Sinquefield Cup: Pragg ends second, So wins

St. Louis: Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa sealed his spot in the Grand Chess Tour finale after finishing runner-up at the Sinquefield Cup, where American Wesley So clinched the title with a dramatic three-way playoff victory.

So defeated Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan in the ninth and final round to tie with Praggnanandhaa and compatriot Fabiano Caruana on 5.5 points at the top. He then went on to the playoffs scoring 1.5 points out of

a possible two.

Praggnanandhaa played out a draw with Levon Aronian of United States and defeated Caruana in the tiebreak to finish second on one point while the latter had to be contend with the third place finish after the tiebreaker wherein he scored a lone draw against So.

With Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France already the highest point scorer in the Grand Chess Tour, Levon Aronian also qualified for the GCT grand finale along with Caruana and Pragganandhaa.

In the Classical section, So Caruana and Praggnanandhaa ended on 5.5 points apiece tying for the top spot while Aronian finished solo fourth on 5 points from his nine games. Vachier-Lagrave, Samuel Sevian of United States and Duda Jan-Kryzsztof of Poland tied for the fifth spot on 4.5 points apiece a half point clear of world champion D Gukesh who did not have a great event.

Alireza Firouzja of France finished ninth on 3.5 points while Abdusattorov ended last with 2.5 points in all.

Praggnanandhaa raised visions of winning the cup with a swift victory over Caruana in the first tiebreak game.

However, the Indian lost to So in the second round and the American was smart enough to hold Caruana in the final game to win the tournament. agencies