Gukesh to face Praggnanandhaa in the first round of Sinquefield Cup 2025
The fifth event of the Grand Chess Tour 2025 season is Sinquefield Cup. The top four finisher in the GP standings will advance to the Finals which will take place in Brazil this year. The World Champion, D Gukesh will be seen in action along with Fabiano Caruana (USA), R Praggnanandhaa, Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB), the defending champion - Alireza Firouzja (FRA), Wesley So (USA), Levon Aronian (USA), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL) and Samuel Sevian (USA). Gukesh will face his compatriot Praggnanandhaa in the very first round. What will be the outcome of this game? The tournament takes place at Richmond Heights in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA. Round 1 starts today at 12 p.m. local time, 10:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour
Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa vs World's top
Schedule and Format
Sinquefield Cup will have one round per day from 18th to 27th August. Rest day is on Saturday 23rd August. Each round starts at 12 p.m. local time, 10:30 p.m. IST. It will be a 10-player Round Robin event. GCT Playoffs if required will take place on 28th August.
Participants
The lineup includes World no.3 - Fabiano Caruana (USA), World no.4 - R Praggnanandhaa, World Champion and no.6 - D Gukesh, World no.7 - Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB), World no.8 and defending champion - Alireza Firouzja (FRA), World no.12 and first official World Fischer Random champion - Wesley So (USA), the only two-time World Cup winner and World no.16 - Levon Aronian (USA), World no.18 - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, FIDE World Cup 2023 winner and World no.23 - Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL), and World no.42 - Samuel Sevian (USA).
Round 1 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | 2683 | GM | Sevian, Samuel | GM | So, Wesley | 2745 | 3 | ||
| 2 | 9 | 2736 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | GM | Firouzja, Alireza | 2766 | 2 | ||
| 3 | 7 | 2771 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | GM | Aronian, Levon | 2737 | 4 | ||
| 4 | 6 | 2779 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | GM | Gukesh, D | 2776 | 5 | ||
| 5 | 10 | 2784 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | GM | Duda, Jan-Krzysztof | 2725 | 1 |
GCT standings
Prize
The total prize fund for each Classical event is US$ 350000. The top three prizes are US$ 100000, $65000 and $48000.
