Keymer wins, Jorden van Foreest leads @ Prague

GM Jorden van Foreest (3/4) continued to be on a roll defeating Uzbek GM Nodirbek Yakubboev after the fourth round of the Prague International Chess Festival 2026 organised by Novy Bor Chess Club at Hotel Don Giovanni, Prague. Sharing the second spot at 2.5 points, behind GM Jorden van Foreest were GMs viz., Nodirbek Abdusattorov and David Navara.

Chess flowed effortlessly through GM Jorden van Foreest who went past GM Nodirbek Yakubboev’s Queen’s Gambit Declined in 59 moves. GM Yakubboev refused three fold repetition going all out for a win. With the kind of form that GM Jorden displayed it turned out to be a losing experiment for the Uzbek GM. Little after the first time control GM Jorden snared the white queen after which it turned out to be an easy day in office for the Dutchman. When black was about to get his second queen by force the Uzbek gave up.

German No. 1 GM Vincent Keymer swept past defending champion GM Aravindh Chithambaram moving into 50% score. On the other hand, GM Aravindh kept an unsuccessful date with the Philidor Defense as GM Keymer wrapped up a quick 29 move win. The facile victory by the German exploited the slightly passive opening choice of the Indian Grandmaster. A real food for thought for Aravindh, who has struggled through his games Prague, not to mention his difficult passge through the TATA Steel Masters at Wijk aan Zee just a month back.

The games between GMs Guijarro – Abdusattorov, Gukesh – Navara, Niemann – Maghsoodloo ended evenly. The 5th round starts by Sunday, 1st March at 9 AM ET / 3 PM CET / 7:30 PM IST.

Pairings (Round 5): van Foreest – Niemann, Navara – Yakubboev, Abdusattorov – Gukesh, Aravindh – Guijarro, Maghsoodloo – Keymer.

Results (Round 4): Hans Moke Niemann (1.5) drew with Parham Maghsoodloo (1.5), Vincent Keymer (2.0) beat V R Aravindh Chithambaram (1.5), David Anton Guijarro (2.0) drew with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (2.5), Gukesh Dommaraju (1.5) drew with David Navara (2.5), Nodirbek Yakubboev (2.0) lost to Jorden van Foreest (3.0)

Nodirbek Yakubboev (2691) – Jorden van Foreest (2705) 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. c5 Nh5 8. Bd3 b6 9. b4 a5 10. a3 Nxf4 11. exf4 c6 12. O-O Ba6 13. Bxa6 Rxa6 14. b5 cxb5 15. c6 Nb8 16. Nxb5 Nxc6 17. Qc2 Qd7 18. Rfc1 Nb4 19. Qe2 Nc6 20. Qc2 Nb4 21. Qe2 Nc6 22. a4 Raa8 23. Ne5 Nxe5 24. Rc7 Nf3+ 25. Qxf3 Qd8 26. Rac1 Bb4 27. R1c6 Qf6 28. g4 Bd2 29. f5 Qg5 30. fxe6 fxe6 31. Qe2 Bf4 32. Qxe6+ Kh8 33. Rc8 Qh4 34. Kf1 Bc7 35. Rxf8+ Rxf8 36. Rc2 Qh3+ 37. Ke1 Qxh2 38. Qxd5 Qg1+ 39. Kd2 Rxf2+ 40. Kc3 Qa1+ 41. Kd3 Qd1+ 42. Ke3 Rf8 43. Rxc7 Re8+ 44. Qe5 Rxe5+ 45. dxe5 Qxg4 46. Nd6 h5 47. Rc4 Qe6 48. Re4 Kg8 49. Nb5 g5 50. Nd4 Qh3+ 51. Ke2 Kf7 52. e6+ Ke7 53. Nc6+ Ke8 54. e7 Qg2+ 55. Kd3 h4 56. Nd4 h3 57. Nb5 Qg3+ 58. Re3 Qf4 59. Re4

59…h2 0-1

Vincent Keymer (2776) – V R Aravindh Chithambaram (2700) 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e5 4. Nf3 Nbd7 5. h3 Be7 6. g4 h6 7. Be3 c6 8. a4 O-O 9. Qd2 d5 10. exd5 e4 11. dxc6 exf3 12. cxd7 Bxd7 13. g5 hxg5 14. Bxg5 Nd5 15. Rg1 Nxc3 16. bxc3 Re8 17. Kd1 Rc8 18. Bxe7 Qxe7 19. Bd3 g6 20. Qh6 Rc6 21. Kd2 Bf5 22. Qg5 Rxc3 23. Qxf5 Rec8 24. Rab1 Qh4 25. Qxf3 Qxd4 26. Ke2 Qxa4 27. Kf1 b6 28. Qd5 Kg7

29. Rg4 1-0

Complete Results

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PragueChessFestival

Picture Courtesy: Petr Vrabec / Tomáš Krist / Prague Chess Festival 2026

Official Site: https://praguechessfestival.com/en/2026