Up to date on: Aug 21, 2025 07:30 am IST
R Praggnanandhaa scripted a sensational win in opposition to D Gukesh in Spherical 1 of the Sinquefield Cup.
R Praggnanandhaa defeated reigning World Champion D Gukesh within the opening spherical of the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis. The win noticed the Indian GM turn into the brand new World No. 3 within the reside rankings for a brief time frame.
Talking after his outstanding victory, he mentioned, “I feel it was a clean sport. It was shocking from him as a result of it regarded like he was off at the beginning, like he spent a lot time at a theoretical place and this endgame is simply disagreeable for him. It began to worsen and worse. I suppose his final probability was to take the pawn on b4 however I feel it nonetheless ought to be profitable and I feel it’s a great sport to start out with.”
“Final 12 months, I tousled some good positions in opposition to him, I feel I didn’t beat him (in classical) for nearly two years now, so lastly it’s good to get a win,” he additional added.
In Spherical 2, Praggnanandhaa drew with Fabiano Caruana. In the meantime, Gukesh did bounce again to profitable methods, as he beat Abdusattorov in a tense Spherical 3 fixture.
Talking after beating the Uzbek GM, Gukesh mentioned, “Particularly after yesterday, in all probability one of many worst video games that I’d performed, it was good to bounce again like this.”
“If I would like to make two attracts or a loss and a win, I’d desire a loss and a win.”
Praggnanandhaa is presently in joint-lead within the event standings, with Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian. Three of them have 2.0 factors, adopted by Alireza Firouzja (1.5), Wesley So (1.5), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (1.5), Gukesh (1.5) and Sevian (1.5). In the meantime, Jan-Krzysztof Duda (1.0) and Nodirbek (0.5) are ninth and tenth.
Praggnanandhaa might be hoping to keep up his kind, and if he wins the event, it will likely be an ideal reflection of his efficiency this 12 months.
