New Delhi: Indian grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa climbed to sole lead after defeating Wesley So of the United States in the eighth round of Superbet Classic 2025, an event part of the Grand Chess Tour, being held in Bucharest, Romania. On Thursday, Praggananandhaa played with the black pieces to claim a win and rise to five points in all, while So slipped to joint-seventh position in the leaderboard with a score of 3.5.
India had a great day on the two boards, the other occupied by World champion D Gukesh, who managed to pull off his first victory of the event at the expense of another American, Levon Aronian. It was draws across the other three boards as Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France played a draw with Fabiano Caruana of the USA, while local player Deac Bogdan-Daniel drew with Duda Jan-Krzysztof of Poland.
There’s only one more round to go as French national Alireza Firouzja tried his best to dent the confidence of Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov in a battle that was keenly contested.
Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa leads the #SuperbetChessClassicRomania with 5 points after a critical win in Round 8, making him the only player at the top. This puts him in prime position to fight for tournament victory in the final round.
GM Fabiano Caruana, GM Alireza Firouzja, and… pic.twitter.com/b01SFF0nFz— Grand Chess Tour (@GrandChessTour) May 15, 2025
With Praggnanandhaa on five points, Caruana, Firouzja, and Vachier-Lagrave share the second spot with 4.5 points apiece. Firouzja can join the Indian in the lead if he wins against Abdusattorov in the next round. After enduring two losses, Gukesh came back in form and climbed to 3.5 points, sitting joint-seventh.
Results (Round 8): Wesley So (USA, 3.5) lost to R Praggananandhaa (Ind, 5); Levon Aronian (3) lost to D Gukesh (Ind, 3.5); Deac Bogdan Daniel (Rou, 4) drew with Duda Jan-Krzysztof (Pol, 3); Fabiano Caruana (USA, 4.5) drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 4.5); Alireza Firouzja (Fra, 4) playing Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb, 2.5).
R Praggnanandhaa has boosted himself to sole lead at the Superbet Classic 2025, after winning his eighth round clash against Wesley So of USA. D Gukesh also managed to register his first win of the event. Other Sports Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
