FILE PHOTO: Praggnanandhaa gave it his all, playing the last 40 moves way behind on time. | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

Indian Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa missed a few winning attempts and was held to a draw by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France, even as the race for the title tightened at the end of the penultimate round of the Super Chess Classic in Bucharest.

On what turned out to be another excitement-filled day, the clash between overnight leaders Fabiano Caruana of the United States and Vincent Keymer of Germany ended in a draw, while world championship challenger Javokhir Sindarov of Uzbekistan scored his second victory on the trot over Dutchman Jorden Van Foreest on Friday night.

It was not a day the two Dutch GMs would like to remember as Anish Giri went down to lowest ranked Deac Bogdan-Daniel of Romania. Wesley So of United States was the beneficiary of a walkover following the withdrawal of Alireza Firouzja of France earlier in the tournament.

With just the last round remaining, the race for the title has heated up with as many as five players in contention. A play-off seems much on the cards as both Keymer and Caruana have five points apiece to share the lead. Sindarov, Wesley and Foreest share the third spot on 4.5 points each, while Praggnanandhaa is now joint sixth, along with Giri and Vachier-Lagrave, with each having four points.

Deac Bogdan-Daniel finished his playing campaign on 3.5 points but will get a walkover in the final round to be on a 50 per cent score.

After a second-round victory over Sindarov, Praggnanandhaa’s hunt for a second win almost came close against Vachier-Lagrave. It was a Grunfeld defence wherein the Indian came up with a surprising seventh move as white that had not been played at the highest level.

The Indian was on top pretty early in the Queen and heavy pieces middle game as black had a fractured pawn structure and one could sense that the game could be over soon.

However, a couple of unforced errors led the game to a queens and pawns endgame wherein Praggnanandhaa had an extra pawn. The game fluctuated between Praggnanandhaa’s chances and Vachier-Lagrave coming close.

To his credit, Praggnanandhaa gave it his all, playing the last 40 moves way behind on time. The longest game of the tournament was eventually drawn after 139 moves.

The day also saw Sindarov striking yet again. It was an immaculate display by the Uzbek in the rook and minor piece endgame and it was checkmate when he orchestrated a fine checkmate web with the help of Knight and rook.

The tournament has a total prize pool of USD 375,000, with a USD 100,000 reserved for the winner.

In case of a tied result at the top, tiebreak games of shorter duration will be played to determine the winner.

Published on May 23, 2026