GMs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Alireza Firouzja looked to be on the verge of winning their games, respectively, against GMs Nodirbek Abdusattorov and World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju in round six of the 2025 Sinquefield Cup, but both ended in draws. It was a brilliant escape for the younger players.
The other three games ended in draws too. GM Sam Sevian achieved a much better position against GM Fabiano Caruana, but he forced a threefold repetition rather than go for the complications. We saw quicker draws in GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu vs. GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda and GM Levon Aronian vs. GM Wesley So.
Round seven is on Monday, August 24, starting at 1:30 p.m. ET / 19:30 CEST / 11 p.m. IST.
Standings After Round 6
Sevian ½-½ Caruana
We saw a complicated QGD Ragozin middlegame where Sevian, following the path of correspondence games, brought his king to d2 on move 14 with queens still on the board. 17.Qc5?! was an inaccuracy, but after Sevian followed it up with the logical plan of 18.f3 and 21.e4, Caruana didn’t react in the best way. 22…Bxg4? was the mistake that left White better (22…e3+ should have been included).
Sevian immediately ended the game with perpetual check, though the only other move he looked at, 24.Be3?, would not have given him a large advantage anyway. 24.Rhf1, would have, but Sevian underestimated its strength, illustrated in the lines below.
Caruana leads with three rounds to go. A first-place finish means he qualifies for Sao Paolo automatically.
Praggnanandhaa ½-½ Duda
Praggnanandhaa gained a slight advantage out of a Sicilian Alapin with the white pieces, and Duda’s fancy but erroneous 16…Bf6? gave White a serious chance at pressing. The game petered out quickly after 18.0-0-0, sacrificing the e-pawn, when defending it with 18.Qe2 would have given White a good game with the better pawn structure.
Aronian ½-½ So
In a QGD Exchange Variation, with So including the uncommon 7…Bg4, the game was level until move 22. Aronian felt Black couldn’t castle on move 22, and his intuition was right; it was his execution of the advantage that wasn’t. He found the accurate 24.Be5!, but after 24…Nxc3 he sacrificed the exchange for an attack with 25.f4? (Aronian said he’d need 20 minutes to accurately assess the correct 25.Rb2!).
Black saved the game with the only move 26…Nd2!, the resource Aronian admitted he missed, and—being material down—there was no chance for White to even press. He had to force the draw.
The two nearly decisive games nearly occurred on boards with players outside of the top three.
Abdusattorov ½-½ Vachier-Lagrave
Vachier-Lagrave continues to be haunted the the specter of wins left unwon. It’s the third time this tournament he’s played extremely well and achieved a winning advantage, only to let it go. As it stands, he’s made six draws in six rounds, despite mostly playing fighting games.
In a Rossolimo Sicilian with reversed colors, MVL’s attack against the opponent’s king reached dangerous proportions after 24.b3? Re8. Although the game continuation wasn’t perfect, the French GM finally traded queens into an endgame that was not only easy to play but also objectively winning.
Abdusattorov managed to reach a rook endgame, and even when he gave his opponent another chance to win with 47.Kg4? (47.Ke4 is better), Vachier-Lagrave eventually traded into a king and pawn endgame that was, incredibly, a draw, despite Black being up a pawn. GM Rafael Leitao analyzes the Game of the Day below.
Gukesh ½-½ Firouzja
We were treated to a Sicilian Najdorf between the reigning world champion and one of his generation’s biggest talents. We already had a new position by move 10, and it was Gukesh who outplayed his opponent at first.
Gukesh could have kept the advantage with 21.Ncd5, but chose the wrong knight instead. The screw turned starting with Firouzja’s 21…Na6!, and by move 30 his initiative could have transformed into a winning advantage. Not playing 30…Qxe6 was, according to GM Peter Svidler, Firouzja’s “one mistake this game… that was his big chance.” Gukesh showed excellent technique to draw the resulting pawn-down endgame, even if he let himself drop to two seconds at one point, giving spectators a horrific jolt.
Caruana has the white pieces against one of his two closest trailers, Aronian. Praggnanandhaa, the other player a half-point behind, will have Black against Firouzja.
Round 7 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.
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