Prague, Feb 28 (IANS) World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju suffered a shock defeat to Grand Master Jorden van Foreest on Saturday in round three of the 2026 Prague Chess Festival Masters.

After the other games ended in draws, van Foreest moved into a four-way tie for first place with GMs Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Nodirbek Yakubboev, and David Navara.

Van Foreest now shares the lead, while Gukesh has fallen into a four-way tie for last place. However, there are still six rounds left, so it’s very early in the tournament. Van Foreest suffered a tough loss to Anton in round two, but he can now celebrate victories over both top-seed GM Vincent Keymer and the world champion within just three rounds.

The Dutchman stated, “Of course I’m super-happy! Not only is it my first win against a world champion, but also my first win against Gukesh. Even before he was world champion, I played him a couple of times, but I never won against him and he won against me several times.” Van Foreest shared his thought process during the match: “He was looking rather calm, and I was like, am I missing something? I didn’t see it, so I thought I had to go for it.”

As Gukesh took time to think, van Foreest’s confidence grew. He noted, “I’m up a pawn, there’s really no risk—in the worst case it’s a draw, and for him the defense will always be very difficult, even with best play, so I was happy.” With this win, van Foreest regained all the rating points he lost a day earlier, while Gukesh dropped to world number 13, now tied with GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, after finishing Wijk aan Zee still in the world top 10.

The remaining games ended in draws. GM Aravindh Chithambaram faced GM Parham Maghsoodloo, finishing in a quiet 30-move draw by repetition. The match between Navara and GM David Anton also ended quickly in a draw, as both had previously won Game of the Day prizes in rounds one and two. The last two games were more competitive. Abdusattorov and Yakubboev, both from Uzbekistan, had real chances against Keymer and GM Hans Niemann, respectively. Keymer settled for a poor pawn structure to trade queens, which soon put Abdusattorov on the edge of victory.

–IANS

hs/