GM Fabiano Caruana won the only decisive game in round three of the 2025 Sinquefield Cup to knock GM Alireza Firouzja out of the lead. Caruana now leads with GM Levon Aronian, who survived miraculously and drew GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, who made a tamer draw against GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov.
GM Sam Sevian drew World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju in a double-edged struggle, while GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda stopped the bleeding after yesterday’s loss with a solid draw against GM Wesley So.
Round four is on Thursday, August 21, starting at 1:30 p.m. ET / 19:30 CEST / 11 p.m. IST.
Standings After Round 3
Caruana 1-0 Firouzja
Caruana scored an extremely important win, taking a point away from one of his closest competitors both in the Sinquefield Cup and the overall GCT standings. He said:
This is really important. I’m really happy about this win, I mean especially because the Grand Chess Tour standings are so tight and we’re all kind of in contention, besides Maxime, who I guess just makes it. The rest of us are really fighting for the last spots.
The rest of us are really fighting for the last spots.
—Fabiano Caruana
After three rounds, it’s easy to point to Firouzja’s clock management as a glaring vulnerability in this tournament. He’s struggled in the last three rounds: making a draw against Vachier-Lagrave from a worse or losing position, then beating Duda from an inferior position, and now finally getting punished for leaving himself, in all cases, nearly 20 moves to make with under 10 minutes on the clock. By move 24, Firouzja was exactly 40 minutes down—with four minutes against 44—and with a worse position.
Caruana not only pressured his opponent on the board, in a pleasant position, but also on the clock. GM Rafael Leitao reviews Caruana’s iron-handed technique in the Game of the Day below.
Vachier-Lagrave ½-½ Aronian
GM Peter Svidler summarized the tragic game nicely: “It’s not even the half a point. He played such a nice game, he found so many difficult things to get there, and then not to convert from there. This will hurt.” Vachier-Lagrave let a big opportunity slip after, ultimately, not winning with an extra bishop. Aronian put it in fewer words: “I’ve been lucky the whole month and it continues!”
“I’ve been lucky the whole month and it continues!”
—Levon Aronian
Aronian steered the ship into a deep, theoretical line of the French—one which he tried in the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz against GM Leinier Dominguez and also misplayed there and also drew. 17…Qc4? 18.Nd1! was the start of his troubles, but after he finagled his way into an equal endgame later on, he was outplayed once again. In the end, MVL dropped his a-pawn and then was unable to make progress in the drawn rook and bishop vs. rook endgame.
Aronian quipped: “It would be better if I could just remember the first move of my notes, but that’s too much to ask!”
Sevian ½-½ Gukesh
It was, overall, a clean game. Sevian held his own with White in a Rossolimo Sicilian against the world champion, and for pretty much only one moment it was Sevian who could have gotten a serious advantage with 23.Qe3!. Overall, it was an even game where both sides, playing well, brought it to the logical conclusion.
Gukesh praised Sevian as a “strong player” and said, “It was a fine result. With Black a draw’s always a fine result and I was pressing for some time.”
As for round four, Gukesh will face Vachier-Lagrave. He said, “In general, MVL is a super-exciting player. I’m just looking forward to playing a good game tomorrow.”
Abdusattorov ½-½ Praggnanandhaa
Abdusattorov, who scored his first half point in the tournament, said he’s been playing decently even if the results (two losses) don’t show it. He said, “My nerves are not in place and my mistake was I couldn’t just calculate deeply enough because my brain is not working.” His plan in this round was to play “calm, very solid chess.”
It worked, and he achieved a lasting advantage out of the opening. But when he had to play the expanding 24.g4! to keep it, he said it was “a risky move” and “I was not in the mood today.” The game petered out to an opposite-color bishops endgame.
A funny moment happened at the end, when Abdusattorov claimed the draw incorrectly. Praggnanandhaa received two minutes on his clock as a penalty, and Praggnanandhaa claimed the draw without making another move, both players holding back laughter.
You can see that absurd moment below:
Duda ½-½ So
Duda-So was the first game to end. So said he expected the Polish number-one to play it safe after losing a tough game the round before. He was also surprised by the opening, as he said, “Duda plays all openings, so I didn’t look at any d4 openings today.” So mentioned that he played this line five years ago against GM Daniil Dubov.
Even though he didn’t look at this before the game, So knew the entire line all the way up to 20…Ra5, and the game only lasted 32 moves. Black could have maybe played for more with 21…Ra2+ 22.Bc2 b5, but we saw a calmer resolution.
So is undefeated after three rounds, but he said, “It would be nicer if I could win a game!” Asked about where his preparation ended in the Grunfeld against Vachier-Lagrave in round two, he actually revealed that all of it was in his file—to the end.
There are three leaders and two of them have White in round four. Praggnanandhaa plays Sevian and Aronian takes on Duda. Caruana is the leader playing Black, against Abdusattorov.
Round 4 Pairings
The 2025 Sinquefield Cup, taking place from August 18 to 28 in St. Louis, is the last leg and final classical event before the Final of the 2025 Grand Chess Tour. It is a single round-robin with 10 players with a time control of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game plus a 30-second increment starting on move one. It features a $350,000 prize fund.
