The standings at the top remain unchanged after the penultimate round of the 2025 Sinquefield Cup. GMs Fabiano Caruana and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu lead before the final round, after draws respectively with GMs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Wesley So.
The two games that went the distance were GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov vs. GM Alireza Firouzja and World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju vs. GM Levon Aronian. Abdusattorov lost control of a win only for Firouzja to blunder later, in a difficult position, and hand it back to him. Gukesh pressed an advantage that started in the opening for many hours, but Aronian defended tenaciously and was even winning for one move near the end. Not sensing the moment, he went directly for the draw. GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda vs. GM Sam Sevian also ended in a draw, virtually a perfect game from both sides.
Round eight is on Tuesday, August 26, starting at 1:30 p.m. ET / 19:30 CEST / 11 p.m. IST.
Standings After Round 8
Vachier-Lagrave ½-½ Caruana
Caruana said after the game that a draw was the expected result, considering it benefited both players in the tournament situation. Avoiding a loss leaves Caruana still in the lead, while Vachier-Lagrave has essentially already qualified for Sao Paulo and just needs to close out the tournament.
The first 18 moves had been played before, in the Ruy Lopez Neo-Arkhangelsk Variation, and Caruana did run some risk of losing his isolated d-pawn, as he showed in some lines below. He kept the balance, however, and the players eventually repeated the position three times, although funnily it took them eight moves to do it.
It’s eight draws now for Vachier-Lagrave, who had a number of winning positions in earlier rounds. He compared this event to Biel 2013, where he also remembered leaving three wins on the table. In the Sinquefield Cup this year, he said he failed to convert two “clear wins” and two “very possible” wins.
Still, Vachier-Lagrave hasn’t lost a game and he will most likely make it to the Finals. He shared a funny bit of advice from his former coach: “I’ll take it because it feels like I’m playing well and, as my first coach told me… it’s very difficult to get the goal [in football], but once you get it, it flows like ketchup.”
Praggnanandhaa ½-½ So
So came well prepared with the black pieces in the Two Knights Defense of the Italian Opening. He remembered a game he played last year at the Julius Baer Generation Cup 2024 and improved on that game with the correct 14…c5; he had erred earlier with 14…Bg4?, and So even remembered the name of his opponent in that game, 19-year-old GM Mukhiddin Madaminov. He knew the position until 19.Qc3, but said it should be nothing special.
There were some miniscule chances for Praggnanandhaa to press in the rook and knight endgame, but it was overall a nearly perfect game. So held the balance throughout.
The players stay in the same position as they did before the round. Praggnanandhaa, still leading the tournament with Caruana, said of the potential Playoffs: “This year, playoffs have been good for me,” but he added about the classical portion, “You never know what’s going to happen.”
Abdusattorov 1-0 Firouzja
Without sugarcoating it, Abdusattorov has had a horrible tournament so far. Even with this win, he is still in last place on 2.5/8. Firouzja is only a half-point ahead of him and this blow, a third loss, will take him out of Finals contention.
Still, any win over Firouzja is hard to come by, and Abdusattorov was rewarded for declining an early offer to repeat moves. Making quick draws is just not in his nature, as he said, even if it would have been understandable given his tournament situation.
“This is principle. I don’t make quick draws,” said Abdusattorov about declining a threefold repetition offer in the opening.https://t.co/tNkyTO9Jix#GrandChessTour pic.twitter.com/pb48NnRXm9
— chess24 (@chess24com) August 26, 2025
The Uzbek number-one said, “So far I think this is the most difficult tournament in my career. But yeah, I have to go through that and come back stronger.”
I think this is the most difficult tournament in my career.
—Nodirbek Abdusattorov
Against Duda in the previous round, Abdusattorov blundered with the black pieces by playing …Nd7. Strangely, another …Nd7 move, this time played by Firouzja, was a blunder. Although Firouzja miraculously fought his way back into the game with the rook against two minor pieces, a tragic miscalculation at the end led him to trade directly into a piece-down endgame, which he quickly lost. GM Rafael Leitao analyzes the Game of the Day below.
Gukesh ½-½ Aronian
Gukesh was armed with the interesting 7.Nbd2!? against the Queen’s Indian Defense, a move that’s almost never played but seems to be just fine. Surprised and perhaps underestimating it, Aronian went wrong just two moves later with 8…Nc6? and, for a while, Gukesh played perfectly to execute the advantage.
Later on, Aronian found a great defense to reach an endgame with an exchange for two pawns and the bishop pair, the starting position you see below. Gukesh once again outplayed him, but the endgame proved to be too hard to win in practice. Just when the game seemed destined for a draw, Gukesh blundered with 68.Bf2??, and if Aronian had sensed the moment, he could have joined the leaders on five points.
Sevian ½-½ Duda
Sevian had a tricky idea with the white pieces in the Italian Opening, pushing a4-a5 rather than spending time on castling immediately. Although Sevian gained space on the queenside, Duda still managed to liquidate the board to an equal rook endgame. The game featured 99 accuracy by both sides and left both players on four points.
Caruana has the white pieces against Gukesh, while Praggnanandhaa has the black pieces against Aronian, who is a half-point behind. So, who’s also a half-point behind the leaders, will have White against Abdusattorov. It promises to be an exciting final day, with several contenders for this year’s title!
Round 9 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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