Gukesh, Pragg draw again; Firouzja marches ahead

Saint Louis: Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa squandered a winning position against Wesley So of America while World Championship challenger D Gukesh settled for a hard-fought draw in the fifth round of the Sinquefield Cup, under way here as the final leg of the Grand Chess Tour.

On a day when Alireza Firouzja of France put it across Anish Giri of Holland, the other matches in the 10-player round-robin tournament ended in draws.

By beating Giri with white, Firouzja became the sole leader going into the rest day.

Firouzja has collected 3.5 points and stands a half point ahead of Wesley So. The latter escaped with a draw after fiercely defending an endgame material down against Praggnanandhaa.

Sunday’s sixth round will see So playing white against Firouzja.

It was a sad story for Praggnanandhaa, and the world is witnessing that the Indian needs to work on the technical aspect in order to convert the winning positions. In the previous round, the Indian had blundered to let Gukesh off the hook in a winning endgame.

Wesley So, on three points, holds the second spot followed by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, Praggnanandhaa, Gukesh, Ding Liren of China, Ian Nepomniachtchi of Russia and Fabiano Caruana of the United States sharing the third spot on 2.5 points each.

Nodirbek Abdusattorov stands ninth on two points, a half-point clear of Giri who is at the bottom of the table.

Results - Round 5: R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 2.5) drew with Wesley So (USA, 3); Alireza Firouzja (Fra, 3.5) beat Anish Giri (Ned, 1.5); Ian Nepomniachtchi (Fide) drew with Ding Liren (Chn, 2.5); Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 2) drew with D Gukesh (Ind, 2.5); Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2.5) drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 2.5)