Prague Masters: Praggnanandhaa outwits Keymer to join Aravindh in lead

Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa secures second victory in Prague Masters, tying with Aravindh Chithambaram at the top.

Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa scored his second victory on the trot, outwitting Vincent Keymer of Germany to join compatriot Aravindh Chithambaram at the top on three points after the end of the fourth round of the Prague Masters here.

Aravindh survived some initial hiccups before signing peace with Sam Shankland of the United States, while top seed Wei Yi of China finally found his form at the expense of local star David Navara.

Anish Giri of Netherlands played out his fourth draw in as many games with Gurel Ediz of Turkey, while Czech GM Nguyen Thai Dai Van also drew with Quang Leim Le of Vietnam in the other two games of the 10-player round-robin tournament.

With Praggnanadhaa and Aravindh in front, Shankland, Keymer, Giri and Le share the third spot a full point behind and it looks like the race for the title will be between the two Indians only with five rounds still to come.

Almost a month back Keymer had beaten Praggnanandhaa in the Tata Steel Masters and the Indian avenged his defeat fighting from what looked like a shaky French defense with black.

Keymer was caught off guard in the middlegame.

Praggnanandhaa went for the trade of queens and got his counter attack rolling.