Praggnanandhaa Leads Sinquefield Cup with Opening Victory

St. Louis (USA), Aug 19: In an impressive start to the Sinquefield Cup Chess tournament, Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa overcame World Champion D Gukesh to climb to the third position in the live world rankings. Praggnanandhaa shares the lead after the opening round with Levon Aronian from the United States, who also claimed victory over Uzbekistan's Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Both chess masters showcased exceptional skill on Monday.

Elsewhere in the tournament, the first-round matches saw Fabiano Caruana of the USA and Poland's Jan-Krzysztof Duda play to a draw, while American Samuel Savian also shared the point with fellow countryman Wesley So. French players Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Alireza Firouzja also concluded their match in a draw.

As the USD 350,000 prize money tournament progresses, with eight rounds remaining, six players are now tied for third place, closely trailing Praggnanandhaa and Aronian. Meanwhile, Gukesh and Abdusattorov find themselves at the bottom, eager to open their accounts in upcoming rounds.

In the match against Gukesh, who played with the black pieces, Praggnanandhaa faced a Queen's Gambit Accepted. While Gukesh adopted a solid approach initially, he quickly fell into time trouble, opting for a questionable strategy involving an early queen exchange. This misstep allowed Praggnanandhaa to capitalize on his advantage, securing a win after just 36 moves.

Praggnanandhaa's post-game reflections highlighted the significance of this victory. "I don’t really know what happened today. I think he was a bit off," he remarked, noting the win restores parity with Gukesh in their classical format record, where both now have three wins each.

This triumph was especially satisfying for Praggnanandhaa, who mentioned, "Last year, I messed up some good positions against him and hadn’t beaten him in classical for almost two years. It's good to finally get this win."

Aronian found himself in a resilient position against Abdusattorov, who, despite having the white pieces and an initially favorable position, faltered in the face of Aronian’s tenacity. Abdusattorov's error under pressure swung the game definitively in Aronian's favor.

Round 1 Results:

R Praggnanandhaa (Ind) defeated D Gukesh (Ind), Fabiano Caruana (USA) drew with Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Pol), Samuel Savian (USA) drew with Wesley So (USA), Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb) lost to Levon Aronian (USA), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra) drew with Alireza Firouzja (Fra).

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