Gukesh Faces Setback as Foreest Dominates in Prague International Chess Festival

Gukesh Faces Setback at Prague International Chess Festival

Prague, Czech Republic – In a surprising turn of events at the Prague International Chess Festival, Indian chess prodigy D Gukesh suffered a shocking defeat against Dutch player Jorden van Foreest in the third round of the Masters section. Meanwhile, fellow Indian Aravindh Chithambaram managed to secure a draw against Iran’s Parham Maghsoodloo.

Gukesh, who has been striving for his first victory in the tournament, struggled to find his rhythm against van Foreest, who opened with the Ruy Lopez. The Dutchman quickly seized the initiative, leveraging the bishop pair in the Tartakower variation. As the game progressed, Gukesh found himself under heavy pressure and was forced to part with a pawn.

Despite the technical complexities remaining in the game, van Foreest appeared unstoppable. The trade of queens led to a challenging endgame for Gukesh, who was left with a pawn-less rook and minor piece setup. Van Foreest capitalized on this advantage, methodically cleaning up the kingside and securing victory after 48 moves.

With this win, van Foreest regained joint leadership in the tournament, boasting three decisive games and two points. He shares the top spot with Uzbek players Nodirbek Yakubboev and Nodirbek Abdusattorov, along with local favorite David Navara. Gukesh, now in seventh place, shares the position with top seed Vincent Keymer of Germany, Hans Moke Niemann of the United States, and Maghsoodloo, all of whom have one point from three games.

In another match, Aravindh Chithambaram faced Maghsoodloo but could not capitalize on his white pieces, opting for an unusual variation against the Caro-Kann defense. The game saw queens exchanged as early as the fifth move, leading to a series of trades that culminated in a draw after just 30 moves.

In the challengers’ section, Indian players faced a double blow as both Divya Deshmukh and Surya Shekhar Ganguly were defeated. Women’s World Cup winner Divya lost to China’s Jiner Zhu, while Ganguly faced a tough opponent in Czech player Jachym Nemec. After three rounds, Ganguly holds half a point, while Divya has one. Czech player Finek Vaclav leads this section with 2.5 points.

With six rounds remaining in the 10-player, 9-round tournament, the competition remains fierce as players vie for supremacy in this prestigious event.