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Praggnanandhaa finished London Chess Classic 2025 Open event as joint-winner. (PHOTO: John Saunders/London Chess Classic)
Barring what appeared to be an aberration at the FIDE Chess World Cup 2025 in Goa — where last edition’s finalist R. Praggnanandhaa was knocked out in the fourth round — the top-ranked Indian has had a stunning year, winning multiple events in different time formats. On Wednesday, he extended his podium run in classical events by finishing as joint winner of the London Chess Classic 2025 Open.
The performance earned Praggnanandhaa 8.17 points in the FIDE Circuit Leaderboard, extending his lead at the top with a total of 115.17 points from his best seven events as he gets closer to the last Candidates 2026 spot.
After six rounds, Praggnanandhaa was co-leader with five points alongside Serbia’s Velimir Ivić. He held that position after drawing with Ivić in the seventh round.
The Grandmaster from Chennai started with a perfect 3.0/3, beating Stanley Badacsonyi, Eldar Gasanov, and Nico Chasin in the first three rounds. Two subsequent draws against compatriot Pranav Anand and Hungary’s Tamás Jr Fodor briefly pushed him out of the top 10, but he returned to winning ways in the sixth round by defeating Israel’s Eytan Rozen.
In the penultimate round, Praggnanandhaa beat Romania’s David Gavrilescu to become the sole leader, half a point ahead of his nearest rival. In the ninth and final round, he faced Israel’s Ilya Smirin and needed a win to claim the title outright. However, Smirin, nearly 200 Elo points below Praggnanandhaa, held the Indian to a draw with the white pieces. That allowed England’s Ameet K Ghashi and Ivić to catch up after winning their final-round games.
Ghashi, Ivić, and Praggnanandhaa all remained unbeaten throughout the event, finishing with 7.0 points from nine rounds.
The London Chess Classic Open was a 120-player, nine-round Swiss tournament with an average rating of 2581 Elo.
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FIDE Circuit Standings
Praggnanandhaa now leads the 2025 Circuit leaderboard with 115.17 points from seven eligible events. He is followed by Anish Giri (81.18), Fabiano Caruana (65.55), Matthias Bluebaum (63.94), and Javokhir Sindarov (63.82). Since all four have already qualified for the Candidates through other paths, Praggnanandhaa’s closest challenger is Germany’s Vincent Keymar, with 55.83 points — still too far behind to pose a serious threat.
Uzbekistan’s No. 1, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, is the only player with an outside chance to overtake Praggnanandhaa and claim the final spot in the 2026 Candidates. To do so, Abdusattorov would need to win all three of the remaining major events: the London Chess Classic Masters 2025, the World Rapid Championship, and the World Blitz Championship.
While Abdusattorov has dominated the LCC Masters and is just a draw away from winning the event, clinching both the World Rapid and Blitz titles would be an exceptionally tough challenge.
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