St. Louis, 20 August (H.S.): Indian Grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa finished his Sinquefield Cup campaign as runner-up on Wednesday after losing the title-deciding Armageddon game to American Grandmaster Wesley So.

Praggnanandhaa drew his final classical game against Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri. The result forced a tiebreak against tournament leader Wesley So to determine the champion.

So secured a draw with the black pieces in the tiebreak to claim the title. Under the tournament rules, a tied score is first decided through two rapid games. If the players remain level after the rapid games, an Armageddon game is played, with the player having the white pieces receiving five minutes and the player with Black getting four minutes.

Both rapid games between Praggnanandhaa and So ended in draws, leaving the score level at 1-1. The title was therefore decided in the Armageddon game, where So produced the stronger performance to secure victory and lift the trophy.

Despite missing out on the title, the 21-year-old Praggnanandhaa gained a significant reward for finishing second. His performance earned him qualification for the Grand Chess Tour Finals, scheduled to begin on August 22.

Praggnanandhaa will be joined at the Grand Chess Tour Finals by Wesley So, Fabiano Caruana and Vincent Keymer. The four players finished in the top four positions in the overall Grand Chess Tour standings.

Uzbekistan’s Jakhongir Sindarov, who finished joint third at the Sinquefield Cup, missed out on qualification by just half a point.

Meanwhile, China’s Tan Zhongyi won the Cairns Cup despite losing her final-round game to International Master Stavroula Tsolakidou. India’s Divya Deshmukh finished joint fifth, while R. Vaishali secured 10th place.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar