Bucharest, May 23 (H.S.): Indian Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa missed several winning opportunities before settling for a draw against France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on Friday, making the battle for the Superbet Chess Classic title increasingly intense ahead of the final round.

In the penultimate round of the tournament, the match between American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana and Germany’s Vincent Keymer also ended in a draw. Meanwhile, Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov registered his second consecutive victory by defeating the Netherlands’ Jorden van Foreest.

It turned out to be a disappointing day for the Dutch contingent, as Anish Giri suffered a defeat against Romania’s Bogdan-Daniel Deac. American Grandmaster Wesley So, on the other hand, received a walkover following the withdrawal of France’s Alireza Firouzja from the tournament.

With one round remaining, Caruana and Keymer are jointly leading the standings with five points each. Sindarov, Wesley So, and Jorden van Foreest are tied for third place with 4.5 points. Praggnanandhaa, Giri, and Vachier-Lagrave are jointly placed sixth with four points each.

Playing with the white pieces in the Grünfeld Defence, Praggnanandhaa introduced a novelty on the seventh move — an idea reportedly never seen before at the elite level. The Indian Grandmaster gained a strong position in the early middlegame, and it appeared that the game would soon tilt decisively in his favour.

However, a few inaccuracies allowed the contest to transition into a queen-and-pawn endgame in which Praggnanandhaa still held an extra pawn advantage. Despite severe time pressure, he continued to fight relentlessly.

The game eventually became the longest encounter of the tournament and concluded in a draw after an exhausting 139 moves.

Meanwhile, Sindarov produced an impressive performance in his victory, executing a brilliant mating net in the endgame with the help of his knight and rook.

The tournament carries a total prize fund of USD 375,000, with the winner set to receive USD 100,000. In the event of a tie for first place, tiebreak games will be played to determine the champion.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar