World Champion D Gukesh was held in the third round of Sinquefield Cup on the draw by the lonely wild card American Samuel Sevian. Colleagues Indian Grand Master R Pragggnanandhaa also settled for a draw and shared points with Uzbekistani Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
This is the second consecutive draw of Pragggnanandhaa, and remains part of the leading trio, along with the American Fabian Caruana and Armenian Levon Aronian, who now represents the United States.
The daily only decisive meeting saw his first defeat of the Caruan France’s tournament Alireza Firouzja. Meanwhile, Aronian was held on the draw of France Maxima Vachier-Lagrave and American Wesley shared prey with Jan-Krzysztof Duda.
With six wheels that are still playing at the price of $ 375,000, Pragggnanandhaa, Aronian and Caruana, they lead to two points per piece. They are closely followed by Wesley, so Firouzja, Vachier-Lagrave, Sevian and Gukesh, every half point in a row. Duda holds one point while Abdusattorov opened his account half a point from three rounds.
Gukesh’s draw was a relatively comfortable thing when he defended black pieces. Sevian used a variant of Rossolimo against Gukesh’s Sicilian defense, but the world champion maintained control. Middlegame was constantly developing with balanced exchanges and culminating in the drawn end game.
Pragggnanandhaa, who performed with Black after two games playing with Black, decided for him-Indian defense. Abdusattor, still looking for a form, was unable to generate enough opponents. The game eventually reached the opposite bishop the end game where there was an inevitable conclusion.
The most remarkable game daily was the gentle position victory of Caruana over Firouzja. Caruana with fiance with Fianchetto against him-Indian defense has gained a spatial advantage with excellent locations in the middle game. After a permanent strategic pressure, he advanced his central by pawn to the seventh rank and ensured a well -earned victory.
With the four best places in the Grand Chess Tour at stake before the big finals at the end of this year, Caruana expressed his satisfaction with his result. He noted that Vachier-Lagrave has almost secured qualifications, while the remaining candidates remain locked in a wild battle for the remaining places.
Results 3. Rounds:
Nodirbek Abdusatorov (UZB) 0.5 – 0.55 R pragngandaaa (Indel)
Fabiano Caruana (USA) 1 – 0 Alitity Finhezja (FRA)
Jan -Krzysztof Duda (Pol) 0.5 – 0.5 Wesley So (USA)
MAXEE VACHIER -LAGRAVE (from) 0.5 – 0.5 Levon Aronian (USA)
Samuel Sevian (USA) 0.5 – 0.5 D Shock (Ind)
Inputs from PTI
– ends
Published:
Saurabh Kumar
Published on:
August 21, 2025
