St. Louis, USA: Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa remained on course for a podium finish following a draw with tournament leader Wesley So of the United States in the fifth round of the Sinquefield Cup, which is part of the Grand Chess Tour.
The draw with the black pieces meant that Praggnanandhaa remained in joint second place in the 10-player, nine-round event, with three points from five games.
This also resulted in his resurgence as one of the best players on the GCT Tour, as now only a massive setback can keep him away from attending the grand finale scheduled for later this year for the chosen four from the GCT.
With Wesley in command on 3.5 points, two big comebacks were recorded by pre-event favourite Fabiano Caruana of the United States and Vincent Keymer of Germany, who both won when it mattered most with the white pieces.
Caruana won in the fifth round with a fine victory over Armenian-turned-American Levon Aronian, while Vincent defeated the out-of-form Anish Giri in a game that the Dutchman would rather forget.
As things stand, So on 3.5 points is half a point ahead of Praggnanandhaa, Keymer, Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France.
This half point could mean nothing or everything as the tournament progresses into the second half, wherein one can expect Caruana and Praggnanandhaa to make rapid progress.
Caruana is still the best player to hold his forte one more time and emerge as the best on the Grand Chess Tour.
For Praggnanandhaa, the fifth round did not pose any major issue. The Indian ace was at his best in handling the black side of a king-pawn opening, and in just 26 moves, the game was agreed drawn.
Meanwhile, Caruana outclassed Aronian right from the opening with the white pieces. Aronian went for the age-old Petroff Defence and did not get any chance once the top-seeded player launched an attack on the queenside. Aronian lost a rook for a minor piece and never recovered.
Results - Round 5Jorden Van Foreest (Ned, 1) drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 3)Vincent Keymer (Ger, 3) beat Anish Giri (Ned, 1.5)Wesley So (USA, 3.5) drew with R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 3)Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb, 2) drew with Sam Sevian (USA, 2.5)Fabiano Caruana (USA, 3) beat Levon Aronian (USA, 2.5)