Despite arriving upbeat, world chess champion D Gukesh is struggling at the Prague International Chess Festival 2026, languishing at the bottom of the Masters leaderboard with 2.5 points after eight rounds. The 19-year-old Indian grandmaster drew against Vincent Keymer in round eight and apologized to fans for skipping autographs amid his poor form.
The Prague International Chess Festival 2026 has turned challenging for reigning world champion D Gukesh, who became the youngest titleholder at 18. After entering with optimism despite a modest Wijk aan Zee result, Gukesh has yet to win in the Masters section, accumulating 2.5 points from eight games—four draws and four losses—leaving him in last place.
His round-seven game against Iran's Parham Maghsoodloo ended in a draw after 49 moves in the Berlin defense with black. Following a round-eight draw with Vincent Keymer, Gukesh spoke to WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili: "I really appreciate all the fans coming here almost every day. I'm just sorry about one thing. Obviously, this tournament has been tough for me and on some days, I just want to be left alone." He added, "I generally make sure that I sign autographs and take photographs with fans. But here, in general, I’ve just not been in a great mood. So I’d like to apologise."
Uzbekistan's Nodirbek Abdusattorov leads with 5.5 points, followed by Jorden van Foreest at 5. Fellow Indian Aravindh Chithambaram is mid-table on 4 points. Working with coach Grzegorz Gajewski and mental coach Paddy Upton, Gukesh acknowledged his poor play: "I have been playing badly here. The couple of chances I got, I didn’t use. What to say! Bad tournament."
The slump has dropped him to 20th in live FIDE ratings. He faces David Anton in the final round on Friday.
