Jorden maintains lead, Keymer wins @ Prague Masters
GM Jorden van Foreest (5/7) drew with second placed GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov (4.5/7) maintaining his lead after the seventh round of the Prague International Chess Festival 2026 organised by Novy Bor Chess Club at Hotel Don Giovanni, Prague. Grandmasters Nodirbek Abdusattorov and David Navara, with 4.5 points shared the second spot, with a trio of GMs viz., David Anton Guijarro, Vincent Keymer, Parham Maghsoodloo trailing further behind at 3.5 points.
Just like the previous round there was a lone result with rest of the games ending on an even note in the Masters section. World No. 4 GM Vincent Keymer emerged the sole winner overcoming a stiff challenge from second placed Spanish GM David Anton Guijarro.
The standard Ruy Lopez Berlin game between GMs Keymer & Guijarro delivered much more than what it normally promises. GM Guijarro who has been having a good run in Prague continued his flamboyant play with an early knight sacrifice dragging the white king out of its shelter. The completely locked middle game position appeared to give the Spaniard good hopes of holding the German. But, GM Keymer showed immense patience and technique to convert the advantage into a victory afer 68 hard fought moves. The win takes GM Keymer into 50% mark with two rounds remaining, with a match up with world champion Gukesh Dommaraju coming up in the next round.
Games between Maghsoodloo – Gukesh, Aravindh – Yakubboev, Navara – Niemann, Abdusattorov – van Foreest ended in draws. The 8th round starts by Thursday, 5th March at 9 AM ET / 3 PM CET / 7:30 PM IST.
Pairings (Round 8): Niemann – Guijarro, Gukesh – Keymer, Yakubboev – Maghsoodloo, van Foreest – Aravindh, Navara – Abdusattorov.
Results (Round 7): David Navara (4.5) drew with Hans Moke Niemann (2.5), Nodirbek Abdusattorov (4.5) drew with Jorden van Foreest (5.0), V R Aravindh Chithambaram (3.0) drew with Nodirbek Yakubboev (3.0), Parham Maghsoodloo (3.5) drew with Gukesh Dommaraju (2.0), Vincent Keymer (3.5) beat David Anton Guijarro (3.5).
Vincent Keymer (2776) – David Anton Guijarro (2666) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. O-O Bg4 7. h3 Bh5 8. g4 Nxg4 9. hxg4 Bxg4 10. Be3 Be7 11. Kg2 f5 12. Qe1 Bxf3+ 13. Kxf3 f4 14. Bd2 Qd6 15. Bc3 g5 16. Ke2 g4 17. f3 h5 18. Nd2 Qe6 19. Nc4 Bf6 20. Rh1 Kf7 21. Qf2 b6 22. a4 Rag8 23. Rag1 g3 24. Qg2 Qe7 25. Kf1 h4 26. Qh3 Rg5 27. Rg2 a6 28. Re2 b5 29. Na5 c5 30. Kg2 Qd6 31. Ra1 Be7 32. Nb3 Qc6 33. Rd1 Qd6 34. Ree1 Qc6 35. Re2 Qd6 36. Nd2 c4 37. d4 exd4 38. e5 Qe6 39. Bxd4 Rd8 40. Ne4 Qxh3+ 41. Kxh3 Rg6 42. Red2 Ke6 43. Bc3 Rxd2 44. Rxd2 b4 45. Bd4 a5 46. c3 Rg8 47. Re2 Rb8 48. Ba7 Rb7 49. Bc5 bxc3 50. bxc3 Bd8 51. Kg4 c6 52. Rd2 Rg7+ 53. Kxf4 Bc7 54. Bd4 h3 55. Nxg3 c5 56. Rh2 cxd4 57. cxd4 c3 58. Rxh3 c2 59. Rh1 Bd8 60. Nf5 Rg2 61. d5+ Kf7 62. e6+ Kf6 63. Ke4 Bb6 64. e7 Bc5 65. d6 Bxd6 66. e8=N+ Ke6 67. Nexd6 Rd2
68. Rc1 1-0
Aravindh Chithambaram (2700) – Nodirbek Yakubboev (2691) 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. f3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. Be3 Be7 9. Qd2 Nbd7 10. g4 h6 11. O-O-O b5 12. Kb1 Qc7 13. a3 Nb6 14. Na5 Rc8 15. Qf2 Nfd7 16. Qd2 Nf6 17. Qf2 Rb8 18. Bxb6 Rxb6 19. Nd5 Nxd5 20. exd5 Bd7 21. Qe1 h5 22. Be2 Qd8 23. h3 Kf8 24. f4 exf4 25. Bf3 hxg4 26. hxg4 Rxh1 27. Qxh1 Bh4 28. Rd2 g6 29. g5 Qxg5 30. Rh2 Bg3 31. Rh8+ Ke7 32. Nc6+ Bxc6 33. dxc6 Qc5 34. Bd5 Kf6 35. Rf8 b4 36. a4 Kg5 37. Rxf7 Rb8 38. Qe4 Qe3 39. Qc4 b3 40. cxb3 Qg1+ 41. Ka2 Re8 42. Qc3?? (white misses win through 42. Be6 Qc5 43. c7 Qxc4 44. bxc4 a5 45. c8=Q Rxc8 46.Bxc8 Bf2 47. b4 Bb6)
42…Re1 43. Qf6+ Kh6 44. Qg7+ Kg5 45. Qf6+ Kh6 46. Qg7+ Kg5 47. Qf6+ Kh6 1/2-1/2
Complete Results
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Picture Courtesy: Petr Vrabec / Tomáš Krist / Prague Chess Festival 2026
Official Site: https://praguechessfestival.com/en/2026
