Sinquefield Cup: Praggnanandhaa in joint lead after facile win; Gukesh loses  

Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa scored a fluent victory over Frenchman Alireza Firouzja to claim the joint lead after the seventh round of the Sinquefield Cup, which is a part of the Grand Chess Tour.

With his second victory coming after a string of draws, Praggnanandhaa joined Fabiano Caruana of United States at the top of the table with 4.5 points on a day when world champion D Gukesh was outplayed by American Wesley So.

With Praggnanandhaa and Caruana in front, Levon Aronian and Wesley So now share the third spot on four points apiece while Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Duda Jan-Kryzsztof of Poland and Samuel Sevian of United States are jointly holding the fifth spot with a fifty per cent score.

Gukesh and Alireza are next in the standings on three points each and Nodirbek Abdusattorov seems destined to finish last having just 1.5 points.

After a relative lull that failed to provide a single decisive game in the last two rounds, the seventh round provided as many as three decisive games out of a possible five in this 10-player 375000 USD prize money tournament.

Apart from Alireza and Gukesh, lady luck continued to desert Nodirbek as he lost his fourth game in the tournament at the hands of Duda.

Praggnanandhaa outclassed Alireza who apparently overrated his position after the opening.

The Rossolimo against the Sicilian is known to be a potent weapon but Alireza went astray right from the early stages of the middle game.

Praggnanandhaa found the right moves at the right time and seized the initiative by attacking the centre wherein his pair of Bishops had a towering impact on white’s centre.

Alireza kept looking for some tactical solutions that never saw the light of the day and ended up blundering in a lost endgame. The game was over in just 27 moves.

Gukesh started with the Berlin defense as black and Wesley decided to push for an advantage by not going for the traditional endgame. The opening favoured Wesley a little as Gukesh gave the Bishop pair and it was a dynamic balance on the board in the early middle game.

Gukesh lost a pawn while trying to create counter play and Wesley was relentless as he also carried out an attack on the king side. Gukesh lost his queen for two minor pieces and it was all over soon.

Results round 7:

Alireza Firouzja (Fra, 3) lost to R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 4.5); Duda Jan-Krzysztof (Pol, 3.5) beat Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 1.5); Wesley So (Usa, 4) beat D Gukesh (Ind, 3); Fabiano Caruana (USA, 4.5) drew with Levon Aronian (USA, 4) Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 3.5) drew with Samuel Sevian (USA, 3.5).