Last Updated:
D Gukesh loses to Nodirbek Abdusattorov at Prague International Chess Festival; Jorden van Foreest leads, Divya Deshmukh wins in Challengers section.
Reigning World Champion D Gukesh (Chess.com)
The fortunes of World Champion D Gukesh didn’t change for the fifth successive day as the Indian player blundered from a position of strength to lose to his nemesis, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, at the Prague International Chess Festival.
Just a month ago, Gukesh had lost to Abdusattorov because of a blunder from a decent position during the Tata Steel Masters. The fifth round in Prague was even more heartbreaking as Gukesh did everything right for the major part of the middle game and seemed to be cruising towards an easy win.
Employing a new strategy as black, Gukesh tormented white’s king early in the opening and created enough weaknesses for the computer to suggest that he was closing in on his first victory in the Masters section of the tournament.
However, the clock had the final say as the Indian faltered in the closing stages of the first time control.
Abdusattorov almost returned the favour, but it simply was not Gukesh’s day as another blunder saw white advance his pawn to glory.
While Nodirbek was lucky, there seems to be no stopping Dutch Grandmaster Jorden van Foreest, who climbed to number 11 in the world rankings in live ratings following his fourth victory in five games.
On the receiving end was Hans Moke Niemann of the United States, who made a single error that decisively favoured Foreest.
The day produced all decisive matches in the 10-player round-robin tournament. Defending champion Aravindh Chithambaram succumbed to his third loss in five matches, giving David Anton Guijarro of Spain something to rejoice before the lone rest day.
Local star David Navara continued his excellent run and ground down Uzbek Nodirbek Yakubboev in what was certainly the game of the day. In the other duel, Iranian Parham Maghsoodloo scored over Vincent Keymer of Germany.
With Foreest on four points, Abdusattorov and Navara are close on his heels, half a point behind. Guijarro occupies the fourth spot alone with three points, half a point clear of Maghsoodloo, while Vincent Keymer is joint sixth on two points alongside Yakubboev.
Gukesh, Aravindh, and Niemann occupy the last three spots with just 1.5 points.
In the challengers’ section, World Women’s Cup winner Divya Deshmukh scored her first win in the tournament at the expense of fellow Indian Surya Shekhar Ganguly, moving to a 50% score.
Finek Vanclav of the Czech Republic continues to lead the tables in the Challengers with four points.
Results round 4: David Navara (Cze, 3.5) beat Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb, 2); Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 4) beat Hans Moke Niemann (Usa, 1.5); Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 3.5) beat D Gukesh (Ind, 1.5); Aravindh Chithambaram (Ind, 1.5) lost to David Anton Guijarro (Esp, 3); Parham Maghsoodloo (Iri, 2.5) beat Vincent Keymer (Ger, 2).
Challengers: Jiner Zhu (Chn, 1.5) drew with Benjamin Gledura (Hun, 2); Joans Buhl Bjerre (Den, 2.5) drew with Jachym Nemec (Cze, 3); Thomas Beerdsen (Ned, 3) drew with Stepn Hrbek (Cze, 3); Surya Shekhar Ganguly (Ind, 1) lost to Divya Deshmukh (Ind, 2.5); Finek Vanclav (Cze, 4) beat Daniil Yuffa (Esp, 1.5)
(With PTI Inputs)
March 02, 2026, 12:57 IST
Read More
