R Praggnanandhaa clinched the Superbet Chess Classic Romania.

R Praggnanandhaa clinched the Superbet Chess Classic Romania.

R Praggnanandhaa clinched the Superbet Chess Classic Romania.

India's R Praggnanandhaa clinched the Superbet Chess Classic Romania by winning a three-way playoffs in Bucharest on Friday.

Praggnanandhaa defeated Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in the decisive blitz playoff game to finish first in the event part of the Grand Chess Tour.

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Praggnanandhaa, Alireza Firouzja and Vachier-Lagrave were tied on 5.5 points at the end of nine rounds of classical chess, forcing the playoffs. In the first playoff game, Pragg and Firouzja drew, while Vachier-Lagrave and Firouzja too split a point in the second game.

D Gukesh needed a moment to digest his defeat to Praggnanandhaa in tiebreakers. Photo: Screengrab/YouTube/@chess24
D Gukesh needed a moment to digest his defeat to Praggnanandhaa in tiebreakers at the Tata Steel Masters in February 2025. Photo: Screengrab/YouTube/@chess24

Earlier, in the final classical game of the single round-robin event, Praggnanandhaa drew with Levon Aronian, while Firouzja and Vachier-Lagrave scored impressive wins against Bogdan-Daniel Deac and Jan-Krzysztof Duda respectively to join the Indian at the top of the table.

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Meanwhile, India's World Chess Champion D Gukesh had a disappointing event as he finished ninth among 10 competitors. Gukesh drew with Fabiano Caruana in his final round to finish on 4 points, made up of one win and 6 draws.

Gukesh has yet to win an event since triumphing over China's Ding Liren in the World Chess Championship match in Singapore last December. Praggnanandhaa had defeated Gukesh in the final tie-breakers to clinch the Tata Steel Masters at Wijk aan Zee in the Netherlands in February.

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