The Sinquefield Cup, a prestigious event in the Grand Chess Tour, saw Alireza Firouzja emerge victorious with a round to spare. The eighth round witnessed a string of draws, with Indian Grandmasters D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa both ending their games in stalemates. Despite the lack of decisive wins, Firouzja’s consistent dominance throughout the tournament secured him a USD 100,000 bonus.
Gukesh, who is a challenger for the World Championship, settled for a draw with Anish Giri of Holland in just 23 moves. Similarly, Praggnanandhaa also drew with the American favorite, Fabiano Caruana, in 28 moves. The longest game of the round was played by Firouzja against Russian Ian Nepomniachtchi, ending peacefully after 80 moves.
In other games, Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan split the point with Ding Liren of China, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France drew with Wesley So of the United States. With this win, Firouzja amassed an unassailable 5.5 points out of eight games, securing his triumph in the Grand Chess Tour.
While Caruana remains the only player who can potentially catch Firouzja on the points table, it would require Alireza losing his final game against Praggnanandhaa and Caruana defeating Giri. Even if Firouzja loses his final bout, he will still win the tour for the first time due to his superior overall points tally.
Commenting on his victory, Firouzja stated, “It’s very tough to win a tour. Any tour is tough to win, but this is the strongest tour in the world. Very happy, but it’s very tiring and feeling exhausted but, I’m very happy.”
The third place is currently shared by five players on four points each: Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa, Vachier-Lagrave, So, and Abdusattorov. Nepomniachtchi and Liren follow with 3.5 points, a half point ahead of Anish Giri who sits in last place.
Gukesh’s draw with Giri came after a routine Ruy Lopez opening as black, with Giri making a couple of pawn grabs in the early middle game before the game concluded through repetition of moves. Praggnanandhaa, who started with the English opening, faced one of Caruana’s favored variations, resulting in a draw via repetition of moves as well.
Here are the results from round 8:
* Ian Nepomniachtchi (FID, 3.5) drew with Alireza Firouzja (FRA, 5.5)
* Ding Liren (CHN, 3.5) drew with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB, 4)
* R Praggnanandhaa (IND, 4) drew with Fabiano Caruana (USA, 4.5)
* Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA, 4) drew with Wesley So (USA, 4)
* Anish Giri (NED, 3) drew with D Gukesh (IND, 4)
