ST.LOUIS: Indian Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa remained on course for a podium finish following a draw with tournament leader Wesley So of United States in fifth round of the Sinquefield Cup, which is a part of the Grand Chess tour.
The draw as black meant that Praggnanandhaa remained in the joint second spot in the 10-players-9-rounds event with 3 points out of a possible five in his bag now from five games.
This also resulted in his resurrection as one of the best player in the GCT tour as now only a massive tragedy can keep him away from attending the grand finale scheduled for later this year for the chosen four from the GCT.
With Wesley in command on 3.5 points the two big comebacks were recorded by pre-event favourite Fabiano Caruana of United States and Vincent Keymer of Germany who both won when it mattered the most with their white pieces.
Caruana won the tag in the fifth round with his fine victory over Armenian-turned American Levon Aronian while Vincent defeated the out-of-form Anish Giri in a game that the Dutchman would rather forget.
As things stand, So on 3l5 points is half point ahead of Praggnanandhaa, Keymer, Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France.
This half point could mean nothing or everything as the tournament progresses in the second half wherein one can expect Caruana and Praggnanandhaa to make rapid progress.
Caruana is still the best guy to hold his forte one more time and emerge as the best on the grand chess tour.
For Praggnanandhaa the fifth round did not force any major issue. The Indian ace was at his best in handling the black side of a king pawn opening and in just 26 moves the game was agreed as drawn.
Meanwhile, Caruana outclassed Aronian right from the opening with his white pieces.
Aronian went for the age-old Petroff defense and did not get any chance once the top seeded player launched an offense on the queen side. Aronian lost a rook for a minor piece and never recovered back.
Results round 5:
Jorden Van Foreest (Ned, 1) drew with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra, 3) Vincent Keymer (Ger, 3) beat Anish Giri (Ned, 1.5); Wesley So (Usa, 3.5) drew with R Praggnanandhaa (Ind, 3) Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb, 2) drew with Savian Samuels (Usa, 2.5) Fabiano Caruana (Usa, 3) beat Levon Aronian (Usa, 2.5).