 0,0 10,25 4

Indian IM Akash G became the winner of the PICF 2020 Open tournament and qualified for the Challengers event next year. Akash drew with Toms Kantans in the final round, and with 7.5 points shared the first place with Jergus Pechac and Johan-Sebastian Christiansen, ad thanks to the best tie-break criteria, he won the title and the chance to play in the Challengers 2021. Final Standings


On behalf of the Prague Chess Festival organizers, we would like to congratulate the winners and to thank all the players, as well as all the people who made this tournament possible. See you next year!