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
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Gukesh: "I have very good memories of this place"
Press release
The eighth edition of the Prague International Chess Festival was officially opened by a ceremonial event at the Don Giovanni Hotel Prague. The Czech capital welcomes top world players, including the reigning World Champion, 19-year-old Gukesh Dommaraju. Fans of the royal game can look forward to thrilling matches until 6 March. The Masters, Challengers and Futures tournaments all began today.
Two Super Grandmasters from India explain the ins & outs of Attack, Tactics an Calculations in these two video courses.
Gukesh previously competed at the Prague International Chess Festival in 2024, before becoming the World Champion. He explained:
Two years ago, Prague was my final test before the Candidates Tournament, which I went on to win, so I have very good memories of this place. Much has changed since then. After becoming World Champion, expectations are higher and I face greater pressure. I’m looking forward to show what I’ve learned since then.
Gukesh also delighted many fans by attending an autograph session, allowing visitors to take home a valuable memory from the Don Giovanni Hotel.
Both guests and fans of the royal game were guided through the evening by host Mikoláš Tuček, who joked light-heartedly about his "victory" over a seven-year-old computer bot named Magnus Carlsen. The floor was soon given to the reigning king of classical chess, who, of course, drew the number one.
Gukesh Dommaraju drew number one | Photo: Petr Vrabec
Players from the elite Masters category also took part in the drawing of lots to pair up with players from the Futures tournament, continuing the Prague tradition of mutual inspiration, where experienced grandmasters line up side by side with the youngest talents.
Among the guests of the gala evening were, among others, the President of the Nový Bor Chess Club Roman Mužík, Executive Director of Czech Inn Hotels Jaroslav Svoboda, FIDE Secretary General Łukasz Turlej and Czech mathematician and innovator Karel Janeček.
VIP guests and chess personalities were treated not only to a performance by magician David Kopecký, but also to a unique duel that symbolically opened the eighth battle for the Prague chess crown. Two world champions faced each other across the board - the reigning World Chess Champion Gukesh Dommaraju and beach volleyball world champion from Czechia Ondřej Perušič. Both elite athletes showcased several strategic moves on the new Česká klubovka digital chessboards by DGT, which are offered in the Czech Republic by our partner Sachy.biz.
This video course features the ins-and-outs of the possible setups Black can choose. You’ll learn the key concepts and strategies needed to add this fantastic opening to your repertoire. An easy-to-learn and yet venomous weapon.
Beach volleyball world champion Ondřej Perušič | Photo: Petr Vrabec
A painting of defending champion Aravindh Chithambaram was disclosed during the opening ceremony | Photo: Petr Vrabec
The participants of the Challengers tournament | Photo: Petr Vrabec
In this course, we will learn how to identify passively placed pieces in any given situation and how to improve their health by bringing them into active squares.
3/6/2026 – From 25 February to 6 March 2026, the eighth Prague International Chess Festival is taking place at the Don Giovanni Hotel, bringing together elite competition and a wide programme of side events. Going into the final round, Nodirbek Abdusattorov is the sole leader in the Masters section and stands a half point ahead of Jorden van Foreest. Abdusattorov plays white against Hans Niemann, while Van Foreest plays black against Parham Maghsoodloo. | Follow the action live starting at 15.00 CET (9.00 ET, 19.30 IST) | Pictured: Divya Deshmukh | Photo: Petr Vrabec / Prague Chess Festival
2/23/2026 – From 24 February to 6 March 2026, the eighth Prague International Chess Festival will take place at the Don Giovanni Hotel, bringing together elite competition and a wide programme of side events. Headlined by world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, the festival features strong Masters and Challengers tournaments, a youth Futures event, alongside numerous opens and alternative formats for players of all levels. | Photo: Official website
After 1.d4 d5 many players with White avoid the great amount of theory in the Slav, Semi-Slav, QGA and Orthodox Queen's Gambit and do not therefore play 2.c4. This is not very ambitious, but the painful experience of many chess players has been that the Colle System, the Trompowsky Attack, the Torre Attack and the London System are nevertheless extremely dangerous. Black has to be prepared for each of these openings and IM Valeri Lilov offers you some help with his six instructive videos, in which he demonstrates for each single opening a relevant plan for Black. In addition to the openings mentioned, the Bulgarian trainer also delves into the Catalan, the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit and the Richter-Veresov Opening.
In this course, Grandmaster Elisabeth Pähtz presents the London System, a structured and ambitious approach based on the immediate Bf4, leading to rich and dynamic positions.
Opening videos: Open Spanish (Sipke Ernst) and Classical Sicilian (Nico Zwirs). Endgame Special by Igor Stohl: ‘Short or long side’ – where should the defending king be placed in rook endgames? ‘Lucky bag’ with 35 master analyses.
YOUR EASY ACCESS TO OPENING THEORY: Whether you want to build up a reliable and powerful opening repertoire or find new opening ideas for your existing repertoire, the Opening Encyclopaedia covers the entire opening theory on one product.
The Queen’s Gambit Declined Exchange Variation with 5.Bf4 has a great balance between positional play and sharp pawn pushes; and will be a surprise for your opponents while being easy to learn for you, as the key patterns are familiar.
After 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Bb5 Bd7 6.Qd3, White sidesteps mainline theory and steers the game into less explored, strategically rich positions.
In this course, you will learn the foundations and key ideas of the Vienna Game and discover a variety of systems that make you extremely difficult to prepare for.
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