Prague Chess Festival 2026 R2: Aravindh gets the winning start after beating Hans
Defending champion Aravindh Chithambaram scored a big win with the black pieces in the second round of the Prague International Chess Festival 2026. In the Masters section, there were 2 decisive results where Aravindh Chithambaram won his game against Hans Niemann, and David Anton Guijarro beat Jorden van Foreest with white pieces. In another important game, Nodirbek Yakubboev drew against D Gukesh. In the Challengers section, Divya Deshmukh drew her game against GM Daniil Yuffa, and Surya Shekhar Ganguly played a draw against Jonas Buhl Bjerre. In the 3rd round, Divya will be facing the World no.2 Zhu Jiner with black pieces. The third round for Masters, Challengers, and Futures, and Round 2 of Open starts today at 3 p.m. local time, 7:30 p.m. IST. Photos: Abhyudaya Ram
The Karel Janeček Open starts
354 players from 51 countries are taking part in this year’s Karel Janeček Open Tournament, which is in full swing with a record-breaking field. There’s a lot at stake, as the winner of the Open section will get a chance to compete in the Challengers, and Czech players have a chance to qualify for the national championship.
Prague Masters 2026
In the Masters section, we saw 2 decisive results where the defending champion, Aravindh Chithambaram, won his game against Hans Niemann with the black pieces. It was not the smoothest victory for Aravindh, but he managed to take advantage of Hans's mistake and won the game. David Anton Guijarro beat Jorden van Foreest with the white pieces as Jorden blundered in an equal position. The games between D Gukesh and Nodirbek Yakubboev, Vincent Keymer and David Navara, and Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Parham Maghsoodloo ended in a draw.
Hans Niemann vs Aravindh Chithambaram (0-1)
The game between Hans Niemann and Aravindh Chithambaran started with the Philidor Defence. For Aravindh, this round was a little tough as he got second black in a row after losing his first round against Abdusattorov, but this time Aravindh played the same opening, and the result was different as he won this important encounter against Hans.
In this complex position, playing with the white side, Hans was clearly better and could have played 31.Ne7+ kept the advantage and the extra material, but he was very low on time, and Aravindh managed to put Hans under time pressure as he had over 17 minutes on the clock while Hans had under a minute on his clock. This led to Hans making a mistake, and he played 31.Bd3 giving up the advantage, and in the next few moves, he was in a really bad position. Aravindh managed to win this game in 53 moves to secure his first point of the Prague Masters 2026
David Anton Guijarro vs Jorden van Foreest (1-0)
After losing his first game against Nodirbek Yakubboev, David Anton Guijaro made a huge comeback by winning his second round against in-form Jorden van Foreest, who won against Vincent Keymer in the first round. The game started with the King's Indian defence, and Jorden made a huge mistake in the middlegame. Checkout this interesting position from the game.
In this position, Jorden played 20...h6, and he completely missed an intermediate 21. Nhxf5 followed by Nxg7. The position was equal, and he could have played 20...Bxd4 followed by Nxg5.
White to play, find the best move
After 22...Kxg7, the idea for white was pretty clear as David played 23.Ne6+ followed by 24.Qxe4 exploiting the light squares next to the king. In the end, he managed to win this game in just 27 moves.
D Gukesh and Nodirbek Yakubboev (0.5-0.5)
The game between Gukesh and Yakubboev ended in a draw as Yakubboev decided to sacrifice his rook to repeat the moves with the black pieces. Playing a draw with the black pieces against Gukesh is good result for him as he already started the event with a win in the first round.
Prague Challengers 2026
In the second round of Prague Challengers, we saw 3 decisive results. IM Stepan Hrbek is on a winning streak as he won his second round against Zhu Jiner to score 2/2 points. He started the event as the lowest-rated player from the field, and now he is on 2/2 points. GM Thomas Beerdsen won his game against Benjamin Gledura. In another decisive result, Vaclav Finek won against Jachym Nemec.
Both Indian players drew their game in the 2nd round, as Divya Deshmukh drew her game against GM Daniil Yuffa, and Surya Shekhar Ganguly played a draw against Jonas Buhl Bjerre
Don't forget to cast your vote for the best game of this round: Here
Photo Gallery: Here
Participants
Previous winners
Venue: Don Giovanni Hotel Prague
Don Giovanni Hotel Prague is a 4-star hotel located in Prague's popular residential area of Vinohrady in proximity to the city centre. It is a modern city hotel built in 1995, and it is named after Mozart's opera Don Giovanni. The Hotel provides 412 spacious, air-conditioned guest rooms, and the majority of them offer exceptional views of Prague. Don Giovanni has 5 restaurants and bars. The Hotel also has one of the biggest conference capacities in Prague.
