Sinquefield Cup Chess: Praggnanandhaa outplays World champion Gukesh, rises to No.3 in world rating

Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa outplayed World Champion D Gukesh within the opening spherical of the Sinquefield Cup Chess event to rise to the third place in stay world rankings.

He now shares the lead with the unstoppable Levon Aronian of United States, who outsmarted Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan after the opening spherical on Monday (August 18, 2025).

In different video games of the primary spherical Fabiano Caruana of USA performed out a draw with Duda Jan-Kryzstof of Poland whereas wild card Samuel Savian cut up the purpose with American country-mate Wesley So whereas Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France additionally drew with one other Frenchman Alireza Firouzja.

With eight rounds nonetheless to come back within the $350,000 prize cash event, as many as six gamers share the third spot behind Praggnanandhaa and Aronian whereas Gukesh and Abdusattorov are on the backside of the heap hoping to open their respective accounts within the subsequent spherical.

Praggananandhaa confronted the Queen’s gambit accepted by Gukesh who performed with black items.

The stable strategy was underneath the scrutiny early as Gukesh spent a whole lot of time in a identified place and went for a doubtful set-up that concerned early alternate of queens.

Praggnanandhaa had the Bishop pair as taking part in with white items gave him a definite benefit.

Making issues worse for himself, Gukesh additionally fell wanting time and needed to discover some actually tough strikes to remain within the recreation.

Relentless, as he’s, Praggnanandhaa didn’t let the place slip out of hand as he gained a pawn by drive and the remainder was straightforward. The recreation lasted simply 36 strikes.

“I don’t really know what happened today. I think he was a bit off,” mentioned Praggnanandhaa after the sport.

Incidentally with this victory, Praggnanandhaa additionally restored parity with Gukesh in classical format through which each have three wins every.

“Last year, I messed up some good positions against him, I think I did not beat him (in classical) for almost two years now, so finally it’s good to get a win,” famous Praggnanandhaa.

Aronian was fast to search out counter play as soon as Nodirbek ran out of steam after a very long time attempting to assault the black King. The Uzbek Grandmaster had the white items and a barely beneficial place however the American stayed put with some good sources. The recreation ought to have been a draw however Abdusattorov bungled and misplaced badly.

Results spherical 1:

R Praggnanandhaa (Ind) beat D Gukesh (Ind); Fabiano Caruana (Usa) drew with Duda Jan Kryzstof (Pol); Samuel Savian (Usa) drew with Wesley So (Usa); Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb) misplaced to Levon Aronian (Usa); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra) drew with Alireza Firouzja (Fra).