Game of the Week #685: Praggnanandhaa - Gukesh, Sinquefield Cup 2025

by Merijn van Delft
8/22/2025 – In his new Game of the Week show Merijn van Delft presents an instructive game from the Sinquefield Cup: Praggnanandhaa's impressive first round win against World Champion Gukesh. | Merijn's show is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.
In this Fritztrainer: “Attack like a Super GM” with Gukesh we touch upon all aspects of his play, with special emphasis on how you can become a better attacking player.

Game of the Week #685

Vincent Keymer finished the Chennai elite tournament in brilliant fashion, winning the last round and crossing the 2750 barrier. Another victory by Keymer would have made a fine Game of the Week, but meanwhile, the Sinquefield Cup — the next elite tournament — has already started.

In the very first round, Praggnanandhaa, whose rise to the top was predicted by Fritztrainer IM Nico Zwirs, produced an instructive masterpiece against World Champion Gukesh.

Warm-up question: What would you play here with White?

This week's show

In this opening Black opts for active piece play and is not afraid to fight for the initiative from an early stage. One of the many good features of this opening is that Black is often the side which controls the pace of the game.

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Merijn van Delft is an International Master from the Netherlands who lived in Hamburg for many years and is currently based in Amsterdam. After scoring a GM norm in 2017 he is eager for more. His ChessBase show on Wednesday evenings has been running for over ten years now.