In just a month, Nodirbek Abdusattorov defeated world champion D. Gukesh. Gukesh blundered from a position of strength to lose to Abdusattorov at Prague International Chess Festival. Photo: Wikipedia

World chess champion D Gukesh dropped out of the top 10 in the live chess rating after suffering a crushing defeat to world No 30 Jorden van Foreest in the third round of the ongoing Prague Chess Festival Masters 2026. While Van Foreest moved into a four-way tie for the first spot along with Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Nodirbek Yakubboev and David Navara with two points each, Gukesh finds himself among the bottom pack with one point from three matches.

The latest defeat to world No 30 has set alarm bells ringing for world champion Gukesh, who is ranked ninth in the official list but has slipped to 13th in the live ratings in a year in which he will defend his world crown.

Gukesh’s poor form raises concerns 

Known for his dogged resistance and insane calculation on the board, the 19-year-old Gukesh has been having a rather unimpressive 2026 after a poor 2025, where he did not win a single tournament. Earlier this year at the Tata Steel chess tournament, Gukesh finished ninth among 14 Grandmasters. He also suffered defeats against Anish Giri and Matthias Bluebaum in Wijk aan Zee, two players who will be competing in the upcoming FIDE Candidates 2026 to be a challenger for the Indian Grandmaster’s world title.

It’s high time Gukesh quickly rediscovered his form, else it will become extremely difficult for him to have the required confidence to defend his world crown.

On Friday in Prague, Gukesh played an erroneous game against Jorden van Foreest, but nothing can explain not pressing the clock hard enough after the 36th move. His blunder cost him valuable time as he lost 45 seconds after playing his move and the Dutch Van Foreest got the chance to plan his move on the world champion’s time.

How Van Foreest defeated Gukesh

Coming to the game, Gukesh made his biggest blunder on move 17 with the black pieces as he played Qb8 when Nd7 was the best move. But even more impressive was the rook sacrifice by Van Foreest for a knight on d4. This allowed the Dutch chess player to take full control of the match and soon went a pawn up.

After another blunder 35…Kd3, a defeat for Gukesh became inevitable, and he was forced to resign after 48 minutes – a first win over the world champion for Van Foreest.

Check moves from Gukesh vs Van Foreest game:

“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 said.

While explaining his rook sacrifice, he said: “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.”

“I’m up a pawn, there’s really no risk—in the worst case it’s a draw, and for him the defense will be always very difficult, even with best play, so I was happy,” said Van Foreest.

D Gukesh began his campaign at the 2026 Prague Chess Festival Masters with back-to-back draws, having to fight his way to safety against American Grandmaster Hans Niemann in the first of those on Wednesday. The reigning Classical world champion is known for his fighting spirit and never-say-die attitude, and it was that fighting spirit that helped Gukesh rescue half-a-point against Niemann.

How Gukesh survived against Niemann

Niemann, a late replacement for Czech GM Thai Dai van Nguyen, had pushed Gukesh on the backfoot by sacrificing his knight in the 13th move (13.f4 Nxd3) after the game developed from a Berlin Defense opening. The American piled pressure on Gukesh by pushing his queen forward (14. Qxd3) and later putting his bishop in a dangerous position (15. Ba6).

Gukesh, however, is someone who is known to thrive in difficult situations with his ability to remain calm and calculate his way to safety or a position of strength. After a Queen exchange in the 18th move, the 19-year-old – who also had the advantage of playing as white – Gukesh continued to hold fort and resisted whatever curveballs Niemann attempted to throw at him.

In the end, the two played out a 62-move draw that concluded with a rook endgame. It was the only stalemate in the opening round, with each of the other boards witnessing a victory for white.

Gukesh’s second-round meeting with Tata Steel Chess winner Nodirbek Abdusattorov, however, was nowhere near as dramatic, with the two players shaking hands in just 30 moves from an Indian Game opening.

The Uzbekistani GM wasn’t quite able to put the world champion under pressure the way Niemann had in the previous round, with the eval bar remaining on level terms throughout.

Aravindh opens account with a victory

Niemann, meanwhile, was in for a setback in the second round after losing to Gukesh’s compatriot Aravindh Chithambaram despite playing as white. Aravindh, who had won the Prague Masters in dominant fashion last year, ceded control to his opponent after committing a couple of errors (20. h6 and 28. Ne4).

👉Here are the results of Round 2 of the Masters at the Prague Chess Festival, we saw two decisive games today. Don’t forget to vote for the game you liked the most: pic.twitter.com/0QoqcCtOI4

— Prague International Chess Festival (@PragueChess) February 26, 2026

The 26-year-old, however, was quick to turn the tide in his favour after Niemann produced a blunder with his bishop (31.  Bd3) that was followed by more errors, with the American eventually raising the white flag of surrender after 53 moves.