Prague Chess Festival 2026 R7: Jorden maintains sole lead going into the penultimate round

by Devansh Singh - 05/03/2026

It was a peaceful day at the Prague International Chess Festival 2026, as in the 7th round of the Masters section, there was only one decisive result where Vincent Keymer won a beautiful game against David Anton Guijarro with white pieces. All other games ended in a draw. Aravindh Chithambaram was clearly winning against Nodirbek Yakubboev, but he missed the chance to convert the game, and the game ended in a draw. In the Challengers section, Surya Shekhar Ganguly won his game against Zhu Jiner and Divya drew her game against Jonas Buhl Bjerre. Round 8 of the Masters, Challengers, Futures, and Open starts Today at 3 pm local time, 7:30 pm IST. Photos: Abhyudaya Ram

Who's going to win the Prague Masters with 2 rounds to go

Jorden van Foreest is leading the field with 5/7 points. Jorden won 4 games and drew his last 2 games. In the second place, it's a tie between David Navara and Nodirbek Abdusattorov on 4.5/7 points. In the 8th round Jorden will be facing Aravindh Chithambaram, and David Navara will go against Abdusattorov.

Jorden giving an autograph

Prague Masters 2026

In the 7th round of the Prague Masters, Vincent won a beautiful game against David Anton Guijarro. David sacrificed material in the opening, and Vincent defended the position and eventually won the game. Aravindh Chithambaram missed a huge chance to win against Nodirbek Yakubboev. Gukesh played a draw against Parham Maghsoodloo.

Vincent Keymer vs David Anton Guijarro (1-0)'

Aravindh Chithambaram vs Nodirbek Yakubboev (0.5-0.5)

Nodirbek Abdusattorov vs Jorden van Foreest (0.5-0.5)

Parham Maghsoodloo vs D Gukesh (0.5-0.5)

Standings of the Masters section | Graphic: PICF

Prague Challengers 2026

In the 7th round of the Prague Challengers, Surya Shekhar Ganguly won his game against Zhu Jiner with white pieces. Divya Deshmukh held a draw against Jonas Buhl Bjerre. Finek Vaclav is still leading the event by 1 point.

Surya Shekhar Ganguly vs Zhu Jiner (1-0)

Jonas Buhl Bjerre vs Divya Deshmukh (0.5-0.5)

This game is a perfect example of how good Divya Deshmukh's opening preparation is. Her opponent is the Danish number 1, Jonas Bjerre. They played against each other in the 7th round of Prague Challengers 2026. Until move 15, the game followed the same direction as in Fabiano Caruana vs Vishy Anand. Anand had lost that game at the Global Chess League in December 2025, but Divya Deshmukh improved upon the preparation of Vishy Anand.

Jonas Buhl Bjerre vs Divya Deshmukh (0.5-0.5)

Check out the game along with commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Finek Vaclav vs Benjamin Gledura (0.5-0.5)

Photo Gallery from this round: Here

Inaugural Move

Tournament director: Petr Boleslav

Focused!

Don't forget to cast your vote for the best game of this round: Here

Best game award of round 1: David Navara for his game against Maghsoodloo

Best game award of round 2: David Anton Guijarro for his game against Jorden

Best game award of round 3: Jorden van Foreest for his game against D Gukesh

Best game award of round 4: Vincent Keymer for his game against Aravindh Chithambaram

Best game award of round 5: David Navara for his beautiful game against Yakubboev

Best game award of round 6: Aravindh Chithambaram for his game against D Gukesh

Participants

Lineup of Masters and Futures

Lineup of Challengers

Previous winners

Who is going to be next??

Venue: Don Giovanni Hotel Prague

Photo: PRAGUE INTERNATIONAL CHESS FESTIVAL

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 offers 412 spacious, air-conditioned guest rooms, and most 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.

