Praggnanandhaa to face Samuel Sevian in Sinquefield Cup opening round

ST. LOUIS, U.S., August 11, 2026 — R. Praggnanandhaa will meet Samuel Sevian in the first round of the Sinquefield Cup. Round 1 pairings for the 10-player event were released ahead of the tournament.

Praggnanandhaa arrives in St. Louis in strong form after winning the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz, a result that moved him to second place in the overall Grand Chess Tour standings. The Grand Chess Tour Finals are contested by the top four finishers on the tour, and Fabiano Caruana currently sits ahead of Praggnanandhaa in those rankings. Tournament organisers confirmed that all nine regular tour players will return for the Sinquefield Cup following a late change to the line-up.

Samuel Sevian is a surprise addition to the Sinquefield Cup after French grandmaster Alireza Firouzja withdrew from the tour. The field’s composition, with the regular tour participants reinstated, was described in the organisers’ release as placing the Sinquefield Cup among the strongest events of the year.

The entry list includes Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So and Levon Aronian among the principal contenders, with World Championship contender Javokhir Sindarov, Vincent Keymer, Anish Giri, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Jorden van Foreest completing the line-up. The report noted Caruana starts as the favourite and commented that classical chess is his forte.

Organisers said the tournament will be played over nine rounds on a round-robin basis between 10 players, with a total prize pool of $475,000. The published Round 1 pairings list Samuel Sevian (USA) vs R. Praggnanandhaa (Ind); Javokhir Sindarov (Uzb) vs Levon Aronian (Arm); Vincent Keymer (Ger) vs Wesley So (USA); Fabiano Caruana (USA) vs Jorden Van Foreest (Ned); Anish Giri (Ned) vs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra).

Praggnanandhaa, who turned 21 on Monday, won the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz by a 1.5-point margin over Sindarov and also claimed victory at the Norway Chess Classic. Tournament scheduling gives Praggnanandhaa five Black games and four White games across the nine rounds, according to the published draw.

With his current second place on the Grand Chess Tour standings, Praggnanandhaa needs a solid result in St. Louis to maintain his push for a top-four finish and a place in the GCT Finals later this year; he begins that bid against Samuel Sevian in Round 1.