World chess champion D Gukesh suffered a defeat to Jorden Van Foreest in the third round of the Prague International Chess Festival due to a rare clock mishap. The loss dropped him to 13th in the FIDE live ratings, one spot below Viswanathan Anand. Other Indian players faced setbacks in the event.
In the third round of the Prague International Chess Festival Masters section on February 28, 2026, reigning world champion D Gukesh, playing black, lost to Dutch grandmaster Jorden Van Foreest after a critical error with the chess clock. Gukesh made his 36th move (36… a4) and grazed the clock with his fingers, failing to press it firmly enough. Unaware for 45 seconds, during which his time continued ticking, Gukesh allowed Van Foreest extra thinking time while already a pawn up since move 17. Van Foreest had seized the advantage earlier with a rook sacrifice on move 17. Both players reached the first time control, but Gukesh resigned after 48 moves in a losing position following a nearly three-hour game.
The defeat marked Gukesh's third-round loss, leaving him with one point from three games. It pushed him out of the top 10 to world number 13 in the FIDE live ratings, below his mentor Viswanathan Anand, with a total loss of 36 rating points since becoming champion in December 2024. Van Foreest, now tied for first with two points alongside Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Nodirbek Yakubboev, and David Navara, expressed satisfaction post-game: “Of course I’m super-happy. Not only is it my first win against a world champion, but also my first win against Gukesh.” He added about his rook sacrifice, “I’m up a pawn, there’s really no risk—in the worst case it’s a draw.”
In the Masters, Indian grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram drew with Iran's Parham Maghsoodloo. In the Challengers section, Divya Deshmukh lost to China's Zhu Jiner under time pressure, despite a prior 1-4 record against her in classical chess, including a World Cup win. Veteran Surya Shekhar Ganguly fell to Czech international master Jachym Nemec. Gukesh's struggles continue a tough 2026, following a winless 2025 and setbacks at the Tata Steel tournament in January, where he lost to Anish Giri and Matthias Bluebaum, both Candidates participants.
