8th Prague Masters 2026 R8: Jorden’s blunder against Aravindh proves costly

By admin March 6, 2026 Updated: May 13, 2026 0 comments

Aravindh Chithambaram halted Jorden van Foreest’s fantastic run in the penultimate round of 8th Prague International Chess Festival 2026 Masters. The Netherlands no.2 blundered in a relatively balanced rook and knight endgame. Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) won against David Navara (CZE) to emerge the new sole leader 5.5/8. Aravindh scored his third win of the event to move to 4/8.

Karel Janeček Open: Sasikiran crushes Stalmach, gains sole lead

Masters: The World Champion, D Gukesh drew against Vincent Keymer (GER) in a well-contested battle. David Navara (CZE) blundered in a rook and opposite color bishop endgame which seemed to have headed towards a draw against Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB).

Aravindh Chithambaram capitalized on Jorden van Foreest’s (NED) late blunder in the endgame | Photo: Petr Vrabec / Prague International Chess Festival

Challengers: GM Divya Deshmukh and GM Surya Sekhar Ganguly drew against IM Jachym Nemek (CZE) and IM Vaclav Finek (CZE) respectively. Vaclav maintained his sole lead 5.5/8, heading into the last round.

Karel Janeček Open: The legend, GM Sasikiran Krishnan (2538) made a short work of IM Richard Stalmach (CZE, 2414) in 18 moves to become the new sole leader 7/8. He will face IM Samir Shahidi (SVK) in the final round.

GM Sasikiran Krishnan crushed the sole leader, IM Richard Stalmach (CZE) | Photo: Petr Vrabec / Prague International Chess Festival

Jorden – Aravindh: 0-1

Jorden van Foreest (NED, 2705) and Aravindh Chithambaram (2700) played three Classical rated games. They had all three different results. Earlier this year, Jorden defeated Aravindh at 88th Tata Steel Masters in Netherlands.

Position after 59…Ke3

White did the only thing he should not have 60.Rf5?? Rh6+ and it’s over as 61.Kg5 runs into Rh3 and the other option 61.Kg3 was played Ne2+ forces White to give up the knight or an exchange to prevent the checkmate.

Interview with Aravindh Chithambaram | Video: Prague International Chess Festival

Karel Janeček Open

GM Sasikiran Krishnan (2538) won an 18-move miniature after his opponent, IM Richard Stalmach (CZE, 2414) erred early in the game.

Position after 13…e5??

Sasikiran’s rating might have dropped but his class is still 2700+. 13…e5?? was rightly punished 14.fxe5 dxe5 15.Qg3 Qd8 16.Bxe4 Nxe4 17.Nxe4 Bh4 18.Nd6+ and Black resigned as Black cannot avoid material loss. White has too many tactical ideas where he can either easily recover the pinned queen or gain more.