Prague Chess Festival 2026 R5: A day filled with decisive results, Divya scores her first win
The fifth day of the Prague International Chess Festival 2026 was filled with decisive results, as in the Masters section, all 5 games were decisive. In the 5th round of the tournament, World Champion D Gukesh suffered a tough loss against Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Jorden van Foreest is showing some wonderful chess this year and won his 3rd game in a row to maintain his sole lead with 4/5 points. In the Challengers section, Divya Deshmukh scored her first win of the tournament against countryman Surya Shekhar Ganguly. 2nd March is a rest day, and players will get some time to ease off their minds and come back prepared on 3rd March. Round 6 of the Masters, Challengers, and Futures starts on 3rd March after the rest day. The open section will have its 5th round today on 2nd March at 3 pm local time, 7:30 pm IST. Photos: Abhyudaya Ram
Sarbartho Mani wins the Open Blitz Tournament
Indian prodigy Sarbartho Mani won the Open Blitz tournament that happened on the 1st March 2026. Sarbartho scored an unbeaten 10/11 points to win the tournament. In his way of becoming the champion of the event, he won against a GM, an IM, and 3 FMs, and played with a performance rating of 2552.
Prague Masters 2026
The 5th round of the Prague Masters 2026 was filled with action and some wonderful games, with all 5 games having decisive results. D Gukesh lost against Nodirbek Abdusattorov after having a great position out of the opening. Jorden van Foreest beats Hans Niemann to score his 4th win in 5 rounds. Local star David Navara won his game against Nodirbek Yakubboev, and he is in joint second place with Abdusattorov, who is also on 3.5/5 points. The tournament is not going well for Aravindh Chithambaram, as he lost against David Anton Guijarro. Parham Maghsoodlo beats Vincent Keymer with white pieces.
Nodirbek Abdusattorov vs D Gukesh (1-0)
The rivalry between Nodirbek Abdusattorov and D Gukesh is the one that everyone likes to watch. In the 5th round of the Prague Masters 2026, when both players got paired, it was Gukesh who got a better position out of the opening. Gukesh was in a comfortable position, but under time pressure, he lost that advantage, and the game was even. Then, at one point abdusattorov was clearly better, but again under time pressure, both players were making some errors. Eventually, it was opposite coloured bishop and queen endgame that was looking like a draw, but Gukesh blundered and lost the game.
Gukesh played 45...Qd7, Abdusattorov could have played g4 and had a winning position. But he decided to capture on e5 and allowed 46.Rxf5 and rook trade. This position was completely equal in opposite coloured bishop endgame for Gukesh.
Under time pressure, Gukesh played 67...Qf7 and it turned out to be a game-losing blunder as Abdusattorov simply played 68.g5 with the idea of playing g6 as the Queen can't leave the 7th rank as Qxc7 would be a checkmate. Gukesh played 68.Bf3 and Abdusattorov played 69.g6 and won the game
Jorden van Foreest vs Hans Niemann (1-0)
Everything is working perfectly for Jorden as he won his fourth game of the tournament and third in a row in the 5th round of the Prague Masters 2026 against Hans Niemann.
In the above position, playing with the white side, Jorden castled on the queen side and gave a check. Hans could have moved his king, but he chose to block the check by playing 18.Bd3 walking right into the pin. Jorden simply played 19.b4, removing the defender and eventually winning that pinned bishop after a few moves.
David Navara vs Nodirbek Yakubboev (1-0)
Editor's Note: It's been so long since I've seen a game like this; the beauty of this game is unmatched. The sacrifices, the combinations and finally the execution by one of the best in Business David Navara. I am in awe while writing this report and watching this game. My words can not describe how beautiful this game is and most probably this game will get the game of the round as well as the game of the tournament award. I will try to explain what happened in the game down below
The game between David Navara and Nodirbek Yakubboev started with the Closed Catalan. Throughout the game, Navara was sacrificing his material here and there and eventually won the game with a nice mate that Yakubboev allowed over the board.
It started with 21.Nf6+
Here comes 30.Qxb5 with the idea of Nf5+
39.Qxf7+!
and finally 41.Re7+
Prague Challengers 2026
In the 5th round of Prague Challengers, there were only 2 decisive results. Divya Deshmukh won her game with black pieces against Surya Shekhar Ganguly, and IM Vaclav Finek, who is in red-hot form, won his game against GM Daniil Yuffa to maintain his sole lead with 4/5 points. After 5 rounds, Vaclav is increasing his rating by 14.5 points and playing with a rating performance of 2772. The other 3 games ended in a draw
Surya Shekhar Ganguly vs Divya Deshmukh (0-1)
The game between Surya and Divya started with the Sicilian Defence, and the position was pretty much equal out of the opening, but on move 29, Surya blundered, and Divya found the correct combination to get an advantage and eventually win the game.
