During the sixth round of the Sinquefield Cup in the Grand Chess Tour's final phase, Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa showed great stability in his match against world champion Ding Liren, ending in a draw. In another high-stakes encounter, world title contender D Gukesh and France's Maxime Vachier-Lagrave fought to a captivating draw. The most surprising result of the day was Fabiano Caruana's dominant victory over Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi, who fell in only 25 moves.
In the final stage of the Grand Chess Tour, the sixth round of the Sinquefield Cup, Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa handled his match against the current world champion Ding Liren with remarkable ease, securing a draw. D Gukesh, a strong contender for the world championship title, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France engaged in another exciting draw. At the same time, Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia lost shockingly to American Fabiano Caruana in just 25 moves.
The remaining games of the sixth round—featuring Anish Giri, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, and Alireza Firouzja against local favorite Wesley So—didn't produce any more shocks, with the series of draws finally winding down.
Alireza Firouzja continues to lead the standings by four points, but Fabiano Caruana is looking to close that gap as the tournament enters its final three rounds. Both Caruana and Wesley So currently hold 3.5 points. Following them are Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh, Vachier-Lagrave, and Ding Liren, all tied at 3 points. Just behind them are Nepomniachtchi and Abdusattorov with 2.5 points each.
At the bottom of the standings for the $350,000 prize pool is Anish Giri, who has 2 points. Gukesh has been playing with immense intensity, though the results haven't fully rewarded his efforts yet. In his clash with Vachier-Lagrave, Gukesh opted for the King's Pawn opening with the white pieces, facing the well-known Najdorf Sicilian.
The middle game took a risky turn when Gukesh made a double-edged move, sacrificing a piece to withstand a fierce kingside attack from Vachier-Lagrave. While the Frenchman seemed to have the upper hand for a period, Gukesh defended accurately. By the end, Gukesh held a pawn advantage, but Black had enough counterplay to balance the scales. The game eventually ended in a draw by stalemate after a grueling 72 moves.
Ding Liren, who has played conservatively to avoid risks ahead of his November World Championship match against Gukesh, didn't put much pressure on Praggnanandhaa. The game remained calm and ended in a draw, with Praggnanandhaa utilizing a King's Indian Defense and neither player committing any major blunders.
In other news, Indian players Raunak Sadhwani and Divya Deshmukh narrowly missed out on the top podium spots in the Masters category at the 30th Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival. Despite missing the win, the two Nagpur-based teenage prodigies performed strongly: Raunak finished tied for second with 6.5 points, and Divya secured a share of third place with 6 points.