Prague Masters 2026 Round 5: Abdusattorov Beats Gukesh Again

The standings are notable for the five players who won on Saturday occupying the top-five spots, while the players who lost occupy the bottom-five.

Standings After Round 5: Masters

Let’s start with what has already become one of the fiercest rivalries in world chess.

Abdusattorov 1-0 Gukesh

Abdusattorov came into this clash with a narrow lead against his Indian rival.

More notable than the score, however, has been the importance of their clashes. Few will have forgotten Gukesh’s blunder and loss to Abdusattorov in the 2022 World Chess Olympiad in Chennai, which paved the way for Uzbekistan to claim gold. Much more recently, Gukesh again blundered and lost a hard-fought but balanced game in Wijk aan Zee in January. 

There would be echoes of those clashes in a game where, up to a point, Gukesh had done everything right. The world champion came up with a new idea in the opening and seized a clear advantage in a wild-looking position.

The only problem was the time usage, with Gukesh finding himself very low on time in a middlegame that wasn’t getting any less complicated. He let the advantage slip in the run-up to the time control, and it seemed just a matter of time until Abdusattorov would reel in the full point. 

There was a twist, however, as Abdusattorov then went astray, so that Gukesh looked odds-on to hold a difficult position. Alas, nothing has been going right for Gukesh in Prague, and he once again slipped right at the end, allowing Abdusattorov to push his g-pawn to victory.

Agony for Gukesh as he blunders on move 67 and has to resign vs. Abdusattorov 2 moves later! https://t.co/GtSmRSIN2R pic.twitter.com/41eErXc6rf

— chess24 (@chess24com) March 1, 2026

The rating list sums up the players’ contrasting fortunes, with Abdusattorov up to 2778.3 and opening up a 12-point gap over fifth-place Keymer, while Gukesh has slumped to 2734.5 and world number-17.  

That wasn’t enough to give Abdusattorov a share of the lead, since Jorden van Foreest did it again! 

Van Foreest 1-0 Niemann

One slip aside, the Dutch number-two’s incredible climb just keeps on going.

He’s now gained over 40 points since the start of the year and climbed to the brink of the world top 10—he’s currently number 11 on the live rating list.

Van Foreest is as shocked as anyone: “I’ve been somehow winning a lot of games, and every time it’s an even bigger surprise. Even today, I wanted to be quite solid, and then things are just really going my way.”

I’ve been somehow winning a lot of games, and every time it’s an even bigger surprise.

—Jorden van Foreest

This time it had a lot to do with the opening, which he called “a bit of a test,” explaining, “Before engines they would never go for this stuff with Black, but now engines just show it’s holding everywhere.” To hold it was necessary to find precise moves, however, and one mistake cost Niemann the game.

So Van Foreest is having a dream run, but he’s still just half a point ahead of Abdusattorov and 13-time Czech Champion Navara.

Navara 1-0 Yakubboev

This was the day’s most beautiful win, with Yakubboev graciously acknowledging how good a game it had been by allowing checkmate on the board at the end. Navara stood up as he shook his opponent’s hand.

That’s our Game of the Day, which GM Rafael Leitao analyzes below.  

Top-seed Keymer eventually defended his sky-high rating in Wijk aan Zee by notching up six wins to go with his four losses. If he’s going to do something similar in Prague, it’ll take more heroics, since he dropped to -1 with a loss against Maghsoodloo.

Maghsoodloo 1-0 Keymer

As an Iranian GM, Maghsoodloo’s thoughts must partly be elsewhere right now, but he picked up his first win in Prague this year in real style. Keymer’s Marshall was a solid opening choice, but what followed was anything but solid! 

The day’s final winner was Anton, with the Spanish GM’s second win taking him up to sole fourth place.

Aravindh 0-1 Anton

In his post-game interview, it was clear that Anton had somewhat underestimated his own position, since the computer gave him an edge for most of the early middlegame. In fact, it was only at the critical moment, after 20…Qd7!?, that Aravindh had the chance to fully equalize. Instead, despite having an hour on his clock, the Indian defending champion crashed and burned with three mistakes in a row.

That’s already Aravindh’s third loss, after he had been unbeaten in 2025. 

The players now have a very well-deserved rest day before returning for round six on Tuesday. Van Foreest vs. Navara and the all-Uzbek clash Yakubboev vs. Abdusattorov will be key for the title race.

Round 6 Pairings: Masters

Challengers: Finek Increases Lead, Divya Scores 1st Win

There were just two decisive games in round five.

Round 5 Results: Challengers

16-year-old IM Vaclav Finek’s win was a big one, as it stopped a key rival and allowed him to open up a full-point lead.  

Standings After Round 5: Challengers

Finek dominated GM Daniil Yuffa almost from start to finish and proudly showed the game afterward.

GM Zhu Jiner took a draw against top-seed GM Benjamin Gledura despite being better in the final position, but her female colleague GM Divya Deshmukh did manage to snatch a first win. It owed a lot to GM Surya Ganguly going for 19.Nxh7?, a pawn grab that backfired immediately. 

In round six, Finek faces Zhu in what’s sure to be an intriguing clash. 

Round 6 Pairings: Challengers

There are just four rounds to go.

How To Watch

---

The 2026 Prague Chess Festival takes place on February 25-March 6 at the Don Giovanni Hotel in Prague, Czech Republic. The format is a round-robin with 10 players in Masters, Challengers, and Futures groups, as well as an Open tournament. The time control is 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 more minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second increment per move starting on move one.

---

Previous coverage: