5 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Aug 25, 2026 10:34 PM IST
4, 1 and 1. Those were the exact seconds left on R Praggnanandhaa‘s clock before he found his response on the 34th, 35th and 36th moves, the sequence that would eventually change the course of the second Classical semifinal against Germany’s Vincent Keymer.
His moves may not have been all accurate. In fact, one of them was a mistake, and on another day, he might have paid the price for it. But what Pragg did just one move earlier left even seasoned commentators speechless. At stake was a spot in the final of the 2026 Grand Chess Tour Finals.
For the first time in the match, his clock dipped below a minute. And instead of rushing or panicking, he preferred to finish something else. With the timer dangerously hovering below 10 seconds, Praggnanandhaa calmly reached down and adjusted a tumbling pawn, placing it perfectly back on its square before finally pressing his clock, which had ticked dangerously close to zero.
Praggnanandhaa was doing all of this while navigating an inferior position against the German.
The moment was so audacious that commentator Maurice Ashley stopped his analysis mid-sentence, unable to contain his disbelief. “That’s uber cool, I am sorry! Adjusting pawn with nine seconds on the clock. Wow!” he exclaimed.
Praggnanandhaa reacts during his match vs Vincent Keymar in the GCT Finals. (Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club)
That one moment captured everything about Praggnanandhaa: his nerve, his calm, and his ability to thrive in the most insane positions. And while both players flinched under pressure, Praggnanandhaa found a way back. The German, however, didn’t. Keymer’s mistakes in the time scramble proved far more costly, allowing the Indian to seize the moment and book his place in the summit clash of the GCT Finals.
American Grandmaster Wesley So has a keen eye for observation. He had pointed out exactly where Vincent Keymer’s game falls apart.
Story continues below this ad
“The problem is that Vincent, with three minutes on the clock, loses a hundred or two hundred rating points! When he gets into time trouble, he starts making big mistakes. That’s a problem,” So said during Keymer’s first Classical semifinal game against Praggnanandhaa.
It may have sounded harsh at the time, but how Keymer’s game unfolded across both Classical matches eventually proved So’s point.
In the first game, Keymer was cruising. He had played a better opening than Praggnanandhaa and looked in control. But as soon as the clock started to bite, his grip loosened. He fell into time trouble, allowing the Indian to slip out of his grasp. It wasn’t until a big mistake from Praggnanandhaa himself that both players settled for a wild draw, sharing three points each.
Praggnanandhaa, however, does not like to repeat his mistakes. When Keymer gave him a second chance in the second Classical game, he grabbed it with both hands.
Story continues below this ad
Coming back to his response with just one second on the clock, the 34th move was a bona fide positional blunder from the Indian. The engines favoured Keymer by +3, and Praggnanandhaa had no time to swindle his way through. Fortunately, he didn’t have to do anything extraordinary. Keymer handed him the game on a platter just one move later with the decisive blunder of the match.
From a +3 position, Keymer suddenly found himself in a -2 position after his Knight to d2 check. Playing White, Praggnanandhaa got rid of Black’s tricky Knight and most of the minor pieces, leaving himself with a Queen and Knight endgame with an extra pawn. The German eventually folded in 55 moves, facing a mate-in-12.
Praggnanandhaa takes on Vincent Keymar in the GCT Finals. (Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club)
Clinical in Rapid
After blowing up two favourable positions and conceding a 3-9 deficit in the clash, Keymer never seemed to recover in the shorter time controls. Praggnanandhaa, on the other hand, was clinical and needed no help from the clock to dismantle the German’s defences in both Rapid games. The Grandmaster from Chennai extended his lead to 17-3, nailing both Rapid wins to add 8 more points and seal the fate of the clash without the match-up needing to go to the Blitz rounds.
With the final spot already gone, Keymer still turned up for the final leg of the clash. But the first of four Blitz games crushed him further. He messed up another winning position and lost a wild game that swung both ways in the endgame. The scoreboard was screaming 19-3, and the German still had three more games to play.
Story continues below this ad
That’s when the Indian took his foot off the pedal. Keymer finally found his way through, ending his humiliating run with three back-to-back consolation Blitz wins.
