World Championship challenger D Gukesh survived by the skin of his teeth against compatriot R Praggnanandhaa, drawing a lost endgame in the third round of the Sinquefield Cup – the final leg of the Grand Chess Tour. (More Sports News)
On a day when things finally livened up, tour leader Alireza Firouzja of France g✃ot lucky against his French teammate Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, drawing in a clear worse position via repetition of moves.
Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan also pushed for quite some time. But, a blunder💞 cost him dearly as Fabiano Car༺uana was able to turn the tables and score his first victory of the tournament.
The other winner was Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia, who had a relatively easy win against Dutchm♋an Anish Giri, who could not keep track after an unconventional opening by the former.
Reigning world champion D💜ing Liren of China also created enough chances for himself against Wesley So, only to blow them away in no time.
With six more rounds to come in the 10-playe𓃲r double round-robin tournament, Firouzja and Nepomniachtchi now share the lead on two points out of a possible three.
The event h♕as a total prize pool of USD 3,50,000 apart frꩲom the Grand Chess tour bonus prize fund of USD 1,75,000.
As many as six players -- Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh, Vachier-Lagrave, Caruana, Wesley and Liren share the third spot ꦛon 1.5 points each -- half point ahead of Abdusattorov and Giri.
Gukesh had a fantastic start as black pieces out of a Catalan opening by Praggnanandhaa, and the former was able to blitz 18 moves in about four minutes on his clock, with Praggnanandhaa an hour behind the c🍷lock.
After the dust settled, the players arrived at a slightlಞy complicated rook and pawns endgame that should have been a draw with correct play.
However, it was not to be as Gukesh made an optical error and walked into a lost position, and much to his surprise, he was relieved 𝓡when Praggnanandhaa could not find the right path to victory.
Praggnanandhaa has not beaten Gukesh since 2022 in a Classical gameꩲ, and his hunt for an elusive victory continued here, too.
Gukesh will take on Firouzja in the fourth round, while Praggnꦕanandhaa faces Giri.
Round 3 results: Fabiano Caruana (USA, 1.5) beat Nodirbek Abdu🐽sattorov (UZB, 1); Alireza Firouzja (FRA, 2) drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA, 1.5); Ding Liren (CHN, 1.5) drew with Wesley So (USA, 1.5) Ian Nepomniachtchi (RUS, 2) beat Anish Giri (NED, 1); R Praggnanandhaa (IND, 1.5) drew with D Gukesh (IND, 1.5)
