Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa achieved a convincing victory over French player Alireza Firouzja, securing a tie for the lead after the seventh round of the Sinquefield Cup, part of the Grand Chess Tour. Following his second win after several draws, Praggnanandhaa now stands alongside Fabiano Caruana from the United States at the top of the leaderboard with 4.5 points. On this day, world champion D Gukesh faced a setback against American Wesley So. With Praggnanandhaa and Caruana leading, Levon Aronian and Wesley So share the third position with four points each, while Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Duda Jan-Krzysztof from Poland, and Samuel Sevian from the United States are tied for fifth place, each holding a fifty percent score.
Both Gukesh and Alireza are positioned next in the rankings, each with three points, while Nodirbek Abdusattorov appears set to finish last with only 1.5 points. After a previous two rounds without decisive outcomes, the seventh round witnessed three decisive results out of five in this 10-player tournament with a prize fund of $375,000. Besides the losses for Alireza and Gukesh, Nodirbek experienced further misfortune, losing his fourth game to Duda. Praggnanandhaa outperformed Alireza, who seemingly overestimated his position after the opening. Praggnanandhaa executed the correct moves at crucial moments, concluding the game in just 27 moves.
The results for round 7 are as follows: Alireza Firouzja (Fra, 3) lost to R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 4.5); Duda Jan-Krzysztof (Pol, 3.5) defeated Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 1.5); Wesley So (USA, 4) triumphed over 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).
