Prague Chess Festival: Gukesh faces tough challenge as he eyes first success of the year

After an early exit from the World Cup and an underwhelming performance at the Tata Steel Masters, world champion D Gukesh would be eyeing a turnaround when he spearheads India’s challenge in the Prague International Chess festival starting in Prague on Wednesday (February 25, 2026).

Seeded second in a young elite field, Gukesh will have his task cut out against the likes of top-seeded German Vincent Keymer and Uzbek Nodirbek Abdusattorov who are both currently performing better than him if results in the past few events are anything to go by.

Keymer, ranked fourth globally in live ratings, is just ahead of Abdusattorov while Gukesh, ranked 10th, is the highest-rated Indian.

It wasn’t too long ago when there were as many as three Indians in the top-10 but Arjun Erigaisi, and R Praggnanandhaa have both dropped down recently, allowing Gukesh, who has been consistent if not at his best, to be the new India number one in live rankings.

Giving Gukesh company as a fellow Indian will be defending champion Aravindh Chithambaram. This is the event that gave the Chennai-based player his first big breakthrough.

Abdusattorov, fresh from his maiden triumph at the Tata Steel Masters, will be the people’s favourite to add another title while Keymer can be relied upon to give everyone a run for their money.

Hans Niemann of the USA is another player everyone will have to gun for as he has proved his detractors wrong time and again.

Parham Maghsoodloo of Iran is also there, trying to carve a niche for himself in top level chess while Dutch Grandmaster Jorden van Foreest would go in as Mr Consistent despite his low appearance in strong tournaments.

Seeded seventh is Chithambaram, who will look forward to walking back in the 2700 rating club, after a sub-par performance in the Tata event. Chithambaram faces an uphill task for an encore here.

Nodirbek Yakubboev of Uzbekistan, David Anton Gujjaro of Spain and local star David Navarra complete the 10-player line-up for the nine-round Masters competition.

In the challengers section, Surya Shekhar Ganguly will spearhead the Indian challenge along with Women’s World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh.

Benjamin Gledura of Hungary starts as the top seed in this section ahead of Jonas Buhl Bjerre of Denmark.