Last week I took part, as an ambassador of ChessDB.cz, in the chess festival Open Prague 2026. With this article I would like to briefly evaluate the course and organization of the tournament.

The tournament was held from January 9 to 16 at the Olympik Tristar hotel in Prague. The festival was divided into Tournament A, Tournament B, and the 30+ tournament. Over eight days, thanks to one double round, we played nine rounds of classical chess; however, the program also included morning rapid and blitz tournaments.

Positive aspects of the tournament

I really liked the tournament venue, which was also mentioned by the president of the Czech Chess Federation during his visit—the playing hall had suitable capacity, acoustics, and visual appeal. I would also highlight the work of the arbiters and the organization; personally, I did not run into any major problems. On the last day, part of the tournaments had to be moved to another hall, which was a bit unfortunate, but everything was handled. Chess was also clearly helped by the weather, which practically invited you to spend a few hours indoors over the chessboard.

I also appreciated the fact that it really is an international tournament in every sense, and you get the opportunity to compare your playing strength with people from all over the world. Personally, besides Czechs, I got the chance to play against people from the USA, Austria, Poland, and Georgia. I also recall seeing people from Great Britain, Ukraine, Slovakia, India, Italy, France, Korea, and even South Africa.

The whole festival was marked by a good atmosphere and a spirit of fair play. If there is an opportunity, I will be happy to take part again.

Where I see room for improvement

Perhaps the only thing that surprised me a bit unpleasantly was the organizers’ approach to Tournament B, in which I also participated. I was “raised” on tournaments such as Jeseník Open or Ostravský koník—and at those tournaments the “B” event is treated with much more respect. Specifically, this concerns the amount of prize money compared to Tournament A and the online broadcast. More specifically:

Jeseník Open offers exactly half as much prize money in Tournament B as it does in Tournament A. Ostravský Koník offers just under half to a third. Open Prague offers the placed players in Tournament B only one sixth or less compared to Tournament A.

Jeseník Open has long had the same number of online boards on the top tables in both tournaments. Ostravský koník currently does as well—I have also experienced an edition where Tournament A had more online boards (which is understandable), but even then there were at least a few boards in Tournament B. Open Prague had 12 online boards in Tournament A and none in B.

So we can see that compared to some other chess festivals, Tournament B at the Open Prague festival does not enjoy much respect, which in my opinion is a shame, and the organizers should reconsider this approach and add a little to the prize money and at least a few online boards.

I would also definitely prefer extending the tournament by one day and thus getting rid of the double round, which works great in Jeseník, for example.

Assessment of the result and the best moment

I played as the fourth seed in Tournament B and finished sixth with a score of 6.5/9 (+5, =3, -1). I lost eight Elo points, which is to be expected when you are highly seeded and don’t finish right at the top. Overall, I am rather satisfied with the result and the play I showed; there was no miracle, but it’s not a flop either, and it is definitely one of the more successful tournaments I have played.

I value very much that I was one of two people who drew with the tournament winner. And the guy who beat me finished third. So at least I can say I dropped points to people in form—and they also gave me excellent tie-breaks.

You can find the results of all festival tournaments here: https://s3.chess-results.com/tnr1205275.aspx?lan=5&art=1&rd=9&turdet=YES&flag=30&SNode=S0

I consider my best moment of the tournament to be the eighth round. The game, in which at one point I was completely lost, reached this endgame:

Vojtěch Končický (1731) vs Miroslav Janeček (1921)

Black needs to capture White’s outside pawn and the path to victory will be simple. But how to win it? Black must exploit the disadvantage of the move.

54…Nf3 55.Ka8 (55.a6 Ne2) Ne2 56.Ka7 Nd3 (with this move Black deliberately “lost” a tempo) 57.Ka8 Na6 58.Ka7 Nb7! (the point is to force White to advance the pawn) 59.a6 Nc8 60. Ka8 Nxa6 and Black won.