Sinquefield Cup R3: Gukesh makes a narrow escape against Praggnanandhaa
D Gukesh salvaged a draw in a losing rook endgame against R Praggnanandhaa in Round 3 of Grand Chess Tour Sinquefield Cup 2024. Praggnanandhaa has not been able to beat Gukesh in a Classical rated game since 2022. He had a very good chance to change it. The world championship challenger kept fighting and seized his opportunity when his opponent made a mistake and lost his decisive advantage. Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) blundered at the end against Fabiano Caruana (USA). Ian Nepomniachtchi defeated Anish Giri (NED) with ease. Giri vs Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh vs Alireza Firouzja (FRA) in Round 4. It starts today at 1 p.m. local time, 11:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour
Caruana and Nepomniachtchi score
Alireza Firouzja (FRA) and Ian Nepomniachtchi are the only two players at 2/3 each. They are followed by six players including R Praggnanandhaa and D Gukesh at 1.5/3 each.
Praggnanandhaa - Gukesh: 0.5-0.5
D Gukesh (2766) is has not lost a Classical rated game since April 2022 against R Praggnanandhaa (2749). That statistic was in serious trouble when Gukesh erred in a balanced rook and many pawns endgame.
Gukesh did the only thing he should not do in the above position - attack the rook 34...Kd7? What Black needed to do was to attack his opponent's pawn 34...Rf1+ 35.Ke2 Rh1 or 35.Kg2 Rd1 to maintain the equilibrium. 34...Kd7? turned things in White's favor 35.Rb8+- Kc7 36.Rh8 Rf1+ 37.Ke2 Rb1 38.Rxh7+ Kc6 after repeating once to gain time 41.h4 Rb2+ 42.Kf3 Rxb3+ 43.Kxf4 White is completely winning.
50.Ke8? Rh1 51.e7 Rxh5 52.Rxd4 b5 and the game entered into a draw. What White needed to do was 50.Kg7 Rg1+ 51.Kf8 Re1 52.Rxd4 Rxe6 53.Rh4 and he would have won.
Replay live stream
Schedule and Format
Sinquefield Cup will have one round per day from 19th to 28th August. Rest day is on Saturday 24th August. Each round starts at 1 p.m. local time, 11:30 p.m. IST, except the last round on 28th August. It will start at 11 am. local time, 9:30 p.m. IST. It will be a 10-player Round Robin event.
Prize
The total prize fund is US$ 350000.
Replay Round 3 games
Round 3 results
Standings after Round 3
Round 4 pairings
| Table | White | Score | Fed. | Rating | Black | Score | Fed. | Rating | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM Ding, Liren | 1.5 | CHN | 2745 | GM Caruana, Fabiano | 1.5 | USA | 2793 | |
| 2 | GM Giri, Anish | 1.0 | NED | 2746 | GM Praggnanandhaa R | 1.5 | IND | 2749 | |
| 3 | GM So, Wesley | 1.5 | USA | 2751 | GM Nepomniachtchi, Ian | 2.0 | FID | 2767 | |
| 4 | GM Gukesh D | 1.5 | IND | 2766 | GM Firouzja, Alireza | 2.0 | FRA | 2751 | |
| 5 | GM Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 1.5 | FRA | 2721 | GM Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 1.0 | UZB | 2762 |
