Prague Chess Festival 2026 R4: Vincent gets his first win, Jorden on a winning streak
After 4 days of action at the Prague International Chess Festival 2026, Jorden van Foreest has emerged as the sole leader of the Masters section after winning his round 4 game against Nodirbek Yakubboev with black pieces. Jorden is on 3/4 points with decisive results in all 4 of his games. In round 4, Vincent Keymer scored his first win of the tournament after beating defending champion Aravindh Chithambaram with white pieces. In the Masters, the other 3 games ended in a draw. In the Challengers section, Divya Deshmukh and Surya Shekhar Ganguly drew their respective games, and in round 5, they will be facing each other. The 5th round for Masters, Challengers, and Futures, and the 4th round of Open starts today at 3 pm local time, 7:30 pm IST. Photos: Abhyudaya Ram
Who can stop Jorden's winning run?
Jorden van Foreest is in tremendous form, and he is showing his class event after event. Jorden finished in the 3rd place at The Tata Steel Masters 2026. Then he won his match against Ediz Gürel in Ankara. Jorden is now leading the Prague Masters 2026 after 4 rounds and some beautiful wins. In round 5 Jorden will face Hans Niemann with white pieces.
Prague Masters 2026
In the 4th round of the Prague Masters 2026, there were 2 decisive results where Vincent Keymer outplayed Aravindh Chithambaram and Jorden Van Foreest won a complex battle against Nodirbek Yakubboev. D Gukesh and David Navara played a long, fighting game, but it ended in a draw. Hans Niemann created some great chances in his game against Parham Maghsoodloo, but a few errors led Parham to secure the draw. The game between Nodirbek Abdusattorov and David Anton Guijarro also ended in a draw.
Nodirbek Yakubboev vs Jorden van Foreest (0-1)
Going into this round with the black pieces, Jorden was hoping to play solid and hold Yakubboev for a draw. Both players repeated moves twice, but then Yakubboev showed his fighting spirit and played a different move to avoid the draw. It was a very complex battle, but Jorden likes to play this kind of position, and he had almost 1 hour more than Yakubboev on the clock.
The position is already looking very chaotic, and here, with a minute on his clock, Yakubboev played 36.Rc2 that allowed Jorden to play a forcing sequence starting with 36...Qh3+ followed by Qxh2 and threats on the white king. Jorden managed to get Yakubboev's queen and won the game smoothly
Vincent Keymer vs Aravindh Chithambaram (1-0)
Aravindh decided to play the Philidor Defence for the 3rd time in this tournament, and this time it backfired as Vincent got a comfortable position out of the opening. Vincent kept his king safe in the center and constantly attacked Aravindh's king's side, which helped him gain a big advantage and win the game. Check out the position below and try to find the move that Vincent played here.
White to play, find the best move
Prague Challengers 2026
In the 4th round of the Prague Challengers 2026, there were 2 decisive results. Gledura Benjamin won his game against Jonas Buhl Bjerre, and Daniil Yuffa beat Zhu Jiner; the other 3 games ended in a draw. Divya Deshmukh drew her game with the tournament leader Vaclav Finek, Surya Shekhar Ganguly drew his game against Stepan Hrbek, and Jachym Nemec vs Thomas Beerdsen also ended in a draw.
Don't forget to cast your vote for the best game of this round: Here
Photo Gallery from this round: 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 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.
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 4 Masters games
Replay Round 4 Challengers games
Round 4 Masters results
Bo. | No. | Rtg |
| White | Result | Black |
| Rtg | No. | PGN | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 10 | 2725 | GM | ½ - ½ | GM | 2708 | 7 | |||||
2 | 8 | 2776 | GM | 1 - 0 | GM | 2700 | 6 | |||||
3 | 9 | 2666 | GM | ½ - ½ | GM | 2751 | 5 | |||||
4 | 1 | 2754 | GM | ½ - ½ | GM | 2628 | 4 | |||||
5 | 2 | 2691 | GM | 0 - 1 | GM | 2705 | 3 |
Standings after Round 4
Rk. | SNo |
| Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3 | GM | 2705 | 3 | 0 | 5,5 | 3 | |||
2 | 4 | GM | 2628 | 2,5 | 0 | 4,25 | 1 | |||
5 | GM | 2751 | 2,5 | 0 | 4,25 | 1 | ||||
4 | 2 | GM | 2691 | 2 | 1 | 3,5 | 1 | |||
5 | 9 | GM | 2666 | 2 | 2 | 5,5 | 1 | |||
6 | 8 | GM | 2776 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | |||
7 | 6 | GM | 2700 | 1,5 | 1 | 2,25 | 1 | |||
8 | 7 | GM | 2708 | 1,5 | 2 | 2,75 | 0 | |||
9 | 10 | GM | 2725 | 1,5 | 2 | 2,5 | 0 | |||
10 | 1 | GM | 2754 | 1,5 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
Round 5 pairings
Bo. | No. | Rtg |
| White | Result | Black |
| Rtg | No. | PGN | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3 | 2705 | GM | GM | 2725 | 10 | ||||||
2 | 4 | 2628 | GM | GM | 2691 | 2 | ||||||
3 | 5 | 2751 | GM | GM | 2754 | 1 | ||||||
4 | 6 | 2700 | GM | GM | 2666 | 9 | ||||||
5 | 7 | 2708 | GM | GM | 2776 | 8 |
Round 4 Challengers results
Bo. | No. | Rtg |
| White | Result | Black |
| Rtg | No. | PGN | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 10 | 2652 | GM | 1 - 0 | GM | 2629 | 7 | |||||
2 | 8 | 2466 | IM | ½ - ½ | GM | 2525 | 6 | |||||
3 | 9 | 2463 | IM | ½ - ½ | GM | 2568 | 5 | |||||
4 | 1 | 2497 | GM | ½ - ½ | IM | 2538 | 4 | |||||
5 | 2 | 2604 | GM | 1 - 0 | GM | 2578 | 3 |
Standings after Round 4
Rk. | SNo |
| Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 4 | IM | 2538 | 3 | 0 | 6,75 | 2 | |||
2 | 9 | IM | 2463 | 2,5 | 1 | 4 | 2 | |||
3 | 6 | GM | 2525 | 2,5 | 2 | 3,75 | 2 | |||
4 | 8 | IM | 2466 | 2,5 | 2 | 3,25 | 2 | |||
5 | 2 | GM | 2604 | 2,5 | 4 | 3,25 | 2 | |||
6 | 7 | GM | 2629 | 2 | 0 | 4,5 | 1 | |||
7 | 1 | GM | 2497 | 1,5 | 0 | 3,5 | 0 | |||
8 | 10 | GM | 2652 | 1,5 | 0 | 2,75 | 1 | |||
9 | 5 | GM | 2568 | 1 | 0 | 2,25 | 0 | |||
10 | 3 | GM | 2578 | 1 | 0 | 1,5 | 1 |
Round 5 pairings
Bo. | No. | Rtg |
| White | Result | Black |
| Rtg | No. | PGN | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3 | 2578 | GM | GM | 2652 | 10 | ||||||
2 | 4 | 2538 | IM | GM | 2604 | 2 | ||||||
3 | 5 | 2568 | GM | GM | 2497 | 1 | ||||||
4 | 6 | 2525 | GM | IM | 2463 | 9 | ||||||
5 | 7 | 2629 | GM | IM | 2466 | 8 |
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
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