Keymer Grabs Only Win As Van Foreest Maintains Lead In Prague

"At the end I made it far too exciting!" said GM Vincent Keymer after almost letting GM David Anton escape in round seven of the 2026 Prague Chess Festival Masters. GM Aravindh Chithambaram did spoil a win against GM Nodirbek Yakubboev, while the remaining games were well-played draws. That included GM Jorden van Foreest retaining a half-point lead with two rounds to go after a sharp draw against GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov.

Round eight begins on Thursday, March 5, starting at 9:15 a.m. ET / 15:15 CET / 7:45 p.m. IST.

Masters: Keymer Wins Thriller Vs. Anton

For a second day in a row there was only one win in the Masters, but all the games were hard-fought.

Round 7 Results: Masters

The standings at the top remained unchanged, but Keymer moved to within 1.5 points of the leader with two rounds to go.

Standings After Round 7: Masters

The only relatively quiet draw was between second-placed GM David Navara and U.S. star GM Hans Niemann, who played the Semi-Slav, accepted a ruined pawn structure, but comfortably held the balance until the game ended on move 42.

The day's biggest miss, meanwhile, was for Aravindh, who looked certain to return to 50 percent with a second win in a row. The Indian defending champion had survived a mutual time scramble against Yakubboev to reach move 40 with a completely winning position, but then let everything slip away with a single move: 42.Qc3??.

His Uzbek opponent gratefully accepted the chance to execute his one trick in the position.

The player Aravindh beat in round six, World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju, had a much better day in the office against GM Parham Maghsoodloo. At first it seemed to be a familiar story, as Gukesh admitted he was panicking when he went for 19...f5!? and that his opponent had "a really pleasant position."

Gukesh told WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili: "Obviously I’ve been playing badly here and the couple of chances I got I didn’t use. What to say—a bad tournament!"

He did agree, however, that he's, if not the best, then at least one of the best players at defending difficult positions:

It’s always been my strength, being resilient, fighting in bad positions. It came from my childhood because I was not really working on openings and I would get all these crappy positions out of the opening. I basically had to defend to survive my whole career.  

I basically had to defend to survive my whole career.

—Gukesh Dommaraju

We got to witness that in this game, as Gukesh began to find a series of tactical resources that held everything together. In fact, toward the time control he began to take over, but there was never a clear-cut opportunity and the game ended in a draw by repetition in a very sharp position.

Gukesh is still bottom, three points behind the leader, and it was Abdusattorov vs. Van Foreest that was crucial for the tournament standings.

Abdusattorov could have overtaken the leader with a win, and commented on his opponent's opening choice, "Jorden [van Foreest] is known for really dubious opening ideas!"

Jorden is known for really dubious opening ideas!

—Nodirbek Abdusattorov

The problem with the ideas is that Van Foreest knows them well, and he knew everything up to 17...Qc7, while Abdusattorov was already digging deep at the board. Still, the Uzbek number-one kept control and found the powerful knight sacrifice 22.Nxd5!.

Abdusattorov explained: "I was happy with my position. He has two pieces for his rook, but I have two pawns and I have sort of domination. I thought this is very promising for White, but I think he found the best way to resist."

So Abdusattorov remained half a point behind Van Foreest after scoring two wins and five draws in Prague. He summed up: "This tournament is going strange for me, because when I have an advantage I can’t pose any problems, but when I’m worse I’m getting chances!"

That brings us to the day's one decisive game in the Masters.

Keymer 1-0 Anton

Keymer emerged victorious in a very sharp line of the Anti-Berlin which he said, "neither side really wants to play!" Although he gained a completely winning position, he then lost control, and admitted: "It was a crazy game, not a great conversion by me, but I managed to win the game. I’m happy, and now I’m hoping to continue playing better!"

Time was a factor as 60...Rg2? by Anton spoiled some fantastically resilient defense. He played it with one second to spare, when 60...Rc7! was still enough to hold a draw.

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

Keymer is back to 50 percent and still has a chance to do what he managed after a similarly rough tournament in Wijk aan Zee—finish on +2. 

Thursday sees the penultimate round, when Keymer likely has to beat Gukesh with Black to keep any hopes of winning the tournament alive. The games more likely to impact the title race, however, are Van Foreest vs. Aravindh and Navara vs. Abdusattorov.

Round 8 Pairings: Masters

Challengers: Finek Doesn't Crack

Three games were decisive in the Challengers.

Round 7 Results: Challengers

The wins for GM Daniil Yuffa and IM Jachym Nemec saw them leapfrog their opponents, GM Thomas Beerdsen and IM Stepan Hrbek respectively, into second place.

Standings After Round 7: Challengers

Sixteen-year-old IM Vaclav Finek survived a 134-move squeeze by top seed GM Benjamin Gledura to keep a full-point lead going into the final two rounds.

GM Surya Ganguly won the battle to avoid last place against GM Zhu Jiner, but the key games were at the top of the standings. A single blunder on move 42 was enough to give Nemec a win, while Yuffa's win over Beerdsen was wild. Yuffa's 34...Rcc2?, played in a mutual time scramble, almost let the win slip away.

If Finek beats Ganguly in round eight his pursuers Nemec and Yuffa must also win or he'll have won the title—and a place in next year's Masters—with a round to spare.   

Round 8 Pairings: Challengers

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:

• Round 6: Aravindh Condemns Gukesh To 3rd Loss
• Round 5: Abdusattorov Beats Gukesh Again, Van Foreest Hits World No. 11
• Round 4: Keymer Grabs 1st Win As Van Foreest Overtakes Gukesh On Live Rating List
• Round 3: Van Foreest Knocks Gukesh Out Of Top 10
• Round 2: Aravindh, Anton Strike Back In Round 2 Of Prague Masters
• Round 1: Abdusattorov Hits World No. 4, Gukesh Evades Niemann As Prague Masters Begins
• Keymer, Gukesh Top Field For 2026 Prague Masters