XTX London Chess Classic Open 2025 R4: Pranav Anand holds World no.7 Praggnanandhaa to a draw

by Shahid Ahmed - 30/11/2025

The coleaders, GM R Praggnanandhaa and GM Pranav Anand drew their fourth round battle against each other at XTX Markets London Chess Classic Open 2025. The game ended in a calm draw, arising out of Closed Ruy Lopez. Six more players - GM Velimir Ivic (SRB), GM Daniil Yuffa (ESP), GM Vahap Sanal (TUR), GM Sebastian Maze (FRA), GM Tamas Fodor Jr. (HUN) and IM Jonah B Willow (ENG) have also joined them in the lead 3.5/4 each. Today is last double round of the event. Round 5 starts today at 10 a.m. local time, 3:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Shahid Ahmed

Half a dozen players join Praggnanandhaa and Pranav in the lead

IM Sammed Jaykumar Shete shared second place with CM Louis Khoo-Thwe (NOR) in Emirates Rapid 1 event. Both Sammed and Louis scored 6/7 each. GM Georg Meier (URU) scored a perfect 7/7 to become the champion.

Praggnanandhaa - Pranav Anand: 0.5-0.5

GM R Praggnanandhaa (2768) and GM Pranav Anand (2581) played four Classical rated games against each other. Two of them ended in draws and the remaining two were won by the World no.7. Their fifth battle was a relatively calm draw.

The newly crowned Commonwealth 2025 Gold medalist, GM Daniel Howard Fernandez (ENG, 2501) held the reigning National double champion, GM Iniyan Pa (2601) to a draw.

Replay all Round 4 Open games

Round 4 results

Bo.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg	PGN
1	GM	Praggnanandhaa, R	2768	3	½ - ½	3	GM	Pranav, Anand	2581	PGN
2	GM	Mikhalevski, Victor	2504	2½	0 - 1	2½	GM	Ivic, Velimir	2618	PGN
3	GM	Yuffa, Daniil	2618	2½	1 - 0	2½	IM	Grieve, Harry	2491	PGN
4	GM	Fernandez, Daniel H	2501	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Iniyan, P	2601	PGN
5	IM	Willow, Jonah B	2472	2½	1 - 0	2½	GM	Kraemer, Martin	2571	PGN
6	GM	Jumabayev, Rinat	2560	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Wadsworth, Matthew J	2487	PGN
7	FM	Kazarian, Anna-Maja *)	2224	2	½ - ½	2	GM	Gasanov, Eldar	2447	PGN
8	GM	Sanal, Vahap	2546	2½	1 - 0	2½	IM	Bazakutsa, Svyatoslav	2478	PGN
9	IM	Czopor, Maciej	2463	2½	½ - ½	2½	GM	Gavrilescu, David	2542	PGN
10	GM	Maze, Sebastien	2534	2½	1 - 0	2½	IM	Magold, Filip	2465	PGN

Details

Standings after Round 4

Rk.	SNo		Name	Rtg	Club/City	Pts.
1	1	GM	Praggnanandhaa, R	2768	None	3,5
2	2	GM	Ivic, Velimir	2618	None	3,5
3	3	GM	Yuffa, Daniil	2618	None	3,5
4	5	GM	Pranav, Anand	2581	None	3,5
5	9	GM	Sanal, Vahap	2546	None	3,5
6	11	GM	Maze, Sebastien	2534	None	3,5
7	16	GM	Fodor, Tamas Jr	2508	4NCL Wood Green	3,5
8	25	IM	Willow, Jonah B	2472	4NCL Wood Green	3,5
9	4	GM	Iniyan, P	2601	None	3
10	7	GM	Jumabayev, Rinat	2560	None	3

Details

Round 5 pairings

Bo.		White	Rtg	Pts.	Result	Pts.		Black	Rtg
1	GM	Fodor, Tamas Jr	2508	3½		3½	GM	Praggnanandhaa, R	2768
2	GM	Ivic, Velimir	2618	3½		3½	GM	Sanal, Vahap	2546
3	GM	Pranav, Anand	2581	3½		3½	GM	Yuffa, Daniil	2618
4	GM	Iniyan, P	2601	3		3½	IM	Willow, Jonah B	2472
5	GM	Royal, Shreyas	2495	3		3	GM	Jumabayev, Rinat	2560
6	IM	Travadon, Loic	2492	3		3	GM	Smirin, Ilya	2554
7	FM	Kazarian, Anna-Maja *)	2224	2½		2½	IM	Wang, Hao	2424
8	GM	Gavrilescu, David	2542	3		3	GM	Gordon, Stephen J	2465
9	GM	Wadsworth, Matthew J	2487	3		3	GM	Cornette, Matthieu	2517
10	IM	Rozen, Eytan	2515	3		3	IM	Harvey, Marcus R	2438

Details

Links

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