Caruana wins Grand Chess Tour 2025
Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana (USA) defeated GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France) 15-13 in a thriller to clinch the finals of the $ 350,000 Grand Chess Tour at the World Trade Centre, São Paulo. Caruana, with his second GCT title, takes home the winner’s cheque of $ 150,000 while Runner-Up Vachier-Lagrave pockets $ 100,000. In the fight for the third place, Armenian-American Grandmaster Levon Aronian got the better of Indian star GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu 20-8 securing the cash award of $ 60,000 while Pragg settled for $ 40,000.
An year of action and drama in the Grand Chess Tour came to a fitting end, with nerves having the final say. Nothing separated the Grandmaster quartet after the classical section where none of the four tasted defeat. Left to decide in the rapid & blitz section things started happening right from the word go.
Losing the first rapid game to French Grandmaster, former Grand Chess Tour champion Caruana hit back with a hat-trick of wins in the blitz section. On a must win situation, the Frenchman came agonizingly close to taking the match into Armageddon. A costly slip by MVL in the dying moments of the final blitz game saw Caruana seal his second Grand Chess Tour crown adding to the one he won in 2023. It continued to be a long painful wait for MVL who has now lost all three GCT finals he’s managed to land.
The fight for the third place and a direct seeding the to Grand Chess Tour next year went in favor of Grandmaster Levon Aronian. It was an off-day for Praggnanandhaa who found himself in the back-foot after losing the first rapid game. Levon never relinquished the grip and went on to settle the issue with three blitz games to spare. 42-year-old Levon Aronian has had a great year so far and would be looking positively for his next assignment – the FIDE World Cup in Goa, India. Levon, a two time World Cup winner, should have fond memories of Goa where he won the World Junior Chess Championship in 2002.
In his long flight back home from Brazil, Pragg would be working it out for his next big event, the FIDE World Cup. A comfortable lead in the FIDE Circuit Candidates race will not stop the Indian from fighting it out in the World Cup. Seeded second behind fellow Grandmaster Erigaisi Arjun, the Chennai talent would work to improve upon his earlier result at the World Cup. In the 2023 FIDE World Cup at Baku in Azerbaijan, Pragg after a fine run, went down to World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen in the finals. This time around Praggnanandhaa would be a home favorite along with Erigaisi Arjun & world champion Gukesh Dommaraju, who would wish to redeem his FIDE Grand Swiss show last month.
Results (Finals): Fabiano Caruana beat Maxime Vachier Lagrave 15-13
(Third Place): Levon Aronian beat Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu 20-8
Image courtesy: Grand Chess Tour/Saint Louis Chess Club
Vachier-Lagrave Maxime (2737) – Caruana Fabiano (2789) 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 e5 5. Nb5 d6 6. N1c3 a6 7. Na3 Nf6 8. Bg5 b5 9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 f5 11. Bd3 Be6 12. O-O Bg7 13. Qh5 Rb8 14. c3 f4 15. Nc2 a5 16. b4 O-O 17. a4 bxa4 18. Rxa4 h6 19. bxa5 Nxa5 20. Ncb4 Rc8 21. Rd1 Kh8 22. Be2 Nb3 23. Ra7 Nc5 24. Bf3 Nd7 25. h3 Rc4 26. Re1 Qg5 27. Qxg5 hxg5 28. Ra6 Rfc8 29. Rxd6 Bf8 30. Ra6 Rxc3 31. Nxc3 Bxb4 32. Rd1 Nc5 33. Rxe6 fxe6 34. Ne2 Kg7 35. Rb1 Ba5 36. Rc1 Kf6 37. g3 Bb6 38. Kg2 Rd8 39. Rb1 Rd6 40. Nc1 Ba7 41. Ra1 Rd7 42. Ra2 Bb6 43. Rb2 Rd6 44. h4 gxh4 45. gxh4 Nd7 46. Ne2 Nf8 47. Ng1 Bd4 48. Rb7 Ng6 49. h5 Nh4+ 50. Kf1 Ra6 51. h6 Ra1+ 52. Ke2 Rxg1 53. h7 Ng6 54. Rb8 Kg7 55. Rb7+ Kh8 56. Bh5 Rg5 57. Bxg6 Rxg6 58. Kf3
58…Rg7 0-1 (Blitz game)
Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (2771) – Aronian Levon (2722) 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nf3 b6 3. d4 e6 4. Bf4 Bb4+ 5. Nbd2 Bb7 6. e3 Be7 7. Bd3 Nh5 8. Be4 d5 9. cxd5 exd5 10. Bc2 Nxf4 11. exf4 Nc6 12. O-O Qd6 13. Re1 O-O 14. Nf1 Qxf4 15. Ne3 Bb4 16. Nxd5 Qd6 17. Nc3 Rae8 18. Ne4 Qh6 19. Re3 Bd6 20. Qe2 Nxd4 21. Qd1 Nxf3+ 22. Qxf3 Qxh2+ 23. Kf1 Ba6+ 24. Ke1 Qg1+ 25. Kd2 Bb4+ 0-1 (Rapid game)
Picture Courtesy: Grand Chess Tour / Saint Louis Chess Club
