Classical play
The players are following well-chartered queen's pawn territory, as Dubov brings out his queenside knight to the most natural square.
Classical play
The players are following well-chartered queen's pawn territory, as Dubov brings out his queenside knight to the most natural square.
The Ragozin
This variation against the Queen's Gambit is considered absolutely top-tier, so Dubov will have his work cut out for him if he wants to carve out any sort of an edge out of the opening.
Dubov brings out his bishop to an active square, pinning the knight. The drawback of this move however is that it leaves his queenside pawn undefended.
Pragg makes use of the fact that this pawn has no defender, and snatches it before Dubov has the time to cover it.
Dubov builds a strong center
He's now threatening to play bishop takes pawn on the next move, when he would have a big center and an ideal position.
Pragg acts fast, pushing his pawn forward to pressure Dubov's strong center.
Dubov allows a capture of his central pawn, in order to recover his material immediately.
Dubov recaptures with his knight, in order to keep the queens on the board.
Pragg gives up his bishop
The downside for him is that now Dubov has the two bishop advantage. But the upside is that the Russian's pawn structure has taken a hit.
Concrete play
Pragg immediately steps his queen out, pressuring both the pawn and the undefended bishop. Dubov must react immediately.
Dubov steps his knight forward, in order to protect his pawn and at the same time cut the vision of Pragg's queen against his dark-squared bishop.
Pragg wins a pawn!
Super sharp terrain that the players find themselves early on, as Pragg snatches the undefended pawn in the center.
Dubov uses tactics!
He steps his queen to the center, hitting the knight and banking on the tactical line that follows after knight takes bishop. If Pragg does this, then Dubov will be able to play queen takes pawn with a strike on the rook and knight.
Pragg sacrifices a piece!
But it's temporary, as soon he will be able to recover it due to some tactics of his own.
Dubov goes up a piece temporarily.
This is the tactic that Pragg is banking on, since now if the knight moves then Dubov would lose his bishop.
Dubov castles
He allows Pragg to win his knight, while continuing his development as quickly as possible.
Pragg recovers his piece, and is in fact now a pawn to the good.
Dubov threatens checkmate!
He forms a queen-bishop battery, and Pragg must react immediately in order to stop the threat of mate!
Pragg shuts down the threat
He pushes his pawn forward to not only block the threat of mate, but to do so with gain of time against Dubov's queen.
Dubov is following Magnus Carlsen!
An interesting detail of this game is that the players are following a game that Magnus played back in 2019 against Vishy Anand. No doubt that both players will be familiar with this one. A detail of note is that Dubov was actually a second (a type of helper) for Magnus during his last World Championship title defense against Nepomniachtchi, back in 2021.
A natural choice
It's interesting that this move is relatively rare, because it looks like the most natural of options. Pragg is simply stepping his bishop out to defend his pawn against the threat.
Dubov does likewise
He too drops his bishop back, guarding the undefended pawn that is under pressure from Pragg's queen.
Pragg drops back
He abandons the defense of his pawn, which is not a big concern for him as that is his extra material. His goal is not to try to keep a weak doubled and isolated pawn like that one, but rather to organize his pieces well and finish his development asap.
Dubov stops the pawn advance
One thing that he's got on his mind is the importance of stopping Pragg from mobilizing his central pawns. By bringing his rook to the file he cuts this threat out, at least for now.
Pragg renews the threat
He's still eager to push the central pawn forward, so he supports it with his rook.
The reason this is helpful for him is that it secures space, better central control, and more freedom for his pieces in the long run.
Dubov isn't so interested in winning back his pawn, he would rather find active squares for his powerful bishop pair. This move is designed to help bring his unopposed dark-squared bishop into play over the coming moves.
Pragg takes the pawn, ensuring that he'll stay up material indefinitely.
In exchange, Dubov gets to bring his bishop onto an active diagonal and exert some pressure against Pragg's king.
Pragg finishes developing the last of his minor pieces.
Dubov applies some pressure
He brings his rook to a very natural open file, not only lending support to his bishop but also x-raying (indirectly targeting) Pragg's queen.
