Praggnanandhaa turns 3–9 into 15–13
The Indian grandmaster won the 2026 Grand Chess Tour Finals in St Louis, becoming the first Indian reported to take the title.
Praggnanandhaa recovered from 3–9 to beat Caruana 15–13 in the Grand Chess Tour Finals.
Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu turned a 3–9 deficit into a 15–13 victory over Fabiano Caruana in the 2026 Grand Chess Tour Finals in St Louis. The final ran from August 22 to 27, according to FIDE, which described the six-point recovery as the defining feature of the match.
Caruana won the opening classical game and the second was drawn. Praggnanandhaa then won both rapid games to lead 11–9 before securing the match in blitz. The official Grand Chess Tour page lists him as champion and records a $200,000 first prize; its regulations required 15 points to win. Chess, as usual, declined to provide a convenient route back once the position went bad.
Multiple reports, including the Indian Express, described Praggnanandhaa as the first Indian to win the Grand Chess Tour. That wording refers to the title, not the official world ranking: the available FIDE and GCT pages place him around 11th–12th. Viswanathan Anand told the Times of India that Praggnanandhaa was “the number one player in the world” at present. The scoreboard has not made that promotion official.