ST LOUIS: Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa lost the finals in the Armageddon game against eventual champion American Wesley So to finish second in the Sinquefield Cup here.
After drawing with Anish Giri of the Netherlands in the final Classical game, Praggnanandhaa forced a tiebreaker against Wesley So who was leading the tournament for most of the rounds. Wesley So was able to play out a draw with black pieces to win the tournament, which is a part of the Grand Chess Tour.
The rules clearly stipulated that the tied players would play two rapid games. If the tie is still unresolved, one final Armageddon with five minutes for white and four for black will be played, wherein black wins the match if he draws.
As it happened both the rapid games ended in draws, leaving the score tied at 1-1. In the final Armageddon, Praggnanandhaa had the more difficult chance of winning with white which the Indian could not do and the game ended in a draw.
However, the silver lining for Praggnanandhaa was that he stood first at the end of the last event and has now qualified for the grand finale later this year.
For the records, Praggnanandhaa scored 35.5 in the total tour which was a full point clear of Wesley So. Finishing third was Fabiano Caruana of United States while Vincent Keymer ended fourth. In the Grand finale, the top four finishers in the tour will participate.
Praggnanandhaa tried to get past Wesley So in the Classical game but Anish Giri was quite resourceful in finding some very resourceful moves when it mattered the most. As it happened in the game after the trade off of a couple of minor pieces, the opinion of the pundits was undivided about the result of the game and it was drawn as predicted.
Wesley So is a tough customer and a very solid player. Sindarov had to win with black but that is probably one of the hardest tasks against the American as he simply payed solidly, exchanged pieces at will and reached a Bishop and pawns endgame where the draw was a just result.
Results Final Round 9: Wesley So (Usa, 5.5) drew with Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb, 5); Jorden Van Foreest (Ned, 2) drew with Vincent Keymer (Ger, 5); Levon Aronian (Usa, 4) drew with Sevian Samuels (Usa, 4.5) Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 4.5) drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 4.5); R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 5.5) drew with Anish Giri (Ned, 4).
Tiebreak: Wesley So beat Praggnanandhaa 1-1, 1-0.