More draws for Gukesh and Pragg at the Sinquefield Cup
Alireza Firouza looks all set to win the Grand Chess Tour.
Grandmaster Gukesh Dommaraju and GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu made their eighth consecutive draw at the Sinquefield Cup, which is part of the Grand Chess Tour 2024, on Tuesday in the Saint Louis Chess Club, Missouri, USA.
All five games ended in a draw during the penultimate round and Iran-born French GM Alireza Firouzja is leading the pack with 5.5 points.
While Alireza is at the top of the table and made himself unreachable from his competitors, GM Fabiano Caruana collected 4.5 points and is the only player who can reach Alireza's score theoretically.
GM Praggnanandhaa is currently placed at the seventh spot while the World Championship challenger Gukesh is at the fifth spot. Both Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh have four points each.
In the eighth round, Gukesh with the black pieces faced the Dutch GM Anish Giri and with the Ruy-Lopez on the board, Gukesh defended with Morphy’s defence to continue the game.
During move number 18, Anish took a free pawn, which resulted in a trapped light-coloured bishop. Saving the bishop, Anish repeated the moves and Gukesh followed him, ending the game in a draw.
The other Indian in the fray, Praggnanandhaa with the white piece made every significant effort to take the game away from Fabiano Caruana.
But the tactical efforts by Praggnanandhaa were greatly managed by Fabiano and saw no further progress in the game, resulting in a draw.
Round nine will be the last set of games at the Sinquefield Cup and the final scoring opportunity for the players to boost their rank in the Grand Chess Tour.
Alireza Firouza is currently leading the GCT standings and won the entire event with a round to spare at the Sinquefield Cup, Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa can still finish in the top five position, and having said that, they must finish on a high in the last round.
In the last round of the Sinquefield Cup, Gukesh with the white pieces will face American Wesley So, while Praggnanandhaa will go head-to-head with the tournament winner Alireza Firouza.
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