St. Louis (Missouri)
Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa began his Sinquefield Cup campaign with a comfortable draw against American counterpart Samuel Sevian in the opening round of the penultimate event of the Grand Chess Tour. Playing with the black pieces, Praggnanandhaa gave little away as the Arkhangelsk Variation of the Ruy Lopez produced a relatively quiet encounter. The Indian’s preparation appeared to be superior, while Sevian showed little inclination to complicate matters.
The players began exchanging pieces early, with a pair of rooks coming off the board as soon as the 11th move. Further exchanges led to a queen-and-minor-piece endgame in which both players had two knights each, leaving little scope for either side to create winning chances. Once the queens were traded, the outcome became almost inevitable and the game eventually ended in a draw after 48 moves, although the players could have agreed to split the point earlier. Top seed Fabiano Caruana was the only player to register a victory in the opening round of the 10-player, nine-round tournament. The American defeated Jorden Van Foreest of the Netherlands to take the early lead. Caruana once again underlined why he has been the standout player on the Grand Chess Tour this season, outplaying Van Foreest from an initially equal position.
A middlegame tactical oversight from the Dutchman cost him a pawn, allowing Caruana to seize the advantage. The American then displayed his trademark technique to convert the extra material into a full point after 55 moves. Elsewhere, world championship contender Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan drew with Armenian-turned-American Levon Aronian. Playing white, Sindarov opted for an irregular queen’s pawn set-up and appeared to gain an opportunity when Aronian dropped a pawn. However, the resulting opposite-coloured bishops’ endgame offered no realistic winning chances, and the game was eventually drawn. Vincent Keymer of Germany also had to settle for half a point against Wesley So of the United States. Keymer attempted to build an attack against So’s king, but the American defended comfortably and neutralised the danger.
Anish Giri of the Netherlands completed the day’s other draw against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France. Giri was unable to make significant progress and the game eventually reached a rook-and-pawns ending that was fought down to the wire before the players agreed to a draw. The Sinquefield Cup is being played for a total prize fund of USD 4,75,000, with Praggnanandhaa looking to build momentum in the closing stages of the Grand Chess Tour. After his solid opening-round performance against Sevian, the Indian will now look to push for his first win of the tournament in the rounds ahead.