He was trailing.

And he was up against the World No.

2.

And yet, there was almost a sense of inevitability to it.

R.

Praggnanandhaa duly defeated Fabiano Caruana and won the Grand Chess Tour.

After losing the first game, he bounced back in great style to win the multi-format final at St.

Louis on Thursday (August 27, 2026).

He became the first Indian to win the most prestigious tour on the chess circuit.

GCT Grand Finale: Praggnanandhaa lets Caruana off the hook Caruana, in fact, was the champion of the Grand Chess Tour last year, and also in 2023.

He had begun on the right note in the U.S. city, winning the opening classical game of the final against his 21-year-old rival from Chennai, whose blunder with his rook on the 28th move proved fatal.

Praggnanandhaa, however, came back strongly in the second classical game, in which he was in control before an error of judgment allowed his American opponent to draw after 95 moves.

Caruana thus maintained his lead, 9-3 (a classical win carried six points).

The Indian, however, showed his supremacy in the faster time controls.

He won both the rapid games — worth four points each — and thus took an 11-9 lead going into the blitz section.

Caruana was in a must-win situation in the last blitz game, but Praggnanandhaa drew it with perpetual checks, giving him a 15-13 match victory.

He is indeed looking unstoppable on the chessboard.

This is his second major success at St.

Louis this month.

Just a fortnight ago, he had won the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz in spectacular style.

He won the tournament by a margin of 1.5 points, over his nearest rival Javokhir Sindarov, this year’s World championship challenger.

Praggnanandhaa was leading on all five days of the event.

Before Saint Louis, he had recorded a career-best performance at Norway Chess in Oslo, where he emerged as the champion after beating the World No.

1 Magnus Carlsen twice in his hometown.

The five-time World champion has often spoken highly of him and once even named him as the player closest to him in style.

That is indeed high praise.

Pravin Thipsay, India’s third Grandmaster, believes Praggnanandhaa has earned it.

“He has a great sense of what is required to win, and it is not about a better position or a complex position,” Thipsay tells The Hindu over the phone from Mumbai.

“He has a knack of where that initiative is and goes for non-simplification like Carlsen.

And he goes beyond the book and is a very active player even when the positions are equal.

He has become a very strong player practically.” Praggnanandhaa’s recent successes have come after he went through one of the worst periods of his career.

He was so badly out of form in the year’s most crucial event – the Candidates tournament in Cyprus, where he was placed seventh in a field of eight.

If he continues to play like this, he could be one of the favourites for the next Candidates.

“Yes, he will be a great force,” says Thipsay.