Reigning world champion D Gukesh navigated a challenging opening round encounter against American Grandmaster Hans Moke Niemann to settle for a draw in the Masters section of the Prague International Chess Festival, as the elite 10-player round-robin tournament got underway.
Facing Niemann with the white pieces, Gukesh found himself under early pressure in what turned out to be a tense positional battle shaped by the Berlin Defence. The opening, which often leads to strategically complex middlegames, quickly veered into unfamiliar territory as Niemann opted for an aggressive approach. The American sacrificed a piece as early as move 13, aiming to disrupt Gukesh’s central control and generate dynamic compensation through pawn structure and activity.
Despite the material imbalance initially tilting the position in Niemann’s favour, Gukesh managed to stabilise the game through accurate defensive play in the early middle phase. Niemann’s piece sacrifice allowed him to build pressure through advanced pawns and piece coordination, forcing the Indian Grandmaster to respond with caution rather than initiative.
As the middlegame progressed, Niemann retained the advantage of extra pawns in exchange for the sacrificed knight, creating the possibility of pushing for a decisive result. However, Gukesh gradually consolidated his position, neutralising potential threats and steering the game towards an equal endgame. The draw marked the only split point result of the round in the Masters category, with all other games producing decisive outcomes.
Elsewhere, defending champion Aravindh Chithambaram endured a difficult start to his title defence, going down to Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Employing the Philidor Defence, Aravindh initially maintained structural solidity but later found himself in a compromised position after conceding a pawn in the transition to a rook and minor-piece endgame. Abdusattorov capitalised on the imbalance to convert his advantage and secure the full point.
Germany’s top-seeded Vincent Keymer was another high-profile casualty on the opening day, losing to Jorden van Foreest of the Netherlands. The game again featured the Berlin Defence, but this time it was Foreest who introduced a novel idea in the opening phase. The innovation allowed the Dutch Grandmaster to emerge from the early stages with a positional edge, which he extended by picking up multiple pawns before closing out the contest in convincing fashion.
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Nodirbek Yakubboev of Uzbekistan also began his campaign on a positive note, defeating Spain’s David Anton Guijarro in a controlled performance. Meanwhile, Czech Grandmaster David Navara delivered a strong showing for the home crowd by overcoming Iran’s Parham Maghsoodloo in their round-one clash.
In the Challengers section, Divya Deshmukh registered a draw against top-seeded Benjamin Gledura of Hungary. The Indian held a promising position during the course of the game but was unable to convert the advantage into a win, eventually sharing the point.
Surya Shekhar Ganguly, however, suffered a loss to Thomas Beerdsen of the Netherlands. Other results in the section included defeats for China’s Zhu Jiner and Spain’s Daniel Yuffa against Czech players Jachym Nemec and Stepen Hrbek respectively, while Denmark’s Jonas Buhl Bjerre drew with Vaclav Finek.
Following the first round, the Masters section standings saw wins for Abdusattorov, van Foreest, Navara, and Yakubboev, with Gukesh’s draw against Niemann standing out as the sole non-decisive result of the day.
With eight rounds still to be played in the nine-round format, the tournament remains wide open, though early setbacks for key contenders such as Aravindh and Keymer have already begun to shape the competitive narrative. For Gukesh, the ability to recover from early pressure and secure a draw could prove significant as the event progresses into its middle rounds.
