Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa squandered a winning position against Wesley So of America while World Championship challenger D Gukesh settled for a hard-fought draw in the fifth round of the Sinquefield Cup, underway as the final leg of the Grand Chess Tour. (More Sports News)
On a day when Alireza Firouzja of France put it across Anish Giri of Holland, the other matches in the 10-player round-robin tournameꦯnt ended in draws.
By beating Giri with white, Firouzja became the sole leade🌄r going into the rest day.
Firouzja has collected 3.5 points and stands a half point ahead of Wesley So. The latter escaped with a draw after fiercely defending an endgame material down against Praggnanandhaa. Sunday's sixth round will see So pl🀅aying white against Firouzja.
It was a sad story for Praggnanandhaa, and the world is witnessing that the Indian needs to work on the technical aspect in order to c✤onvert the winning positions. In the previous round, the Indian had blundered to let Gukesh off the hook in a winning endgame.
Wesley So, on three points, holds the second spot followed by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, Praggnanandhaa, ✃Gukesh, Ding Liren of China, Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia and Fabiano Caruana of the United States sharing the third spot on 2.5 points each. Nodirbek Abdusatt🦩orov stands ninth on two points, a half-point clear of Giri who is at the bottom of the table.
Results - Round🦩 5: R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 2.5) drew with Wesley So (USA, 3); Alireza Firouzja (Fra, 3.5) beaꦦt Anish Giri (Ned, 1.5); Ian Nepomniachtchi (Fide) drew with Ding Liren (Chn, 2.5); Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 2) drew with D Gukesh (Ind, 2.5); Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2.5) drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 2.5).
