Prague Challengers: Finek beats Yuffa, leads by a full point

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
3/2/2026 – A clear leader has emerged in the Challengers tournament at the Prague International Chess Festival, as 16-year-old Vaclav Finek moved a full point ahead of the field after defeating Daniil Yuffa with the white pieces. Divya Deshmukh, meanwhile, scored her first win of the event, while the remaining games ended drawn. The players now get a rest day before the final four rounds of the event take place from Tuesday to Friday. | Photo: Petr Vrabec / Prague Chess Festival
Your personal chess trainer. Your toughest opponent. Your strongest ally.
FRITZ 20 is more than just a chess engine – it is a training revolution for ambitious players and professionals. Whether you are taking your first steps into the world of serious chess training, or already playing at tournament level, FRITZ 20 will help you train more efficiently, intelligently and individually than ever before. 

Finek and Divya score wins

After five rounds of the Challengers tournament at the Prague Chess Festival, 16-year-old Vaclav Finek stands clear at the top of the table with a full-point lead. The Czech IM secured his third victory of the event on Sunday by defeating Daniil Yuffa with the white pieces, moving to 4/5. His remaining two games have both ended in draws.

Yuffa had been one of four players trailing Finek by half a point before the round began. The loss leaves him outside the chasing group, which now includes Thomas Beerdsen, Jachym Nemec and Stepan Hrbek, all of whom drew their games in the final round before the rest day and trail the leader by a full point on 3/5.

The key game between Finek and Yuffa turned on a strategic decision. Yuffa chose to exchange his dark-squared bishop, a trade that left the dark-square complex around his king significantly weakened.

Finek responded energetically, advancing his kingside pawns and maintaining pressure in a position where all six major pieces remained on the board.

With his opponent's king exposed, Finek gradually increased the tension and converted his advantage in convincing fashion.

The only other decisive result of the day was scored by Divya Deshmukh, who obtained her first win of the tournament by defeating Surya Shekhar Ganguly with the black pieces. Deshmukh thus returned to a fifty-percent score, recovering from her earlier setback against Zhu Jiner in round three.

The critical moment came when Ganguly opted for 19.Nxh7?, a knight sacrifice that did not yield sufficient compensation.

White could have gone for 19.Qh3 and, in fact, have a slight advantage. Instead, there followed 19.Nxh7? Qh5 (the refutation) 20.Nxf6+ gxf6 21.f3 Qxh2+ 22.Kf2 Qh4+ 23.Kf1

The black knight jumped from e7 to d5 and from d5 to c3 in the following two moves, forking the rooks to gain an exchange. Ganguly resigned the game on move 35.

Divya Deshmukh

Divya Deshmukh | Photo: Petr Vrabec / Prague Chess Festival

Among the three drawn games, the encounter between Zhu and top seed Benjamin Gledura stood out. Zhu agreed to a draw by triple repetition in a position that engines assessed as better for her, with an evaluation of around +1.3.

Given her difficult start to the tournament, which had seen her lose three of her first four games, the practical decision to secure half a point was understandable.

Zhu Jiner

Zhu Jiner | Photo: Tomáš Krist / Prague Chess Festival

Round 5 results

Standings after round 5

All games

Links

<< Is Gukesh calculating too much?
Prague Masters: Van Foreest wins again, Navara and Abdusattorov follow close behind >>
Topics: Divya Deshmukh, Prague Chess Festival 2026, Vaclav Finek
Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.
Discussion and Feedback Submit your feedback to the editors

See also

Prague Festival opening ceremony: Two world champions meet on stage

2/25/2026 – The eighth edition of the Prague International Chess Festival was officially opened at the Don Giovanni Hotel in Prague, launching the Masters, Challengers and Futures tournaments. The event features the reigning World Champion, Gukesh Dommaraju, who played a symbolic opening duel with Czech beach volleyball world champion Ondřej Perušič. The game was part of the festival's ceremonial start ahead of play through 6 March. | Photo: Petr Vrabec
More...
 3

See also

World Champion Candidates Jiner Zhu and Divya Deshmukh in Prague Challengers

12/18/2025 – The Prague International Chess Festival will be held from 24 February to 6 March 2026. As the organisers have announced, Divya Deshmukh and Jiner Zhu, two of the world’s leading women players, will compete in the Challengers tournament. The event combines high-level chess with the opportunity to enjoy Prague, one of Europe’s most attractive cultural and tourist destinations.
More...
 1

Video

60m English New ideas in the Najdorf_E

‘New ideas in the Najdorf – a Power Play 18 Update’ aims to complement Daniel King’s popular DVD from last year ‘The Sicilian Najdorf - a repertoire for Black’. Such a dynamic and popular opening as the Najdorf is developing the whole time. On this download, Daniel King updates lines that were included on his DVD but also responds to viewers’ requests, considering lines that he omitted from his original repertoire. The lines examined on this update are: • 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 h3 e5 7 Nde2 • 5….a6 6 Bc4 in combination with the English Attack (Be3, f3 etc) • 5…a6 6 Be3 and the …a5 variation • 5…a6 6 Be2 and 9 Re1 • 5 f3 (instead of 5 Nc3) It isn’t necessary to have seen the original Najdorf DVD to understand the lines examined here – but it would help as they form part of a complete repertoire.