The Super Chess Classic’s title challenge is wide-open after Indian Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa suffered his first loss of the tournament against American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana.
With only two rounds to play, R. Praggnanandhaa’s loss allowed Fabiano Caruana to join R. Praggnanandhaa and Vincent Keymer at the top of the leaderboard.
R Praggnanandhaa’s loss in Round 7 came after intense tactical discussion and resulted in an open-position game after only 33 moves from the initial position.
Vincent Keymer suffered a shocking defeat against Javokhir Sindarov from Uzbekistan in Round 7. After Aila Firouzja withdrew from the tournament, Jorden van Foreest gained a valuable point from his opponent as he received a walkover in their first game of Round 7.
Fabiano Caruana Punishes R Praggnanandhaa’s Aggressive Approach
Playing as White, R Praggnanandhaa opted for 1 d4 into a classic Queen’s Gambit Declined, Ragozin variation, as he entered into an aggressive and tactical middlegame with the intent to keep himself in contention for winning the event by needing a win against his well-known opponent, Fabiano Caruana.
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Fabiano Caruana is a known combatant for being one of the best players in the world, which added to the difficulty of Praggnanandhaa’s task of winning. Caruana demonstrated his skill set by playing all of the tactics extremely well, and after getting control of the board, Caruana struck Praggnanandhaa’s king with devastating power.
Unfortunately, the Indian grandmaster Chris liked to make sure every defence was available before he played, and Caruana’s pieces moved to attack. The pressure of the game proved to be too much for Praggnanandhaa, and he was forced to resign after 33 moves, which is one of the quickest decisive games of the competition to date.
Javokhir Sindarov Stuns Vincent Keymer
Another major result came when Javokhir Sindarov defeated tournament leader Vincent Keymer in a separate Queen’s Pawn battle. Vincent Keymer sacrificed a pawn early in search of active play but failed to generate enough compensation.
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Sindarov capitalised on the inaccuracies brilliantly, dominating the middlegame before wrapping up the victory in 40 moves. The result denied Keymer the chance to build a solo lead heading into the closing rounds.
With only two rounds remaining in the tournament, things remain completely open for the players. Fabiano Caruana, Vincent Keymer and Van Foreest are tied for first place at 4.5 points each, while Anish Giri is only 0.5 points behind on 4 points.
Praggnanandhaa now has 3.5 points along with Javokhir Sindarov, Wesley So, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, but he has an outside chance of making it to the podium; however, after Round 7, it appears that the race for the title has become much tighter than before.
The Super Chess Classic has a total prize fund of USD 375,000, with the winner receiving USD 100,000. The players will feel even more pressure over the last two rounds.
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