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R Praggnanandhaa loses to Fabiano Caruana in Grand Chess Tour opener. Caruana gains early lead in St. Louis finale.
Indian chess GM R Praggnanandhaa (PTI)
Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa suffered a loss to pre-tournament favourite Fabiano Caruana of the United States in the opening game of the Grand Chess Tour grand finale in St. Louis.
Praggnanandhaa was out of sorts as Caruana outplayed him bit by bit from a complex Italian opening.
Being of Italian heritage himself, Caruana appeared to have a slight edge over the Indian and once the match reached the endgame, everything seemed to fall into place for him.
Praggnanandhaa lost his case as his king was far away from defence and didn’t recover. The match lasted 48 moves.
With a classical victory worth six points, Caruana has already established a significant advantage. It remains to be seen whether Praggnanandhaa can close the gap against the world No. 3 from the United States.
After two Classical matches, two rapid games worth four points each will be played and that will be followed by four blitz matches worth two points each.
In the battle for third place, Vincent Keymer drew with Wesley So in the other match of the day at the USD 450,000 prize-money event.
Results: Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 6) beat R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 0); Vincent Keymer (Ger, 3) drew with Wesley So (Usa, 3)
(With PTI Inputs)
Quick Answers
Ask News18Yes, Praggnanandhaa still has an opportunity for a comeback against Fabiano Caruana due to the scoring system in the Grand Chess Tour Finals. Caruana currently leads by six points after winning the first classical game.
Ask News18August 26, 2026, 21:02 IST
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