Sinquefield Cup: R Praggnanandhaa still joint second on another day of draws

Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa registered his fifth straight draw, sharing points with Poland’s Jan-Krzysztof Duda in the sixth round of the Sinquefield Cup, a leg of the Grand Chess Tour.

The result took Praggnanandhaa to 3.5 points from six games, keeping him in joint second place. American GM Fabiano Caruana continued to lead with 4 points, holding a half-point advantage.Praggnanandhaa shares second spot with American Levon Aronian, while world champion D Gukesh is tied for fourth on 3 points alongside Wesley So and Samuel Sevian of the US, and French GMs Alireza Firouzja and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave.

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In another tense encounter, Gukesh escaped with a draw against Firouzja after being pushed into a difficult middle game. Starting with the King pawn, Gukesh faced the Sicilian defense and soon found himself a pawn down. However, his resilient defense in a minor piece endgame nullified Black’s advantage, forcing a draw.Praggnanandhaa, meanwhile, tried the Alapin variation against Duda’s Sicilian. Though he appeared to gain an edge, Duda countered with a timely rook sacrifice after White castled queenside.

Praggnanandhaa returned the extra material and secured a perpetual check to split the point in 32 moves.Elsewhere, Caruana drew with Sevian in just 27 moves from a Ragozin defense after the latter chose not to press despite some chances. Nodirbek Abdusattorov split the point with Vachier-Lagrave, while Aronian and Wesley So also drew. It was the second consecutive day when all games ended in draws.Pairings round 6:R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 3.5) drew with Duda Jan-Krzysztof (Pol, 2.5); D Gukesh (Ind, 3) drew with Alireza Firouzja (Fra, 3); Samuel Sevian (Usa, 3) drew with Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 4); Levon Aronian (Usa, 3.5) drew with Wesley So (Usa, 3); Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 1.5) drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 3).