Sinquefield Cup: Praggnanandhaa wins his first Classical game against Gukesh in over three years, now World no.3
R Praggnanandhaa outplayed the World Champion, D Gukesh in the first round of Grand Chess Tour Sinquefield Cup 2025. This marks Praggnanandhaa's first win against D Gukesh in a Classical rated game since April 2022. Gukesh went wrong early in the game and he could not complete the development of his pieces. It took forever for the pieces to get into the action and by that time Praggnanandhaa already got himself a winning position. Levon Aronian (USA) scored the only other win of the round against Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB). Samuel Sevian (USA) got himself a great opportunity against Wesley So (USA). However, he could not capitalize and the game ended in a draw. Round 2 starts today at 12 p.m. local time, 10:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour
Praggnanandhaa outplays Gukesh, Aronian beats Abdusattorov
R Praggnanandhaa's win over the World Champion, D Gukesh, took his live rating to 2784 and made him World no.3.
Praggnanandhaa - Gukesh: 1-0
R Praggnanandhaa (2779) and D Gukesh (2776) have played 14 Classical rated games against each other in over eight years. The last time Praggnanandhaa defeated Gukesh in a Classical battle was April 2022 which was also his second win in this format. Since then Gukesh won three and the remaining seven games ended in draws. So this win is a huge one for Praggnanandhaa, not only because Gukesh is now a World Champion but also due to the fact that he did something which he has not been able to do in over three years.
14...b5 needed to be played to quickly complete the development of his pieces. Instead, 14...Rd8?! made things difficult for him. 15.Ne5! immediately taking advantage of the weak back rank combined with the fact that Black was lagging in the development department. 15...Bd7 16.Nxd7 Nxd7 17.Ne4 Nb6 blocked his own bishop's path 18.Nc5 Rab8 19.Rxd8+ Nxd8 20.Be5 Ra8 21.e4 Bb8 22.Bd4 Nc8 Black's position certainly looks bad as all his pieces are reeling on the back rank. 23.Rd1 Bd6 24.Be5 Be7 25.Bc7 Nc6 26.Nxb7 White won the game in ten more moves.
Abdusattorov - Aronian: 0-1
Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB, 2771) and Levon Aronian (USA, 2737) have played only four Classical rated games against each other. Aronian won two and the remaining two ended in draws. The maestro ensured that he scores his third win against the 44th Olympiad Gold medalist yesterday.
27.Qxh7+ Kxh7 28.Nf6+ Kg7 29.Nxd5 cxd5 30.Bd4+ equilibrium would have been maintained. Instead, 27.Ng5 invited trouble Nxg5 28.Rxf5 Qd6 better was Qb3 29.Qxg5 Rxe3 30.Rxe3 Bb6 would have probably finished things sooner. The game continued 29.Qxg5 Rxe3 30.Qxe3 gxf5 31.g3 f4 32.gxf4 Qh6 33.Kh1 Bxf4 34.Qe2 Rd8 35.Ba2 Qh4 36.Rf1 b5 37.a4? Kf8 38.Qc2 bxa4 39.Qc5+ Rd6 40.Qc2 Rf6 41.Rf2 Bxh2 and Black won.
Sevian - So
Samuel Sevian (USA, 2683) got a great opportunity against Wesley So (USA, 2745) when the latter made the mistake of playing 30...Rd6? 31.Qxf6+- gxf6 32.Be6? instead White needed to play 32.Rc7 first before going Be6. The outcome could have been different.
Replay live stream
Schedule and Format
Sinquefield Cup will have one round per day from 18th to 27th August. Rest day is on Saturday 23rd August. Each round starts at 12 p.m. local time, 10:30 p.m. IST. It will be a 10-player Round Robin event. GCT Playoffs if required will take place on 28th August.
Round 1 results
Standings after Round 1
Round 2 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 | 2779 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | 2784 | 10 | ||
| 2 | 4 | 2737 | GM | Aronian, Levon | GM | Sevian, Samuel | 2683 | 8 | ||
| 3 | 3 | 2745 | GM | So, Wesley | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2736 | 9 | ||
| 4 | 2 | 2766 | GM | Firouzja, Alireza | GM | Duda, Jan-Krzysztof | 2725 | 1 | ||
| 5 | 5 | 2776 | GM | Gukesh, D | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2771 | 7 |
GCT standings
Prize
The total prize fund for each Classical event is US$ 350000. The top three prizes are US$ 100000, $65000 and $48000.
