05 Sep 2026
issue 05 September 2026
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Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa continued his formidable run of form by taking first place, and a $200,000 first prize, at the Grand Chess Tour Finals, held in St Louis in late August. Earlier in 2026, the 21-year-old Indian grandmaster won Norway Chess, and dominated the St Louis Rapid and Blitz, which he won with a round to spare. Just a few days later he was back in action at the Sinquefield Cup, also held in St Louis, where he tied for first place with Wesley So, only to miss out in the tiebreak. Those stellar results won him a place in the quadrangular Grand Chess Tour Finals, alongside Caruana, So and Keymer.
The matches were a mixture of classical (slow), rapid and blitz tiebreaks, with points weighted towards the slower time controls. In the semi-final, Keymer missed a big chance in the second classical game. In the diagram, 35…Nxa3+ 36 Kb2 Rxc2+ 37 Kxa3 is murky, but 35…Ne3! keeps control, e.g. 36 Rc1 Qc6 37 c4 Rhg8 with a huge advantage.
