Praggnanandhaa commits huge blunder from winning position to suffer shock loss to Caruana

India’s R Praggnanandhaa suffered a painful defeat in round 7 of the 2026 Superbet Chess Classic Romania in Bucharest, going down to Fabiano Caruana in just 33 moves despite starting the game with the white pieces. It is Pragg’s first loss of the tournament, which has almost knocked him out of the title contention.

The game began with a Queen’s Gambit Declined (QGD), and the position looked balanced for most of the early phase. However, things started to shift when Praggnanandhaa’s queen manoeuvre allowed Caruana to gain a clear edge. The American GM then increased pressure and took control of the game.

Praggnanandhaa allowed Caruana’s knight to become active and exposed his king to attack by moving his queen away, which also came too late. Eventually, the Indian GM was forced to resign with his king exposed from all sides. After seven rounds, Pragg is tied for fourth place along with three other players on 3.5 points.

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Pragg still has two important games remaining and he will hope to bounce back quickly to stay in contention for the podium. His next two games are against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Anish Giri.

In another development from the tournament, Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov, Gukesh's World Championship challenger, picked up his first win of the event by defeating leader Vincent Keymer, adding more drama to a tightly contested standings table.

Meanwhile, Jorden Van Foreest benefitted from the withdrawal of Alireza Firouzja as he joined the leaders at the top. Firouzja suffered an ankle injury and was forced to withdraw. Caruana and Keymar are also in the lead with 4.5 points, while Anish Giri is close second and a half point behind.

Grand Chess Tour: Super Chess Classic Romania 2026 table