Pragg steps away from the file
He was likely feeling a little uncomfortable being in the line of sight of Dubov's rook, so he steps his queen towards the central file instead.
Easy play
If either side has the simpler decisions to make here, it's Dubov. He brings his bishop out towards the strong diagonal, and Pragg has to contend with a king that is going to be feeling relatively unsafe for a long time to come. This is because of the relative weakness of Pragg's dark squares, and the fact that Dubov is the only side with a dark-squared bishop.
Pragg harasses the bishop
He wants to force Dubov to retreat this bishop to a less powerful diagonal, while at the same time making way for his own bishop to come forward to the main light-squared diagonal.
It took Dubov more than half an hour to make his decision, but he ultimately settles on a strong plan. The rook hits the queen, offsetting the pressure against his queenside bishops with pressure of his own against both of Pragg's central pieces.
Pragg drops his queen back, away from the attack and at the same time guarding his kingside pawns.
He initiates a forcing sequence that is going to simplify down into a very much equal endgame. Looks like Dubov has made up his mind: he wants tiebreaks!
Pragg has no choice but to take back, going up the exchange for now, but he will immediately lose this back.
Winning back the exchange as well as his missing pawn.
Pragg has to recapture, as otherwise his queen would hang.
Now the queens are about to leave the board.
Pragg brings his knight back into the game, while also opening up an attack against Dubov's left-hand pawn.
Dubov drops back, defending his pawn from the side. I would not be surprised if this game lasts only a few more moves from here.
Pragg pushes the pawn forward
He's looking to close things out quickly here, by aiming for a fast trade of the remaining queenside pawns.
Dubov obliges, as he now targets Pragg's pawn and prepares to simplify into a rook ending.
Pragg offers up his pawn, knowing that if it gets captured then he will win Dubov's own queenside pawn in exchange.
The last series of trades of the game, as the players are about to go down to a dead drawn rook and pawn endgame.
Pragg takes back, and now the minor pieces are coming off the board.
Dubov is about to lose his pawn on the queenside, meaning that there will be nothing left to play for. Expect an immediate draw from here.
Praggnanandhaa was not in the slightest bit troubled by Dubov's opening choice today. The Russian went for a well-known line in the Queen's Pawn game, but Pragg was prepared and responded with the very resilient Ragozin Defense.
It seems that both of the players were similarly well-prepared, with the two following a 2019 game played between Magnus Carlsen and Vishy Anand for a dozen or so moves.
By the time the dust settled and the players started to think on their own two feet, the position was already extremely drawish. It's true that Pragg was a pawn to the good, but Dubov always had compensation given that he had netted the bishop pair advantage for himself early on.
In the end, a draw was a fair result, with Dubov deciding to lock that in and secure tiebreaks by forcing a series of piece exchanges beginning with a sacrifice of the exchange on move 23.
Let's see who is able to come out on top in what is set to be an exciting round of rapid (and perhaps blitz) tomorrow!
How far will Dubov push?
Yesterday, the Russian grandmaster came extremely close to an upset against one of the pre-tournament favorites, and he did so with the Black pieces.
Ultimately, Pragg did escape (and, to be fair, he had some winning chances of his own in that game!) But still, the way the game panned out cannot have been so great for the Indian's confidence as we get ready to sit down for the second and final classical game of their match.
The big question, I feel, is just how much aggression are we going to see from Dubov? It's unlikely that Pragg is going to take undue risk from the Black side, but for Dubov things are trickier. On the one hand, it makes a tonne of sense to press for the maximum advantage with the White pieces and try to win the match while avoiding the nervewracking day of tiebreaks. On the other, Dubov might reason that his chances of match victory are highest precisely in the faster time format of rapid & blitz. That could mean that instead of pushing for a win today, we see him try to 'kill' the game and go for a very drawish line.
Hard to guess what his strategy will be, but we will soon get a good idea depending on the flavor of the variation he goes for in the first half a dozen or so moves. Let's see what the day brings!