Praggnanandhaa Draws Gukesh, Misses Out on Superbet Classic Lead

Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa's quest for a joint lead at the Superbet Classic chess tournament was thwarted by a draw against compatriot D Gukesh in the third round. Despite having an opportunity to avenge his loss to Gukesh in the Candidates tournament earlier this year, Praggnanandhaa failed to find a winning continuation after Gukesh salvaged a drawn endgame.

The Catalan opening witnessed Gukesh sacrificing a pawn early, with Praggnanandhaa countering on the Queen side. However, Gukesh regained the pawn and gained an optical advantage with his Knight against Praggnanandhaa's Bishop.

In the ensuing endgame, Gukesh blundered on move 53, leading to a forced liquidation and a King and pawns endgame. While Praggnanandhaa may have found a winning continuation on another day, luck favored Gukesh, and the game ended in a draw.

All five games in the ten-player double round-robin tournament ended in draws for the first time in three days. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave came close to victory against Alireza Firouzja in a Berlin defense game, but a late error allowed Firouzja to escape with a draw.

The lead positions remained unchanged, with Gukesh and Fabiano Caruana of the United States sharing the top spot with two points each. Vachier-Lagrave, Praggnanandhaa, Firouzja, Wesley So, Giri, and Nepomniachtchi trail with 1.5 points apiece.

Dutchman Anish Giri drew on his 30th birthday against Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi, while Deac Bogdan-Daniel of Romania held off Wesley So in a slightly worse endgame.

Tags: #SuperbetClassic, #Chess, #Praggnanandhaa, #Gukesh, #Draw