Venue tour | Video: ChessBase India

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 7 Live Commentary by GM Harshit Raja | Video: ChessBase India

Replay Round 7 Masters games

Replay Round 7 Challengers games

Round 7 Masters results

Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	4	2628	GM	NAVARA David	½ - ½	GM	NIEMANN Hans Moke	2725	10	PGN
2	5	2751	GM	ABDUSATTOROV Nodirbek	½ - ½	GM	VAN FOREEST Jorden	2705	3	PGN
3	6	2700	GM	ARAVINDH Chithambaram Vr.	½ - ½	GM	YAKUBBOEV Nodirbek	2691	2	PGN
4	7	2708	GM	MAGHSOODLOO Parham	½ - ½	GM	GUKESH D	2754	1	PGN
5	8	2776	GM	KEYMER Vincent	1 - 0	GM	ANTON GUIJARRO David	2666	9	PGN

Details

Standings after Round 7

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	3	GM	VAN FOREEST Jorden	NED	2705	5	0	15,5	4
2	4	GM	NAVARA David	CZE	2628	4,5	0	14,75	2
3	5	GM	ABDUSATTOROV Nodirbek	UZB	2751	4,5	0	14,25	2
4	7	GM	MAGHSOODLOO Parham	IRI	2708	3,5	1	11,25	1
5	8	GM	KEYMER Vincent	GER	2776	3,5	2	12,25	2
6	9	GM	ANTON GUIJARRO David	ESP	2666	3,5	3	14,25	2
7	2	GM	YAKUBBOEV Nodirbek	UZB	2691	3	0	9,5	1
8	6	GM	ARAVINDH Chithambaram Vr.	IND	2700	3	0	7,75	2
9	10	GM	NIEMANN Hans Moke	USA	2725	2,5	0	8,25	0
10	1	GM	GUKESH D	IND	2754	2	0	6,75	0

Details

Round 8 pairings

Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	10	2725	GM	NIEMANN Hans Moke		GM	ANTON GUIJARRO David	2666	9
2	1	2754	GM	GUKESH D		GM	KEYMER Vincent	2776	8
3	2	2691	GM	YAKUBBOEV Nodirbek		GM	MAGHSOODLOO Parham	2708	7
4	3	2705	GM	VAN FOREEST Jorden		GM	ARAVINDH Chithambaram Vr.	2700	6
5	4	2628	GM	NAVARA David		GM	ABDUSATTOROV Nodirbek	2751	5

Details

Round 7 Challengers results

Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	4	2538	IM	FINEK Vaclav	½ - ½	GM	GLEDURA Benjamin	2652	10	PGN
2	5	2568	GM	GANGULY Surya Shekhar	1 - 0	GM	ZHU Jiner	2578	3	PGN
3	6	2525	GM	BEERDSEN Thomas	0 - 1	GM	YUFFA Daniil	2604	2	PGN
4	7	2629	GM	BJERRE Jonas Buhl	½ - ½	GM	DIVYA Deshmukh	2497	1	PGN
5	8	2466	IM	NEMEC Jachym	1 - 0	IM	HRBEK Stepan	2463	9	PGN

Details

Standings after Round 7

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	4	IM	FINEK Vaclav	CZE	2538	5	0	17,75	3
2	2	GM	YUFFA Daniil	ESP	2604	4	0	12	3
3	8	IM	NEMEC Jachym	CZE	2466	4	0	11,5	3
4	7	GM	BJERRE Jonas Buhl	DEN	2629	3,5	1	12,75	1
5	6	GM	BEERDSEN Thomas	NED	2525	3,5	2	11,5	2
6	10	GM	GLEDURA Benjamin	HUN	2652	3,5	3	12,75	2
7	1	GM	DIVYA Deshmukh	IND	2497	3,5	3	12,25	1
8	9	IM	HRBEK Stepan	CZE	2463	3,5	5	10,75	2
9	5	GM	GANGULY Surya Shekhar	IND	2568	2,5	0	7,5	1
10	3	GM	ZHU Jiner	CHN	2578	2	0	7,75	1

Details

Round 8 pairings

Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.	PGN
1	10	2652	GM	GLEDURA Benjamin		IM	HRBEK Stepan	2463	9
2	1	2497	GM	DIVYA Deshmukh		IM	NEMEC Jachym	2466	8
3	2	2604	GM	YUFFA Daniil		GM	BJERRE Jonas Buhl	2629	7
4	3	2578	GM	ZHU Jiner		GM	BEERDSEN Thomas	2525	6
5	4	2538	IM	FINEK Vaclav		GM	GANGULY Surya Shekhar	2568	5