Sinquefield Cup: Gukesh And Praggnanandhaa Held, Fabiano Caruana Takes Lead

Indian GMs R Praggnanadhaa and World Champion D Gukesh were held to draws by Samuel Sevian and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the fourth round of the Sinquefield Cup on Friday.

Pragg had to split the points with American Sevian, while Gukesh was held by Frenchman Vachier-Lagrave, as Fabiano Caruana zoomed to the lead with a win over Uzbek Nodirbek Abdusattorov.

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Fabiano Caruana of the United States secured his second consecutive victory, defeating Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan in the only decisive game of the day.

In the other matches, Levon Aronian of the United States drew with Jan-Krzysztof Duda of Poland, and Alireza Firouzja of France shared the point with Wesley So.

With five rounds remaining, Caruana leads with three points from four games, followed by Praggnanandhaa and Aronian, each with 2.5 points.

A group of five players – Wesley So, Firouzja, Vachier-Lagrave, Sevian, and Gukesh – are tied for fourth place with two points each.

Duda is half a point behind them, while Abdusattorov sits at the bottom of the table with just half a point.

Praggnanandhaa faced the Queen’s Gambit Declined as white but could not create any significant problems for Sevian. The middle game saw numerous exchanges, leading to a drawn endgame.

Gukesh also struggled to capitalize on his white pieces, as Vachier-Lagrave offered strong resistance in another Queen’s pawn game of the day.

The queens were exchanged early in the game, and despite some complexity, both players held their positions. The resulting rook endgame, with each player having a pawn, naturally ended in a draw.

Nodirbek’s search for a victory continued as Caruana thwarted an ill-advised kingside attack. Abdusattorov sacrificed a piece but did not receive adequate compensation and resigned after just 30 moves.

The event, played over nine rounds among 10 players, has a total prize pool of USD 350,000.

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Results Round 4:

D Gukesh (Ind, 2) drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 2)

R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 2.5) drew with Sameul Sevian (Usa, 2)

Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 0.5) lost to Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 3)

Wesley So (Usa, 2) drew with Alireza Firouzja (Fra, 2)

Levon Aronian (Usa, 2.5); drew with Duda Jan Krzysztof (Pol, 1.5)