Grand Chess Tour Finals 2025: Praggnanandhaa holds Aronian to draw in third-place match opener

Indian Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa began his third-place playoff at the Grand Chess Tour Finals in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with a solid draw against American GM Levon Aronian on Thursday.

Aronian pushed in a straightforward endgame during the first of two classical games, but Praggnanandhaa defended comfortably. The American later admitted he was surprised by his opponent’s opening choice.

“I didn’t think he would play the Sicilian Defence. He had some bad games in equal endgames, so I thought it would be a good idea just to test the theory. He has improved in that field,” Aronian said.

Praggnanandhaa, meanwhile, stressed he was focused less on the result than on competing hard. “I wanted a fight. I did try to play some Sicilian lines. I’ll try to fight in every game I play,” he said.

Elsewhere, the final between GMs Fabiano Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave also opened with a draw.

Published on Oct 02, 2025