Sinquefield Cup 2025: Praggnanandhaa in joint lead after easy win; Gukesh loses

Indian Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa scored a fluent victory over Frenchman Alireza Firouzja to claim the joint lead after the seventh round of the Sinquefield Cup, which is a part of the Grand Chess Tour.

With his second victory coming after a string of draws, Praggnanandhaa joined Fabiano Caruana of the United States at the top of the table with 4.5 points on a day when world champion D. Gukesh was outplayed by American Wesley So.

With Praggnanandhaa and Caruana in front, Levon Aronian and Wesley now share the third spot, on four points apiece, while Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Jan-Kryzsztof Duda of Poland, and Samuel Sevian of the United States are jointly holding the fifth spot with a 50 per cent score.

Gukesh and Alireza are next in the standings, on three points each, and Nodirbek Abdusattorov, with just 1.5 points, seems destined to finish last.

After a relative lull that failed to provide a single decisive game in the last two rounds, the seventh round provided as many as three decisive games out of a possible five in this 10-player tournament.

Apart from Alireza and Gukesh, lady luck continued to desert Nodirbek as he lost his fourth game in the tournament at the hands of Duda.

Praggnanandhaa outclassed Alireza, who apparently overrated his position after the opening.

The Rossolimo against the Sicilian is known to be a potent weapon, but Alireza went astray right from the early stages of the middle game.

Praggnanandhaa found the right moves at the right time and seized the initiative by attacking the centre, wherein his pair of Bishops had a towering impact on white’s centre.

Alireza kept looking for some tactical solutions that never saw the light of day and ended up blundering in a lost endgame. The game was over in just 27 moves.

Gukesh started with the Berlin defense as black, and Wesley decided to push for an advantage by not going for the traditional endgame. The opening favoured Wesley a little as Gukesh gave the Bishop pair, and it was a dynamic balance on the board in the early middle game.

Gukesh lost a pawn while trying to create counter-play, and Wesley was relentless as he also attacked the king side. Gukesh lost his queen for two minor pieces and it was all over soon.

Published on Aug 26, 2025