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Indian Grandmaster R Praggnananda has defeated in-form World Championship challenger Javokhir Sindarov in the second round of the Super Chess Classics. The match seemed to be heading towards a draw in the initial and middle stages but Praggnananda, playing with the black pieces, displayed brilliant strategic skills and won.

There seemed to be a situation of balance between the continuous repetition of moves but the Indian player took the risk and seized the opportunity. With this victory, Praggnananda has also avenged his defeat at the hands of Sindarov in the 2026 Candidates Tournament. Praggnananda had played a draw against Alireza Firozha of France in the first round.

Pragyananda jointly reached the top

In other matches, the match between Fabiano Caruana of America and Anish Giri of Netherlands was a draw. The match between Wesley So and Jordan Van Foreest also ended in a draw. France’s Maxime Vachier-Lagrave registered his second win of the day by defeating his compatriot Alireza Firozha. Germany’s Vincent Keimer also defeated Romania’s Bogdan-Daniel Deac.

After the second round, Praggnanandhaa, Keimer and Vachie-Lagrave are jointly on top with 1.5 points. Caruana, Wesley So, Van Forest and Giri have one point each, while Firozha, Deyak and Sindarov are at the bottom with half a point. This tournament is of 9 rounds, in which 10 players are participating and the total prize money is 3.5 lakh dollars. Out of this, one lakh dollars will be given to the winner.