Prague Chess Festival: India's Vidit Gujrathi wins third match of tournament, stays on top of table with four points from five games

Prague: Indian Grand Master Vidit Gujrathi opened up a one-point lead after posting an impressive win over world’s top junior Alireza Firouzja in the fifth round of the Prague Chess Festival’s Masters Category. [caption id=“attachment_4875281” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File photo Vidit Gujrathi. Photo: Official website[/caption] The 25-year old notched up his third win by outclassing his Iranian opponent in a 24-move Slav exchange late on Sunday. Firouzja, playing with black pieces, underestimated the power of the exchanged variants and went down without much of a fight. “I am happy with the way the games are going,” Gujrathi said after moving to four points from five games. P Harikrishna, the other Indian in the 10-player field, held higher-rated Russian Nikita Vitiugov in 59 moves, to take his tally to two points. Vitiugov and top seed Jan-Krzysztof Duda of Poland are in the second spot with three points. Duda (Elo rating 2755) could not force a win over Swedish GM Nils Grandelius, the lowest-rated player in the Masters event at 2659. In the sixth round to be played on Tuesday after a day’s rest, Harikrishna will meet David Anton Guijarro and Gujrathi will take on Vitiugov. Results of Round 5: P Harikrishna (India) 2 drew with Nikita Vitiugov (RUS) 2; Vidit Gujrathi (India) 4 beat Alirez Firouzja (Iran) 2.5; Sam Shankland (USA) 2 drew with David Anton Guijarro (SPA) 2.5; Markus Ragger (Austria) 2 drew with Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland) 3; David Navara (Italy) beat Nils Grandelius (Sweden) 2.