Praggnanandhaa leads FIDE Circuit table, Ivanchuk enters the fray
On completion of the GCT Superbet Rapid & Blitz Poland India’s Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu moved on top of the table in the FIDE Circuit points. Pragg now inches ahead of former world champion Ding Liren in the fight for the Candidates spot. Pragg & DIng were followed closely by GCT Poland winner Fedoseev.
Snatching the fourth place is the unlikely candidate GM Ivanchuk. The meteoric star had a dramatic month of April 2025 when the Ukraine legend ended up playing 27 Rated games in 30 days. Chuky’s triple crusade included an outstanding title victory at Menorca Open 2025 at Spain. At 56-years-of-age Ivanchuk played right through the whole month, sometimes two rounds a day, remained undefeated with 9 draws and 18 wins from 27 games.
With 8 months remaining, it could be still be anybody’s race, but Praggnanandhaa has set the ball rolling with young turks Aravindh, Maurizzi etc behind him. Little further behind are established stars viz., Anish Giri, Wei Yi, Abdusattorov who can all turn it around with some stunning performances on their day.
In three days time, the 2025 Superbet Chess Classic Romania takes off at Bucharest. The first classic event on the Grand Chess Tour map begins on 7th May and concludes on 16th May. All eyes will be on the world champion Gukesh Dommaraju at the Romanian capital, while his country-mate Praggnanandhaa would be working to increase his lead in the FIDE Circuit points.
Official Site: https://www.fide.com/fide-circuit-2025/
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