3 min learnMumbaiUp to date: Mar 7, 2026 08:16 AM IST
World Champion D Gukesh’s wretched fortnight at Czech Republic ended with a consolatory victory over Spanish grandmaster David Anton on Friday night time. In 9 rounds on the Prague Worldwide Chess Competition, the win over Anton was the one time the 19-year-old from India skilled a victory with three of his video games ending in defeats and 5 others being attracts.
Whereas Gukesh ended joint final within the 10-player standings at Prague, compatriot Aravindh Chitambaram ended joint second. Aravindh was the defending champion coming into the occasion, however noticed his title taken by Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who’s gone on a tear in current occasions, successful titles in London and Wijk aan Zee earlier than the Prague occasion.
Within the Challengers part, Divya Deshmukh, who used the occasion to sharpen her marketing campaign for the upcoming Girls’s Candidates later this month, ended third within the standings with a ranking achieve of 13. In distinction to Gukesh’s marketing campaign, Divya misplaced simply as soon as (to fellow Candidates contender Zhu Jiner) over 9 boards whereas successful twice. Divya’s event was outstanding as a result of seven of the ten gamers within the Challengers had been rated greater than her. At Prague, Divya continued her pattern of enjoying in occasions the place each female and male gamers had been competing fairly than simply restricted to feminine gamers.
Zhu, who is taken into account the flagbearer of girls’s chess in China, ended final within the Challengers occasion, which could possibly be a byproduct of a participant who’s saving her finest prep for the Candidates in three weeks’ time.
ALSO READ | One other defeat for D Gukesh at Prague, this time to Aravindh, leaves him down at World No 20 spot
Final yr, Gukesh performed continuous in at the least 16 over the board occasions, together with exhibition ones just like the Checkmate: USA vs India occasion in Arlington. Now, after two under-par occasions in 2026, Gukesh indicated that he would take it straightforward on enjoying in occasions. He had already pulled out of the season-starting Tata Metal India Speedy and Blitz occasion in Kolkata.
When requested by Chessbase India in an interview after his remaining spherical the place he’ll play subsequent, Gukesh stated: “Proper now, I’m simply going again residence. We’ll see later.”
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The yr is without doubt one of the most vital ones for Gukesh, who will defend his world championship title on the finish of the yr. He has dedicated to enjoying within the Norway Chess occasion from Could 25-June 5 in Oslo. However apart from that, little about his calendar is understood.
Gukesh admitted that the ends in Prague had given him a lot to ponder.
“Principally I didn’t care in regards to the final spherical. It’s good that I performed a pleasant sport. Clearly most of it (what I’m feeling proper now) is disappointment in regards to the occasion,” Gukesh informed Chessbase India. “Clearly, with this efficiency, you can’t be completely happy but it surely provides me some issues to consider.”
Over the course of the 9 rounds, Gukesh misplaced 16 ranking factors and was at World No 15 within the real-time rankings. Gukesh’s present ranking of 2732 is way beneath his peak ranking of 2794 which he achieved in October 2024, proper after main the Indian chess crew to an Olympiad gold.
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