Wesley So wins Sinquefield Cup 2025 via Playoffs, Praggnanandhaa second
Wesley So (USA) won Grand Chess Tour Sinquefield Cup 2025 after nine years by winning the Playoffs. R Praggnanandhaa drew his ninth round game against Levon Aronian (USA). Fabiano Caruana (USA) also shared the point versus the reigning World Champion, D Gukesh. Wesley So (USA) defeated Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) to finish with the same score as Praggnanandhaa and Caruana 5.5/9 each. They had to battle each other in 5'+2" Playoffs. Praggnanandhaa won the first game against Caruana. So defeated Praggnanandhaa in the second game. He drew the third game of the Playoffs against Caruana, thus he became champion scoring 1.5/2 in the Blitz tie-break games. Praggnanandhaa finished second as he scored 1/2, Caruana third as he only managed to score 0.5/2. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA), Caruana, Aronian and Praggnanandhaa will battle in Sao Paolo, Brazil at the GCT Finals from 27th September to 3rd October 2025. Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour
MVL, Caruana, Aronian and Praggnanandhaa advance to the GCT Finals
"It's been nine years. Has it been that long? Fortunately it didn't get to ten." - Wesley So referring to his last Sinquefield Cup triumph in 2016. "Now that I have won the tournament, I would like to glorify the Lord for winning, because I have been waiting for this a long time. I think last year I only won only one online tournament. Like in the last two years I only won like one or two events. This is the second event." - The Sinquefield Cup 2025 champion. He added, "Also I'd like to thank my mother a lot. She has always been with me through good times and bad hard times. And this year has been particularly difficult. Yeah it's a pity that I didn't make it to Brazil but at least now I am back in the top ten... Also I would like a big shoutout to English GM Gawain Jones because that opening idea today that I played against Nodirbek was in his book - Coffeehouse Repertoire. So that's where I got the idea. I analyzed this a few months back. I noticed Nodirbek plays Nf6 in his last 15 games. So I thought why not? It's actually a very risky line. Like if Black plays perfectly, White is a even a bit worse in many lines. But I had to risk it."
"Also I'd like to thank my mother a lot. She has always been with me through good times and bad hard times. And this year has been particularly difficult. Yeah it's a pity that I didn't make it to Brazil but at least now I am back in the top ten... Also I would like a big shoutout to English GM Gawain Jones because that opening idea today that I played against Nodirbek was in his book - Coffeehouse Repertoire. So that's where I got the idea. I analyzed this a few months back. I noticed Nodirbek plays Nf6 in his last 15 games. So I thought why not? It's actually a very risky line. Like if Black plays perfectly, White is a even a bit worse in many lines. But I had to risk it."
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Replay Round 9 and Playoff games
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 9 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2725 | GM | Duda, Jan-Krzysztof | ½ - ½ | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2736 | 9 | |
| 2 | 10 | 2784 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | ½ - ½ | GM | Gukesh, D | 2776 | 5 | |
| 3 | 4 | 2737 | GM | Aronian, Levon | ½ - ½ | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | 2779 | 6 | |
| 4 | 3 | 2745 | GM | So, Wesley | 1 - 0 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2771 | 7 | |
| 5 | 2 | 2766 | GM | Firouzja, Alireza | ½ - ½ | GM | Sevian, Samuel | 2683 | 8 |
Standings after Round 9
GCT standings
Prize
The total prize fund for each Classical event is US$ 350000. The top three prizes are US$ 100000, $65000 and $48000.
