Prague Chess Festival: World champion Gukesh loses to Aravindh in sixth round

Defending champion Aravindh Chithambaram found a textbook-style tactic to outwit compatriot D. Gukesh, relegating the reigning FIDE World champion to the last spot after the end of the sixth round of the Masters section of the Prague International Chess Festival.

The victory for Aravindh meant that Gukesh is now ranked number 20 on the live rating list, which did not feature Viswanathan Anand due to his possibly inactive status. There has been a clear struggle for Gukesh to maintain his status as the world champion since he won the title in December 2024.

Possibly the only exception was the Tata Steel Masters in January 2025, when he lost the tiebreaker to R. Praggnanandhaa after tying for first place. A recent slum has now seen the world champion losing over fifty points in rating.

For the record, Aravindh finally changed to a Sicilian defence as black after his Philidor experiment failed miserably. Going for the complications for Gukesh was easy, as he sacrificed a pawn to find some tactics in the early stages of the middle game.

Aravindh would have been happy with a draw, the way the position unfolded with white having a rook against two knights. But on the 40th move, with seconds remaining, Gukesh made the decisive error. It was all over eight moves later.

Surprisingly, this was the only decisive game of the day with the remaining four ending in draws.

Jorden van Foreest remained in sole lead on 4.5 points, drawing with local star David Navara, who remained joint second with Abdusattorov Nodirbek of Uzbekistan, a half point behind. David Anton Guijarro on 3.5 is closest to the three above him on 3.5 after settling for peace against Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran.

Aravindh, with Vincent Keymer of Germany and Nodirbek Yakubboev of Uzbekistan, is next in the lineup, while Niemann is just above Gukesh on 1.5 points.

Foreest finally had a draw after five decisive games, and this time too it seemed his extra pawn would do the trick. The Dutchman has been in the form of his life, but in the sixth round, Navara held his nerve to keep the opposition pieces and attack at bay.

The result was a draw, letting Foreest keep the lead, but both Navara and Abdusattorov remain in the hunt with three rounds still to come in the second super tournament of the year.

In the masters section, World Women’s Cup winner Divya Deshmukh played out a draw with Thomas Beerdsen of Holland, while Surya Shekhar Ganguly split the point with Daniil Yuffa of Spain.

Published on Mar 04, 2026