Schedule
The Round-Robin tournaments will take place from 25th February to 6th March 2026. Every day except the last round, games will start at 3 p.m. local time, 7:30 p.m. IST. Monday, 2nd March, is a rest day. The ninth game on 6th March will start at 11 a.m. local time, 3:30 p.m. IST.
Live Stream
Replay Round 2 Masters games
Replay Round 2 Challengers games
Round 2 Masters results
Bo. | No. | Rtg |
| White | Result | Black |
| Rtg | No. | PGN | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 10 | 2725 | GM | 0 - 1 | GM | 2700 | 6 | |||||
2 | 7 | 2708 | GM | ½ - ½ | GM | 2751 | 5 | |||||
3 | 8 | 2776 | GM | ½ - ½ | GM | 2628 | 4 | |||||
4 | 9 | 2666 | GM | 1 - 0 | GM | 2705 | 3 | |||||
5 | 1 | 2754 | GM | ½ - ½ | GM | 2691 | 2 |
Standings after Round 2
Rk. | SNo |
| Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | GM | 2691 | 1,5 | 0 | 1,5 | 1 | |||
2 | 5 | GM | 2751 | 1,5 | 0 | 1,25 | 1 | |||
3 | 4 | GM | 2628 | 1,5 | 0 | 0,75 | 1 | |||
4 | 9 | GM | 2666 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
5 | 1 | GM | 2754 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |||
6 | 3 | GM | 2705 | 1 | 2 | 0,5 | 1 | |||
6 | GM | 2700 | 1 | 2 | 0,5 | 1 | ||||
8 | 7 | GM | 2708 | 0,5 | 0 | 0,75 | 0 | |||
8 | GM | 2776 | 0,5 | 0 | 0,75 | 0 | ||||
10 | 10 | GM | 2725 | 0,5 | 0 | 0,5 | 0 |
Round 3 pairings
Bo. | No. | Rtg |
| White | Result | Black |
| Rtg | No. | PGN | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 2691 | GM | GM | 2725 | 10 | ||||||
2 | 3 | 2705 | GM | GM | 2754 | 1 | ||||||
3 | 4 | 2628 | GM | GM | 2666 | 9 | ||||||
4 | 5 | 2751 | GM | GM | 2776 | 8 | ||||||
5 | 6 | 2700 | GM | GM | 2708 | 7 |
Round 2 Challengers results
Bo. | No. | Rtg |
| White | Result | Black |
| Rtg | No. | PGN | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 10 | 2652 | GM | 0 - 1 | GM | 2525 | 6 | |||||
2 | 7 | 2629 | GM | ½ - ½ | GM | 2568 | 5 | |||||
3 | 8 | 2466 | IM | 0 - 1 | IM | 2538 | 4 | |||||
4 | 9 | 2463 | IM | 1 - 0 | GM | 2578 | 3 | |||||
5 | 1 | 2497 | GM | ½ - ½ | GM | 2604 | 2 |
Standings after Round 2
Rk. | SNo |
| Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 6 | GM | 2525 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |||
2 | 9 | IM | 2463 | 2 | 0 | 0,5 | 2 | |||
3 | 4 | IM | 2538 | 1,5 | 0 | 1,5 | 1 | |||
4 | 7 | GM | 2629 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||
5 | 1 | GM | 2497 | 1 | 0 | 0,5 | 0 | |||
6 | 8 | IM | 2466 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |||
7 | 2 | GM | 2604 | 0,5 | 0 | 0,5 | 0 | |||
5 | GM | 2568 | 0,5 | 0 | 0,5 | 0 | ||||
10 | GM | 2652 | 0,5 | 0 | 0,5 | 0 | ||||
10 | 3 | GM | 2578 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Round 3 pairings
Bo. | No. | Rtg |
| White | Result | Black |
| Rtg | No. | PGN | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | 2604 | GM | GM | 2652 | 10 | ||||||
2 | 3 | 2578 | GM | GM | 2497 | 1 | ||||||
3 | 4 | 2538 | IM | IM | 2463 | 9 | ||||||
4 | 5 | 2568 | GM | IM | 2466 | 8 | ||||||
5 | 6 | 2525 | GM | GM | 2629 | 7 |
Time Control
90 Minutes for 40 moves, followed by 30 Minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment from move 1
Links
Tournament Regulations: Masters, Challengers, Futures, Open
Prague Chess Festival: Facebook. Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube
