Prague Chess Festival 2026 R6: Tough time continues for Gukesh in Prague as he lost to Aravindh

by Devansh Singh - 04/03/2026

The bad run continues for the World Champion D Gukesh, he lost his 3rd game of the tournament in the 6th round of the Prague International Chess Festival 2026 against Aravindh Chithambaram. It was a complex battle, but under time pressure, Gukesh blundered right at the 40th move before the second time control, and Aravindh won the game smoothly after that. This game was the only decisive result in the Masters section, and the other 4 games ended in a draw. In the Challengers section, there was only one decisive result as well, where Benjamin Gledura won against Jachym Nemec. Round 7 of the Masters, Challengers, Futures, and Open starts Today at 3 pm local time, 7:30 pm IST. Photos: Abhyudaya Ram

He will bounce back

Gukesh is not having the best time at the moment, and he suffered his 3rd loss of the tournament and 2nd in a row. In round 3, Gukesh lost against Jorden van Foreest after blundering in the opening. Even after that, Gukesh managed to hold the position, but in the end, time pressure caught up to him. In the game against Abdusattorov in the 5th round, Gukesh was clearly better in the opening and again under time pressure. He blundered in the endgame. The same thing happened yesterday when Gukesh blundered in a complex endgame battle against Aravindh.

Gukesh will definitely try to forget what happened in the previous round and will try to play solid chess under time pressure in the upcoming games.

World Champion will bounce back

Prague Masters 2026

In the 6th round of the Prague Masters 2026, we saw 4 draws in the Masters section, in which tournament leader Jorden van Foreest drew against David Navara. In the Uzbek clash, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Nodirbek Yakubboev drew their game. David Anton had some brilliant chances against Parham Magghsoodloo in a very sharp game, but eventually the game ended in a draw. Hans Niemann and Vincent Keymer also drew their game after a long fight.

In the only decisive result of this round, Aravindh Chithambaram beats D Gukesh.

D Gukesh vs Aravindh Chithambaram

It was a complicated game in which Aravindh decided to sacrifice the exchange for 2 connected passed pawns, and Gukesh gave up his Bishop for those two pawns to make it imbalanced, where Aravindh has 2 knights for Gukesh's rook.

Playing with the black side, Aravindh played 39...Ne2 attacking the rook, and in response to that move, under the time pressure, Gukesh blundered and played 40.Rf3. The sequence after that was easy to play for Aravindh, resulting in the Rook endgame. Aravindh played 40...Ne3 followed by 41.Rxe2 Ng4+ 42.Kg3 Rxe2 43.Kxg4 Rxg2 with a winning position

Checkout the game below

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

Hans Niemann vs Vincent Keymer (0.5-0.5)

Nodirbek Yakubboev vs Nodirbek Abdusattorov ended in a draw after repetition

David Anton Guijarro vs Parham Maghsoodloo was a sharp battle that ended in a draw

Tournament leader Jorden drew against David Navara

Prague Challengers 2026

In the 6th round of Prague Challengers 2026, there was only 1 decisive result, where Benjamin Gledura won against Jachym Nemec, and all other games ended in a draw.

Benjamin Gledura vs Nemec Jachym (1-0)

Daniil Yuffa vs Surya Shekhar Ganguly (0.5-0.5)

Divya Deshmukh vs Thomas Beerdsen ended in a draw

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

Finek Vaclav drew against Zhu Jiner and maintains his lead by 1 point over the field

Photo Gallery from this round: Here

GM Sasikiran Krishnan is on 5/6 points in the Open section

Sarbartho Mani is on 4/6 points in the Open section

inaugural move of round 6, 1.b4!?

Defending Champ!

Standings

Standings of the Masters section after 6 rounds | Graphic: PICF 2026

Standings of the Challengers section after 6 rounds | Graphic: PICF 2026

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

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 6 Live Commentary by IM Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal | Video: ChessBase India

Replay Round 6 Masters games

Replay Round 6 Challengers games

Round 6 Masters results

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

Details

Standings after Round 6

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

Details

Round 7 pairings

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

Details

Round 6 Challengers results

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

Details

Standings after Round 6

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	4	IM	FINEK Vaclav	CZE	2538	4,5	0	13,5	3
2	6	GM	BEERDSEN Thomas	NED	2525	3,5	0	9,25	2
3	9	IM	HRBEK Stepan	CZE	2463	3,5	0	9	2
4	10	GM	GLEDURA Benjamin	HUN	2652	3	1	8,5	2
5	2	GM	YUFFA Daniil	ESP	2604	3	2	7,25	2
6	1	GM	DIVYA Deshmukh	IND	2497	3	3	8,5	1
7	7	GM	BJERRE Jonas Buhl	DEN	2629	3	4	9,75	1
8	8	IM	NEMEC Jachym	CZE	2466	3	4	6,75	2
9	3	GM	ZHU Jiner	CHN	2578	2	0	6,75	1
10	5	GM	GANGULY Surya Shekhar	IND	2568	1,5	0	4,75	0

Details

Round 7 pairings

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