Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa Leads Sinquefield Cup After Beating Javokhir Sindarov

Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa continued his strong run in St. Louis as he defeated World Championship challenger Javokhir Sindarov in the second round of the Sinquefield Cup to move into a share of the lead. The 20-year-old secured the full point after a marathon battle in which neither player was able to establish a clear advantage for much of the game. The contest eventually turned in Praggnanandhaa's favour when Sindarov made a costly mistake on the 82nd move. Praggnanandhaa responded with a sequence of precise moves and maintained his advantage until Sindarov resigned 13 moves later. The victory took Praggnanandhaa's tally to 1.5 points from two rounds. He is currently level at the top of the standings with Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Levon Aronian and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. It was another notable result for Praggnanandhaa, who has been enjoying an impressive run of form in recent months. Earlier this month, he won the Grand Chess Tour St Louis Rapid and Blitz title. The Indian drew against Sindarov in the penultimate round to secure the tournament with 23 points from 35, finishing 1.5 points clear of the rest of the field. Praggnanandhaa also produced a historic performance in June when he won the Norway Chess 2026 title in Oslo. He defeated Germany's Vincent Keymer in the 10th and final round to complete a remarkable late charge. The Indian Grandmaster won four consecutive classical games during the tournament to claim one of the biggest titles of his career. Following this, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay felicitated the Indian Grandmaster on Monday, June 8. The felicitation was held at the Chief Secretariat in Chennai, where Vijay also played a game of chess with the 20-year-old Grandmaster. Difficult outing for Indian players at Cairns Cup While Praggnanandhaa enjoyed success at the Sinquefield Cup, India's players had a tougher second round at the Cairns Cup in St. Louis. R Vaishali, Divya Deshmukh and Koneru Humpy managed only half a point between them. Vaishali played out a draw against Bibisara Assaubayeva, while Divya suffered a defeat against Alice Lee. Humpy was also beaten, losing to Tan Zhongyi. Vaishali and Humpy have 0.5 points each after two rounds, while Divya has one point. Zhongyi and Lee are currently at the top of the standings after winning both their games.