Saint Louis (USA), World Championship challenger D Gukesh barely survived against his compatriot R Praggnanandhaa, achieving a losing finish in the third round of the Sinquefield Cup, the final leg of the Grand Chess Tour.
On a day when things finally livened up, tour leader Alireza Firouzja of France got lucky against his French teammate Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, ending up in a clearly worse position thanks to repeated moves.
Uzbekistan's Nodirbek Abdusattorov also pushed for quite some time. But a blunder was costly, as Fabiano Caruana was able to turn the situation around and get his first victory of the tournament.
The other winner was the Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi, who achieved a relatively easy victory against the Dutchman Anish Giri, who could not follow the lead after an unconventional opening by the former.
The reigning world champion, Ding Liren of China, also created enough chances against Wesley So, only to squander them in short order.
With six more rounds to come in the 10-player double round-robin tournament, Firouzja and Nepomniachtchi now share the lead with two points out of a possible three.
The event has a total prize pool of $3,50,000, apart from the Grand Chess Tour bonus prize pool of $1,75,000.
As many as six players (Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh, Vachier-Lagrave, Caruana, Wesley and Liren share third place with 1.5 points each), half a point ahead of Abdusattorov and Giri.
Gukesh got off to a fantastic start with black pieces in a Praggnanandhaa Catalan opening, and the former was able to make 18 moves in about four minutes on his clock, with Praggnanandhaa an hour behind the clock.
After the dust settled, the players reached a slightly complicated rook and pawn ending that should have been a draw with correct play.
However, it was not to be, as Gukesh made an optical error and walked into a lost position, and to his surprise, he was relieved when Praggnanandhaa could not find the right path to victory.
Praggnanandhaa has not beaten Gukesh since 2022 in a Classic match, and his quest for an elusive victory continued here as well.
Gukesh will face Firouzja in the fourth round, while Praggnanandhaa will face Giri.
Round 3 results: Fabiano Caruana (USA, 1.5) defeated Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB, 1); Alireza Firouzja (FRA, 2) tied with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA, 1.5); Ding Liren (CHN, 1.5) tied with Wesley So (USA, 1.5) Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS, 2) beat Anish Giri (NED, 1); R Praggnanandhaa (IND, 1.5) tied with D Gukesh (IND, 1.5). or AYG BS
Degree
On a day when things finally livened up, tour leader Alireza Firouzja of France got lucky against his French teammate Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, ending up in a clearly worse position thanks to repeated moves.
Uzbekistan's Nodirbek Abdusattorov also pushed for quite some time. But a blunder was costly, as Fabiano Caruana was able to turn the situation around and get his first victory of the tournament.
The other winner was the Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi, who achieved a relatively easy victory against the Dutchman Anish Giri, who could not follow the lead after an unconventional opening by the former.
The reigning world champion, Ding Liren of China, also created enough chances against Wesley So, only to squander them in short order.
With six more rounds to come in the 10-player double round-robin tournament, Firouzja and Nepomniachtchi now share the lead with two points out of a possible three.
The event has a total prize pool of $3,50,000, apart from the Grand Chess Tour bonus prize pool of $1,75,000.
As many as six players (Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh, Vachier-Lagrave, Caruana, Wesley and Liren share third place with 1.5 points each), half a point ahead of Abdusattorov and Giri.
Gukesh got off to a fantastic start with black pieces in a Praggnanandhaa Catalan opening, and the former was able to make 18 moves in about four minutes on his clock, with Praggnanandhaa an hour behind the clock.
After the dust settled, the players reached a slightly complicated rook and pawn ending that should have been a draw with correct play.
However, it was not to be, as Gukesh made an optical error and walked into a lost position, and to his surprise, he was relieved when Praggnanandhaa could not find the right path to victory.
Praggnanandhaa has not beaten Gukesh since 2022 in a Classic match, and his quest for an elusive victory continued here as well.
Gukesh will face Firouzja in the fourth round, while Praggnanandhaa will face Giri.
Round 3 results: Fabiano Caruana (USA, 1.5) defeated Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB, 1); Alireza Firouzja (FRA, 2) tied with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA, 1.5); Ding Liren (CHN, 1.5) tied with Wesley So (USA, 1.5) Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS, 2) beat Anish Giri (NED, 1); R Praggnanandhaa (IND, 1.5) tied with D Gukesh (IND, 1.5). or AYG BS
Degree
