Praggnanandhaa makes history, becomes first Indian to win Grand Chess Tour title

Indian chess star R Praggnanandhaa made history by becoming the first Indian to win the Grand Chess Tour, defeating Fabiano Caruana 15-13 in St Louis. He overcame a classical defeat with dominant rapid performance before securing the title in blitz

New Delhi: Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa made history by becoming the first Indian to win the Grand Chess Tour, beating Fabiano Caruana 15-13 in the final in St Louis, the USA.

It was a great result for Pragg as he recovered from an early deficit to fight back in the final of the grand finale of the tournament, in which players are tested in all three formats of the game — classical, rapid and blitz.

---

The Indian star, who is supported by the Adani Group, lost 3-9 in Classical chess and then bounced back in the Rapid section, winning it 8-0 before being held 4-4 in the Blitz version, finishing 15-13 overall to claim the title in the event in which each win earns six points, a draw gets three in classical, while in Rapid Chess, a win gets four points and two for a draw.

In Blitz, each win is worth two points and a draw one point. In the final standings, Pragg finished with 15 points overall, taking the top spot ahead of Fabiano Caruana, while fellow American Wesley So claimed the third spot by beating Germany’s Vincent Kermer in the third-place playoff.

The top spot and victory in the final earned Praggnandhaa $200,000 (Rs 1.90 approx) while Caruana received $125,000 for finishing second. Wesley So ended with $75,000 for third place while Vincent Keymer claimed $50,000 for his fourth-place finish.

The 21-year-old Pragg had reached the final by outplaying Keymer 19-9 in the first semifinal while Caruana got the better of Wesley So 18-12 in the second. Pragg, who became a Grandmaster at the age of 13 in 2018, has a rating of 2750 and is ranked 12th in the Classical section of the FIDE Rankings in the latest list of August 2026.

Praggnandhaa topped the 2026 Grand Chess Tour season, which culminated with the grand finale at the Saint Louis Chess Club from August 21–28.

 

The 21-year-old Indian from Chennai had finished among the four highest-ranked full-tour players after the regular season and thus contested the knockout tournament for the GCT title. The field had finished in the following order, with Praggnanandhaa finishing as Seed No. 1, Wesley So emerging as Seed No. 2, Seed No. 3 Fabiano Caruana, and Seed No. 4 Vincent Keymer. The top three finishers received invitations to the 2027 Grand Chess Tour.