GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov won the 2026 Prague Chess Festival Masters, finishing unbeaten on 6/9 to become the tournament's first two-time champion, having also won the event in 2024. The Uzbek grandmaster sealed the title with a calm final-round draw against GM Hans Niemann, extending a lead he never gave up.
The 10-player round robin ran February 24 – March 6 at the Hotel Don Giovanni in Prague, with a time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves plus 30 minutes and a 30-second increment per move. The field was headlined by World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju alongside GM Vincent Keymer, GM Parham Maghsoodloo and GM Hans Niemann.
Read the Official Prague 2026 E-Magazine — Divya Deshmukh Edition →Abdusattorov went through the event without a loss — three wins and six draws — and finished a full point clear of a three-way tie for second between Maghsoodloo, GM Aravindh Chithambaram and GM Jorden van Foreest. The margin made it one of the more one-sided Masters finishes in recent editions of the festival.
The win capped a red-hot start to 2026 for Abdusattorov, following victories at the London Chess Classic and the Tata Steel Masters — his third consecutive major classical title — and moved him up to world No. 4.