Playing with the white pieces Surya played 19.Nxh7 and Divya played 19...Qh5 with multiple ideas as if the Knight moves h2 pawn and d1 rook are hanging, Surya played 20.Nxf6+, but Divya simply recaptured the knight, and the threat remains the same. Surya had to play 21.f3 and lost the pawn on h2 with 21...Qxh2, and that white king was in big trouble.
Photo Gallery from this round: Here
Don't forget to cast your vote for the best game of 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 5 Masters games
Replay Round 5 Challengers games
Round 5 Masters results
Bo. | No. | Rtg |
| White | Result | Black |
| Rtg | No. | PGN | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3 | 2705 | GM | 1 - 0 | GM | 2725 | 10 | |||||
2 | 4 | 2628 | GM | 1 - 0 | GM | 2691 | 2 | |||||
3 | 5 | 2751 | GM | 1 - 0 | GM | 2754 | 1 | |||||
4 | 6 | 2700 | GM | 0 - 1 | GM | 2666 | 9 | |||||
5 | 7 | 2708 | GM | 1 - 0 | GM | 2776 | 8 |
Standings after Round 5
Rk. | SNo |
| Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3 | GM | 2705 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 4 | |||
2 | 4 | GM | 2628 | 3,5 | 0 | 7,75 | 2 | |||
3 | 5 | GM | 2751 | 3,5 | 0 | 6,75 | 2 | |||
4 | 9 | GM | 2666 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 2 | |||
5 | 7 | GM | 2708 | 2,5 | 0 | 5,25 | 1 | |||
6 | 8 | GM | 2776 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1 | |||
7 | 2 | GM | 2691 | 2 | 0 | 4,5 | 1 | |||
8 | 6 | GM | 2700 | 1,5 | 1 | 2,75 | 1 | |||
9 | 1 | GM | 2754 | 1,5 | 2 | 3,5 | 0 | |||
10 | 10 | GM | 2725 | 1,5 | 2 | 3 | 0 |
Round 6 pairings
Bo. | No. | Rtg |
| White | Result | Black |
| Rtg | No. | PGN | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 10 | 2725 | GM | GM | 2776 | 8 | ||||||
2 | 9 | 2666 | GM | GM | 2708 | 7 | ||||||
3 | 1 | 2754 | GM | GM | 2700 | 6 | ||||||
4 | 2 | 2691 | GM | GM | 2751 | 5 | ||||||
5 | 3 | 2705 | GM | GM | 2628 | 4 |
Round 5 Challengers results
Bo. | No. | Rtg |
| White | Result | Black |
| Rtg | No. | PGN | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3 | 2578 | GM | ½ - ½ | GM | 2652 | 10 | |||||
2 | 4 | 2538 | IM | 1 - 0 | GM | 2604 | 2 | |||||
3 | 5 | 2568 | GM | 0 - 1 | GM | 2497 | 1 | |||||
4 | 6 | 2525 | GM | ½ - ½ | IM | 2463 | 9 | |||||
5 | 7 | 2629 | GM | ½ - ½ | IM | 2466 | 8 |
Standings after Round 5
Rk. | SNo |
| Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 4 | IM | 2538 | 4 | 0 | 11 | 3 | |||
2 | 6 | GM | 2525 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 2 | |||
3 | 9 | IM | 2463 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 2 | |||
4 | 8 | IM | 2466 | 3 | 2 | 5,25 | 2 | |||
5 | 1 | GM | 2497 | 2,5 | 1 | 5,25 | 1 | |||
6 | 2 | GM | 2604 | 2,5 | 1 | 4,75 | 2 | |||
7 | 7 | GM | 2629 | 2,5 | 3 | 7 | 1 | |||
8 | 10 | GM | 2652 | 2 | 0 | 4,5 | 1 | |||
9 | 3 | GM | 2578 | 1,5 | 0 | 3,5 | 1 | |||
10 | 5 | GM | 2568 | 1 | 0 | 2,75 | 0 |
Round 6 pairings
Bo. | No. | Rtg |
| White | Result | Black |
| Rtg | No. | PGN | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 10 | 2652 | GM | IM | 2466 | 8 | ||||||
2 | 9 | 2463 | IM | GM | 2629 | 7 | ||||||
3 | 1 | 2497 | GM | GM | 2525 | 6 | ||||||
4 | 2 | 2604 | GM | GM | 2568 | 5 | ||||||
5 | 3 | 2578 | GM | IM | 2538 | 4 |
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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Prague Chess Festival 2026 R3: Jorden van Foreest beats Gukesh, Divya lost to Zhu Jiner
Prague Chess Festival 2026 R2: Aravindh gets the winning start after beating Hans
Prague Chess Festival 2026 R1: Gukesh and Divya starts with a draw