Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa settles for draw against D. Gukesh, misses out on joint leader spot at Superbet Classic Chess tournament

Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa missed out on a chance to become a joint leader at the Superbet Classic chess tournament after settling for a draw against fellow Indian player D. Gukesh in the third round. This draw comes after Praggnanandhaa lost to Gukesh in the last Candidates tournament earlier this year.

The Catalan opening saw Gukesh sacrifice a pawn early on, leading to a tense battle on the board. Despite having his share of counterplay on the Queen side, Praggnanandhaa struggled to find a winning continuation as Gukesh recovered the pawn and gained an optical advantage with his Knight against Praggnanandhaa’s slightly bad Bishop.

As the game progressed, Gukesh made a critical blunder on his 53rd move, leading to a forced liquidation and a King and pawns endgame. While Praggnanandhaa had the opportunity to capitalize on this mistake and secure a win, luck was on Gukesh’s side and the game ended in a draw a few moves later.

With all five games in the tournament ending in draws for the first time in three days, the lead positions remained unchanged. Gukesh and Fabiano Caruana of the United States are currently at the top of the tables with two points each. Praggnanandhaa, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Alireza Firouzja, Wesley So, Anish Giri, and Ian Nepomniachtchi are all tied for the third spot with 1.5 points apiece.

As the tournament progresses, the competition remains fierce with six rounds still to go in the USD 350,000 prize money event. Stay tuned for more updates on this exciting chess tournament!