‘It looked like he was off at the start’: R Praggnanandhaa on Gukesh after beating world champion in Sinquefield Cup 1st round

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R Praggnanandhaa Gukesh R Praggnanandhaa and Gukesh at the first round of the Sinquefield Cup (PHOTO: Grand Chess Tour/Lennart Ootes)

India No.1 R Praggnanandhaa had a dream start to the Sinquefield Cup Chess tournament when he defeated world champion D Gukesh in the first round. The victory helped Pragg rise to the third position in live world rankings. Reacting to his win, Praggnanandhaa said that Gukesh had looked a little unsettled from the start.

“I think it was a smooth game. It was surprising from him because it looked like he was off at the start, like he spent so much time at a theoretical position and this endgame is just unpleasant for him. It started to get worse and worse. I guess his last chance was to take the pawn on b4 but I think it still should be winning and I think it’s a good game to start with.

Praggananandhaa faced the Queen’s gambit accepted by Gukesh who played with black pieces. The solid approach was under the scrutiny early as Gukesh spent a lot of time in a known position and went for a dubious set-up that involved early exchange of queens.

Pragg scores his first-ever victory in the Sinquefield Cup and it comes against Gukesh! Not only is this his first win in the event after making 9 draws last year, but also his first victory over Gukesh in the past three years. Watch the interview to learn more details!… pic.twitter.com/oNLXpjieLx

— Grand Chess Tour (@GrandChessTour) August 18, 2025

Praggnanandhaa had the Bishop pair as playing with white pieces gave him a distinct advantage.
Making things worse for himself, Gukesh also fell short of time and had to find some really difficult moves to stay in the game.

Relentless, as he is, Praggnanandhaa did not let the position slip out of hand as he won a pawn by force and the rest was easy. The game lasted just 36 moves.

In other matches, Levon Aronian of United States outsmarted Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan after the opening round on Monday and is tied with Pragg on 3rd.

Fabiano Caruana of USA played out a draw with Duda Jan-Kryzstof of Poland while wild card Samuel Savian split the point with American country-mate Wesley So while Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France also drew with another Frenchman Alireza Firouzja. With eight rounds still to come in the USD 350,000 prize money tournament, as many as six players share the third spot behind Praggnanandhaa and Aronian while Gukesh and Abdusattorov are at the bottom of the heap hoping to open their respective accounts in the next round.

Incidentally with this victory, Praggnanandhaa also restored parity with Gukesh in classical format in which both have three wins each. “Last year, I messed up some good positions against him, I think I did not beat him (in classical) for almost two years now, so finally it’s good to get a win,” noted Praggnanandhaa.

(With agency inputs)

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