The 2025 Sinquefield Cup has been a slow-moving affair. The impressive field and eight tightly contested rounds have ensured that no single player has managed to secure an unassailable lead. The standings are incredibly cramped, so much so that even seventh-placed Samuel Sevian has a genuine shot at finishing in the top two.
Indian star R. Praggnanandhaa, a joint-leader ahead of the penultimate round, played a safe draw against the USA’s Wesley So. Another co-leader, Fabiano Caruana, also shared points with France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, ensuring the status quo remained unchanged heading into the final round.
Both Praggnanandhaa and So played a spotless game with an identical accuracy of 98.9 percent, giving each other practically no chance to make any inroads.
The Grandmaster from Chennai will now take on Levon Aronian in the final round, while Caruana will lock horns with Gukesh D in a double dose of Indo-American clashes. Praggnanandhaa may fancy his chances if the tournament moves to a tiebreak against Caruana, considering all three of his classical wins in 2025 — at the Tata Steel Masters, the Superbet Chess Classic Romania, and the Uzchess Cup — were secured in tiebreaks. “This year, playoffs have been good for me. But you never know what’s going to happen,” Praggnanandhaa said.
Gukesh gives it all
Gukesh, who had nothing to lose after a mediocre event, went up against Aronian for his eighth round clash and played the Queen’s Indian game. Coming in with a fighting approach, Gukesh gained a slight advantage out of the opening. He created a material imbalance in the hope of striking with the light pieces but Aronian had no real difficulty in equalising the position in the middle-game.
In an extremely difficult endgame to convert with a bishop pair and a two-pawn advantage against a rook and a bishop, Gukesh gave it all. He kept on asking difficult questions to Aronian in an attempt to break him down. The American started to lose his grip towards the fag end of the game, but the position being so complex to handle, Gukesh failed to find any winning ideas. The moment he allowed his opponent to exchange the light-squared bishop, the in-form Aronian pounced on the opportunity and chopped off Gukesh’s two extra pawns in exchange for his one pawn. The position equalised.
Soon after, Gukesh — desperately looking for a win under a severe time crunch — made a one-move blunder by misplacing his other bishop with just eight seconds left on the clock. The position was resignable for White, but this time, it was Aronian, who missed the winning move. Gukesh quickly exchanged all the remaining pieces left on the board, sealing the fate of the game in a draw.
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Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who had a horrendous outing losing four out of the seven rounds, saw a change in fate as he handed French No. 1 Alireza Firouzja a defeat with white pieces for the only decisive result of the round. Firouzja’s loss and Praggnanandhaa’s position in the top two effectively mean the latter is all but qualified for the 2025 Grand Chess Tour (GCT) finals set to happen in Brazil. Whereas for reigning World Champion Gukesh, who sits at eighth place with 3.5 points, the race for GCT finals is officially over.
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