The Indian, just 21, scored his second major success of the summer following Norway Chess at Oslo while Wesley So halved to Sinquefield Cup victory with nine straight draws
India’s world No 12, Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, won the Grand Chess Tour finals in St Louis on Thursday night when he defeated the US world No 2, Fabiano Caruana, in a mix of classical, rapid and blitz games by 15-13. It was the 21-year-old’s second major success of the summer following Norway Chess at Oslo and it earned him a record $200,000 first prize, up from $150,000 in 2025.
Earlier, Wesley So, the US world No 6, won the prestigious Sinquefield Cup and over $100,000 for the second year in succession, despite a run of nine mostly colourless draws.
The former Filipino, 32, chose his approach so as to maximise his chances of another huge payday in the Tour finals. He said: “I’m not proud of the early draws, but they were part of a bigger strategy, and it worked.” However, there was a sting in the tail as So finished third of four in the Tour finals.
Praggnanandhaa’s 27-move win over France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was the fastest victory of the Sinquefield Cup, with its subtle 27…Bb6! forcing resignation.
In the Tour semi-finals Praggnanandhaa defeated Germany’s Vincent Keymer even more easily than the 19-9 score suggests, while Caruana beat So 18-12, grinding him to defeat by superior positional skills
The two-day final, Caruana v Praggnanandhaa, was a clash of generations, age 34 v age 21. Caruana won the first classical game, exploiting a blunder at move 28, but Praggnanandhaa controlled the second until he erred in a bishops of opposite colours ending, allowing Caruana to survive in a marathon 95 moves.
Classical games counted six points as against four for rapid and two for blitz, but the young Indian proved faster and more inventive in the quicker formats. He won both rapid games to take an 11-9 overall lead, then held on in blitz for a 15-13 winning margin.
So beat Keymer 16-12 in the third place match.
The Sinquefield Cup, launched by Rex Sinquefield in 2013, has included some memorable moments. Caruana’s 7/7 start in 2014 and his world record tournament performance rating of 3098 was the absolute highlight, but there was also a controversial triple tie in 2018, Ding Liren’s victory for China in 2019, in which he beat the then world champion, Magnus Carlsen, in a speed tie-break, and the notorious 2022 event with Carlsen v Hans Niemann and its cheating allegations.
The $250,000 Cairns Cup for elite women is the female equivalent of the Sinquefield Cup and is named after Sinquefield’s wife Dr Jeanne Cairns Sinquefield. It was won by China’s Tan Zhongyi, who had previously triumphed in 2024 and looked a transformed player from her heavy 6.5-2.5 defeat by Ju Wenjun in the 2025 world women’s championship match.
Alice Lee, who finished second in the Cairns Cup with 6/9, half a point behind the winner, is the rising star of US women’s chess. The 16-year-old achieved her first GM norm at open level, the fifth youngest female in chess history to do so after Kateryna Lagno, Hou Yifan, Judit Polgar, and Humpy Koneru. Only 44 women have ever earned the full grandmaster title, while 300-400 have gained the separate women’s grandmaster award, which is 200 rating points lower.
The St Louis-organised Grand Chess Tour, with additional events in Poland, Croatia and Romania, will soon be directly challenged by the new Fide-approved Total World Championship, also including classical, rapid and blitz events, which will start with a pilot in Budapest from 10-21 November 2026, followed by a full Tour in 2027.
Besides Carlsen, the confirmed entries so far for Budapest, which will feature 24 players, include Caruana, So, Praggnanandhaa, Niemann, and Ian Nepomniachtchi.
The Fide event will have the advantages of Carlsen’s participation and its official World Championship name, but St Louis will benefit from the city’s reputation and from Sinquefield’s iconic status as a global chess sponsor.
