Super Classic Chess: Praggnanandhaa held by Foreest; Keymer surges ahead

Indian Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa played out a draw with Dutchman Jorden Van Foreest even as Germany’s Vincent Keymer surged ahead following a facile victory in the fourth round of Super Chess Classic in Bucharest.

With a sole win over Alireza Firouzja of France and three draws, Praggnanandhaa inched to 2.5 points out of a possible four while Vincent moved to sole lead on three points after beating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France.

On a day when Anish Giri also got an easy draw against World Championships challenger Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan, Wesley So was also held to a draw by Deac Bogdan-Daniel of Romania.

Firouzja abstained from playing the fourth round citing health issues.

Praggnanandhaa faced an irregular opening as black and did not have any trouble equalising.

Van Foreest, who is slowly gaining ground and is already in top 20 of world rankings, pushed harder for a win among the two. As it happened, the players decided to repeat and the truce was called in just 35 moves.

Keymer was a class act as Vachier-Lagrave was outdone in the middle game.

After an English attack against the Najdorf Sicilian, Keymer sensed his chances with white pieces and launched a central attack that worked well given that the Frenchman had clear weaknesses on the king side.

Keymer pounced on an opportunity that gave him a rook for a Bishop and just moments later, Vachier-Lagrave erred decisively to lose further material. It was all over in just 38 moves.

Results round 4: Jorden Van Foreest (Ned, 2.5) drew with R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 2.5); Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 1.5) vs Aiireza Firouzja (Fra, 0.5) game postponed; Wesley So (Usa, 2) drew with Deac Bogdan Daniel (Rou, 1); Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb, 1.5) drew with Anish Giri (Ned, 2.5); Vincent Keymer (Ger, 3) beat Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 2).