Despite the end result, game one of the title match between GMs Fabiano Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the 2025 Grand Chess Tour Finals was a true, five-hour-long struggle. Caruana reached a winning queen endgame, but it was too difficult to convert against Vachier-Lagrave’s tenacious defense.
We saw another draw in the match for third place between GMs Levon Aronian and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. Aronian tried to squeeze in a simple endgame, but Praggnanandhaa showed no weakness.
Day five, featuring the second classical game of matches for first and third, is on Thursday, October 2, starting at 2 p.m. ET / 20:00 CEST / 11:30 p.m. IST.
Day 4 Results
You can see the breakdown of the prizes below, with $150,000 going to the 2025 Grand Chess Tour champion. In the match for third place, it’s not just a difference of $20,000 in prize money. The player to finish third also gets automatic entry into next year’s Grand Chess Tour, which comes with an additional guaranteed prize later.
It’s worth noting that Praggnanandhaa’s rating will likely qualify him for the GCT next year, so there’s more pressure on Aronian to determine his own fate.
Caruana 3-3 Vachier-Lagrave: MVL Defends Like A Boss
Caruana exhibited deep preparation, blitzing over 20 moves. 14.Bd3 was the first new move, and Vachier-Lagrave found best reply after best reply from there, all the while sinking on the clock. By move 24, the Frenchman had just 30 minutes left, while Caruana had only used 10 minutes of his initial hour and a half. Caruana spent another 10 minutes to play 25.b5, indicating he was only now out of book.
MVL sacrificed a pawn, which was sound, but quickly ran into a pawn-down queen endgame. He was fine at first, but after 36…f5? Caruana had an objectively winning position. Queen endgames are notoriously difficult to play, and sometimes impossible to calculate accurately, as this game showed. Caruana had several opportunities to win the game, even after the first one slipped, but it was too difficult in practice. GM Rafael Leitao analyzes the rich Game of the Day below.
Because the game lasted so long, the players did not join for an interview after. They’ll be back at the office on Thursday, with Vachier-Lagrave behind the white pieces.
Aronian 3-3 Praggnanandhaa: The Youngster Holds The Endgame
The outcome in game one was hardly ever in doubt. By move 20, Praggnanandhaa steered a Taimanov Sicilian into an equal and symmetrical endgame. Aronian pressed a little bit, at least symbolically, but Praggnanandhaa was never in trouble.
GM Yasser Seirawan summarized the entire game in a brief sentence: “Once he played d5 [on move 10], he equalized pretty comfortably.”
Aronian admitted that, despite preparing all morning, he didn’t think his opponent would play the Sicilian Defense. He decided to go for something solid and risk-free, saying that Praggnanandhaa recently “had some bad games in kind of equal endgames, so I thought it would be a good idea just to test the theory. He has improved in that field.”
Praggnanandhaa, on the other hand, said after the game, “I wanted a fight. I did try to play some Sicilian lines. I’ll try to fight in every game I play.” He’s not thinking so much about finishing in third. Instead, his goal is quite straightforward: “I just want to play decent chess.”
He went on: “I’ll try to do my best. It’s not something you can force against such a strong player. I’ll try to fight as I’m doing in every game and see if I can create something.” He will have White in the game tomorrow.
Let us know in the comments below: Will we see in a decisive game, and who will win it?
The 2025 Grand Chess Tour Finals is taking place from September 28 to October 3 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The $350,000 final event of the 2025 Tour sees the top-four, GMs Fabiano Caruana, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Levon Aronian, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, compete in a single-elimination knockout. Each match consists of eight games, two classical (6 points for a win, 3 for a draw, 0 for a loss), two rapid (4/2/0), and four blitz (2/1/0). The winner claims the Grand Chess Tour title and the $150,000 top prize.
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