R Praggnanandhaa of India overcame Nodirbek Abdusattarov of Uzbekistan, the tournament’s overnight leader, to stake his claim to the top spot at the Prague Masters. Praggnanandhaa won with the black pieces, putting him within striking distance of the lone leader in the ten-player round-robin event, which still has three rounds to go.
Praggnanandhaa fared even better when second-placed Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran was defeated by Czech Republic’s Nguyen Thai Dai Van.As a result, Abdusattarov remains the leader with 4 points, followed by Praggnanandhaa, Richard Rapport of Romania, and Maghsoodloo, all of whom have 3.5 points each.