Prague Chess: Aravindh leads with a round to spare; Praggnanandhaa follows

India's GM Aravindh Chithambaram continues to enjoy the solo lead at the 2025 Prague Chess Festival Masters event with just a round left in the competition.

The 25-year-old Aravindh played out a draw with the white pieces against GM David Navara of Czech Republic to maintain his lead.

Aravindh seemed to have an edge in the Ruy Lopez opening but failed to make much of it as Navaro held his own comfortably before the duo shook hands after a short 30-move battle.

Aravindh currently sits atop the leaderboard with 5.5 points after eight rounds.

He will next face off against Ediz Gurel of Turkey in the final round on Friday.

Meanwhile, the other Indian in contention and Aravindh's biggest rival in the tournament – Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu – also drew his eighth round game against Liam Le.

Praggnanandhaa did manage to get a better position out of the Catalan opening but Liam was rock solid. The Vietnamese managed to equalise in the middle game and walked home with a 36-move draw.

Praggnanandhaa currently has five points out of a possible eight and trails Aravindh by half-a-point in the second place.

Praggnanandhaa, who had won the Tata Steel Masters earlier in the year, will have a tougher opponent in Anish Giri in the final round of play.

Divya plays out a draw

Elsewhere in the Challengers section, India's Divya Deshmukh played out a draw against FM Jachym Nemec with the black pieces in the penultimate round on Thursday.

Deshmukh and Nemec shook hands after a long 55-move battle.

Deshmukh, an International Master, lays last in the competition at the tenth spot with just two points after eight rounds.