Indian Grand Master R Pragnanandhaa reached a new career milestone on Monday and climbed the world 3 in the rating of the living Fide after defeating the ruling world champion D Gukesh in the opening round of Sinquefield Cup 2025 in St. Louis. A twenty -year -old man gave a folded performance in a classic format and at this time he described his first victory over Gukesh for more than three years.
The Sinquefield Cup is the last stage of the Grand Chess Tour and has considerable weight in the 2025 chess calendar. With strong performances throughout the year – including the victory at the Chess Classic Superbet in Romania – was Pragggnanandhaa one of the standout players. This victory not only strengthens its offer for the Grand Chess Tour final, but also puts it in a strong statement about the top place in the official FIDE ranking because it is to be updated 1 September.
When he spoke after the game, Pragnanandhaa was thinking about the meaning of the result: “This is my first victory here in Sinquefield Cup. I did nine draws last year, which is also a place where I spoiled many winning positions. It’s another story.
His last classic victory against Gukesh came to Reykjav Open in April 2022. Since then, their meetings have often seen Gukesh with the upper hand.
“I haven’t had really great results against him in the last few years,” Pragggnanandhaa admitted. “This is my first classic victory in three years, and the previous one I got was also lucky because he won the whole year. I also spoiled three winning positions last year. Finally, I’m glad I managed to win one victory.”
When he analyzed the game, the Grand Master based in Chennai noted Gukesh’s early indecision in the well -known theoretical line. “It was a smooth game. It was surprising of him because he was at the beginning as if he had spent so much time on a theoretical position, and this end game is just unpleasant for him,” he said. “It started to get worse and deteriorate. I think the last chance was to take a B4 pawn, but I think it should still win and I think it’s a good game to start.”
The evaluation of Elo Pragggnanandhaa in the live ranking is now sitting on 2784, just behind Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura-only two players over 2800. Fabiano Caruana, who was held on the draw of Jan-Krzysznof Duda in the 1st round.
The victory sets a highly anticipated clash in the 2nd round between Pragggnanandhaa and Caruana – a direct battle for the official rating race No. 3. The victory would give the Indians a critical buffer heading to the rest of the tournament.
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Published:
Saurabh Kumar
Published on:
August 19, 2025
