The Prague International Chess Festival 2026 starts tomorrow in Czech Republic, running from February 25 to March 6. First matches begin at 2:00 PM UTC. The Masters and Challengers tournaments combined will feature 20 players from 11 countries.

Masters tournament participants:

  • 🇩🇪 GM Vincent Keymer
  • 🇮🇳 GM Gukesh Dommaraju
  • 🇺🇿 GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov
  • 🇮🇷 GM Parham Maghsoodloo
  • 🇳🇱 GM Jorden van Foreest
  • 🇮🇳 GM Aravindh Chithambaram
  • 🇺🇿 GM Nodirbek Yakubboev
  • 🇪🇸 GM David Anton Guijarro
  • 🇺🇸 GM Hans Niemann
  • 🇨🇿 GM David Navara

Challengers tournament participants:

  • 🇭🇺 GM Benjamin Gledura
  • 🇩🇰 GM Jonas Buhl Bjerre
  • 🇪🇸 GM Daniil Yuffa
  • 🇨🇳 GM Zhu Jiner
  • 🇮🇳 GM Surya Shekhar Ganguly
  • 🇨🇿 IM Vaclav Finek
  • 🇳🇱 GM Thomas Beerdsen
  • 🇮🇳 GM Divya Deshmukh
  • 🇨🇿 IM Stepan Hrbek
  • 🇨🇿 IM Jachym Nemec

The event features a 90+30 time control for the first 40 moves and 30+30 for the rest of the game over one Round-Robin between 10 players. In case of ties for first place, winner will be determined by Tiebreaks.

This championship follows the 2025 edition held in Czech Republic. Masters title was won by Aravindh Chithambaram and Challengers title was won by Nodirbek Yakubboev. Prague International Chess Festival is a premier annual chess event held at the Don Giovanni Hotel, organized by the Novy Bor Chess Club, and held since 2019.

Credit: Petr Vrabec