Praggnanandhaa added another 8.17 points to his lead in the FIDE 2025 Circuit with a strong showing in London. He now has a total of 115.17 points in seven events.
Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa went a step closer to sealing his spot at next year’s Candidates with another dominating performance in the London Chess Classic 2025 Open where he finished as the joint winner on Wednesday.
The 20-year-old Indian had a
poor World Cup at home recently where he was shown the exit door in the four round. However, he has resumed normal proceedings for himself with a strong showing in London.
Praggnanandhaa continues good form
Ahead of the seventh round, Praggnanandhaa was the joint leader alongside Serbia’s Velimir Ivić. The two toppers met in the seventh round but settled for a stalemate to hold on to their top spots.
Praggnanandhaa had started the tournament on a high with three straight wins against Stanley Badacsonyi, Eldar Gasanov, and Nico Chasin in the first three rounds. However, he had to remain content with draws in the next two rounds against compatriot Pranav Anand and Hungary’s Tamás Jr Fodor.
The Indian bounced back in the sixth round with a win against Israel’s Eytan Rozen. He followed up on the draw against Ivić with a win over Romania’s David Gavrilescu to become the sole leader going into the final round.
However, Israel’s Ilya Smirin held Praggananandhaa to a draw in the ninth and last round to force the Indian to share the top spot with Ivić and England’s Ameet K Ghashi.
All three toppers did not lose any of their nine games in the tournament where 120 players participated in a nine-round Swiss style tournament.
Praggnanandhaa boosts Candidates lead
The victory helped Praggnanandhaa add another 8.17 points to his lead in the FIDE 2025 Circuit. He now has a total of 115.17 points in seven events.
He is followed by Anish Giri (81.18), Fabiano Caruana (65.55), Matthias Bluebaum (63.94), and Javokhir Sindarov (63.82) but these four have already sealed their spots in Candidates through other routes.
Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov is the only player who can still challenge the Indian for the lead in the circuit but that is going to be an uphill task for the top-ranked Uzbek Grandmaster. However, Abdusattorov will have to follow on on his victory at London Chess Classic Masters with two wins at World Rapid Championship and the World Blitz Championship to present a challenge.
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