Sinquefield Cup woes continue: Gukesh survives scare vs Maxime, Praggnanandhaa slips from top position

It was another disappointing result for world champion D Gukesh as he survived a scare against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to secure a draw with White pieces in Round 4 of the Sinquefield Cup 2025 on Thursday, while India’s R Praggnanandhaa dropped out of the joint-lead position after a draw against world No.42 Sam Sevian.

Sevian may not be the most fancied player, but he has done well to avoid defeats against both Indian chess Grandmasters so far at the Sinquefield Cup 2025, as he stunned the 19-year-old Gukesh on Wednesday with another draw.

Gukesh fumbles against Vachier-Lagrave

In the fourth round, Gukesh would have hoped to collect one full point and get into the second spot in the standings at least, but his plans were spoiled by an experienced Vachier-Lagrave, who could have won the match himself, but played the wrong line under pressure.

After Gukesh made a blunder with 30.Nxf5?, Maxime could have found the winning line with a 31…Rg8+, but he instead went for a 31…cxb3, a blunder as per the computer engine. Eventually, the players settled for a draw after 56 moves following an equal endgame.

Gukesh vs Maxime interactive:

“It’s a pity,” Maxime said about the draw vs Gukesh. “It’s not the first and not the last time.”

Sevian outwits Praggnanandhaa 

Meanwhile, Praggnanandhaa was outwitted by Sevian with another Tarrasch Defense, resulting in a game that was very well calculated and did not offer any real openings.

Praggnanandhaa vs Sevian interactive:

Praggnanandhaa started the tournament with a Round 1 win over Gukesh, but he is not happy with how things have progressed so far. He has drawn all three matches since then.

“I wanted to get a fight today, but I think this is one of the problems with opening prep, you can get surprised with such forcing lines which you don’t remember…I should have probably expected something like this. There are some lines like this. It’s difficult,” Praggnanandhaa told the broadcasters after his match against Sevian.

“After the first game, I don’t think I have shown something really special. Today I think it was nothing, yesterday I had to find some accurate moves, which I did. The day before yesterday, I don’t think we played a great game, but it was still a fine one.

The 20-year-old Grandmaster from Chennai also reflected on the challenges of modern chess and how tedious the preparations for games are.

I am always looking for rest. It’s difficult, as you can see how modern chess is like. You have to expect even the things that they don’t prepare. They already play so much, so you can’t really look at everything, and you also have to take care of your energy. You have to manage everything.”

Meanwhile, Fabiano Caruana is in sole lead after beating Nodirbek Abdusattorov in Round 4. Praggnanandhaa is joint-second with Levon Aronian, while Gukesh is joint-third in a crowded table.

Praggnanandhaa next plays Maxime in Round 5, while Gukesh will take on Jan-Krzysztof Duda.