Chess
Sinquefield Cup 2025: Pragnanandhaa drops to joint 2nd after a draw in round 4
D Gukesh also played out a draw in the fourth round against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France.
R Praggnanandhaa. (File Photo)
Top Indian Grandmasters, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh Dommaraju, secured draws in their fourth-round games at the Sinquefield Cup 2025 in Saint Louis, USA, on Wednesday.
Praggnanandhaa played out a quick 29-move draw with Sam Sevian of the USA, whereas World Champion Gukesh was forced to play a draw against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France on a three-fold repetition.
With this, Praggnanandhaa dropped from the top of the standings, having 2.5 points from four rounds, as the American player Fabiano Caruana took a sole lead after a win over Nodirbek Abdusattarov of Uzbekistan.
On the other hand, Gukesh, half a point behind his compatriot, with two points from four games, is sitting just outside the podium places in joint fourth position alongside four more players.
Sevian, evenly matched Praggnandhaa, and nullified his massive 99.5 percent accuracy with his 99.1 percent accuracy, to continue impressing at this tournament despite being the lowest-seeded player.
Pragnandhaa will now head into the fifth round against the current leader of the 2025 Grand Chess Tour circuit, with the black pieces, whereas Gukesh will be up against Jan-Krzysztof Duda of Poland.
