Prague (Czech Republic), March 2 The fortunes of World Champion D Gukesh remained unchanged for the fifth day running as the Indian made a blunder from a strong position to lose to his nemesis Nodirbek Abdusattorov at the Prague International Chess Festival here.
Just a month ago, Gukesh had lost to Abdusattorov due to a blunder from a decent position during the Tata Steel Masters, but the fifth round here was even more heartbreaking as the Indian played well for most of the middle game and seemed on track for an easy victory.
Employing a new strategy as black, Gukesh tormented the white's king early in the opening and created enough weaknesses for the computer to volunteer that he was closing in on his first victory in the Masters section of the tournament.
However, the ticking of the clock had its final say as the Indian faltered in the closing stages of the first time-control game.
Abdusattorov almost returned the favour, but it simply wasn't Gukesh's day as another blunder saw white advance his pawn to victory.
If Nodirbek was lucky, there seems no stopping the Dutch Grandmaster Jorden van Foreest, who climbed to number 11 in the world ranking based on live ratings after his fourth victory in five games.
On the other hand, Hans Moke Niemann of the United States made a single error that decisively favoured Foreest.
The day produced all decisive games in the 10-player round-robin tournament, and defending champion Aravindh Chithambaram succumbed to his third defeat in five games, giving David Anton Guijarro of Spain something to celebrate before the rest day.
Local star David Navara continued his excellent run and defeated Uzbek Nodirbek Yakubboev, which was certainly the game of the day, while in the other duel, Iranian Parham Maghsoodloo defeated Vincent Keymer of Germany.
With Foreest on four points, Abdusattorov and Navara are close behind, a half point behind. Guijarro is the sole occupant of the fourth spot with three points, half a point ahead of Maghsoodloo, while Vincent Keymer is jointly sixth with two points alongside Yakubboev.
Gukesh, Aravindh, and Niemann occupy the last three spots with just 1.5 points.
In the challengers' section, World Women's Cup winner Divya Deshmukh scored her first victory in the tournament at the expense of fellow Indian Surya Shekhar Ganguly, taking her score to 50 percent. Finek Vanclav of the Czech Republic continues to lead the tables here with four points.
Results, Round 4: David Navara (Cze, 3.5) beat Nodirbek Yakubboev (Uzb, 2); Jorden van Foreest (Ned, 4) beat Hans Moke Niemann (Usa, 1.5); Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 3.5) beat D Gukesh (Ind, 1.5); Aravindh Chithambaram (Ind, 1.5) lost to David Anton Guijarro (Esp, 3); Parham Maghsoodloo (Iri, 2.5) beat Vincent Keymer (Ger, 2).
Challengers: Jiner Zhu (Chn, 1.5) drew with Benjamin Gledura (Hun, 2); Joans Buhl Bjerre (Den, 2.5) drew with Jachym Nemec (Cze, 3); Thomas Beerdsen (Ned, 3) drew with Stepn Hrbek (Cze, 3); Surya Shekhar Ganguly (Ind, 1) lost to Divya Deshmukh (Ind, 2.5); Finek Vanclav (Cze, 4) beat Daniil Yuffa (Esp, 1.5).
