Grand Chess Tour Finals 2025: Praggnanandhaa holds Aronian to another draw, winner to be decided in speed rounds

Indian Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa played out a second consecutive draw against American GM Levon Aronian in their third-place match at the Grand Chess Tour Finals in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Friday.

With both classical games now ending in a tie, the winner will be decided by the speed rounds – two rapid and four blitz games.

“I didn’t really believe I’d get any big chances, but I just wanted to keep playing,” said Praggnanandhaa after the draw. Aronian, needing victory to secure entry into next year’s GCT, added, “I’m going to try to do better than I did against Fabiano. This time I will work harder.”

Meanwhile, the final between Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Fabiano Caruana is also heading into the faster formats, after their second classical game also ended in a draw.

Published on Oct 03, 2025