St.Louis, 13 August (H.S.): Indian Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa’s unbeaten start to the Sinquefield Cup 2026 came to an end in the third round after he suffered a defeat against Germany’s Vincent Keymer. Playing with the black pieces, the 21-year-old Indian was beaten by Keymer, the reigning champion of the Romania Superbet Chess Classic.

Following the defeat, Praggnanandhaa slipped to joint fourth place with 1.5 points. He shares the position with American Fabiano Caruana, Germany’s Vincent Keymer and American Sam Sevian.

Wesley So takes sole lead

American Grandmaster Wesley So took sole possession of the lead after defeating compatriot Fabiano Caruana. So now has 2.5 points from three rounds.

France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and American Levon Aronian drew their respective games against Jakhongir Sindarov and Jorden van Foreest. Both players are joint second with two points each after three rounds.

Divya Deshmukh moves to third in Cairns Cup

Meanwhile, Indian Grandmaster Divya Deshmukh produced an impressive performance at the Cairns Cup, defeating Switzerland’s Grandmaster Alexandra Kosteniuk to move into third place in the standings.

The victory took Divya’s tally to two points, while Kosteniuk suffered her third consecutive defeat and slipped further down the leaderboard.

China’s Tan Zhongyi and American Alice Lee are jointly leading the tournament with 2.5 points each. Divya is now just half a point behind the joint leaders.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar