Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz: Levon Aronian regains sole lead
Levon Aronian (USA), Wesley So (USA), Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB), Liem Quang Le (VIE) and Grigoriy Oparin (USA) scored 6/9 in the first nine rounds of Blitz. Thus, Aronian has regained sole lead at Grand Chess Tour Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz 2025. He is now at 19/27. Fabiano Caruana (USA) had a tough day as he only score 3/9, same as D Gukesh. Caruana slipped to second place 17/27. He is closely followed by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) at 16.5/27. Gukesh's score is 13/27. Nine more rounds of Blitz will be played today. Round 10 starts at 12 p.m. local time, 10:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour
Gukesh scores only one win, Caruana has a winless day
GM D Gukesh is rated 2613 and World no.93 in Blitz. The previous day sole leader, Fabiano Caruana, did not score a single win out of the nine rounds. So considering these and the field, Gukesh is doing okay. World Blitz 2021 champion, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is the only player who remained undefeated. He scored 5.5/9. There are still nine more rounds of Blitz left.
Round 5: Gukesh - Leinier: 2-0
GM D Gukesh scored his lone win of the day against GM Leinier Dominguez Perez. Leinier went wrong in the final moments of a same color bishop endgame which should have ended in a draw.
Replay live stream
Replay Blitz Round 1-9 games
Schedule and Format
Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz will have three rounds per day in the Rapid portion from 11th to 13th August. The Blitz event will take place on 14th and 15th August. It will be a double round-robin event for the Blitz which means nine rounds will be played on each day. Round 1 starts at 12 p.m. local time, 10:30 p.m. IST. It will be a 10-player Round Robin event. Time control for Rapid will be 25 minutes + 10 seconds increment. For Blitz, it will be 5 minutes + 2 seconds increment.
Round 9 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 2768 | GM | Aronian, Levon | 1 - 0 | GM | Shankland, Sam | 2651 | 10 | |
| 2 | 6 | 2613 | GM | Gukesh, D | ½ - ½ | GM | Oparin, Grigoriy | 2651 | 4 | |
| 3 | 7 | 2803 | GM | So, Wesley | ½ - ½ | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2769 | 3 | |
| 4 | 8 | 2757 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | ½ - ½ | GM | Le, Quang Liem | 2675 | 2 | |
| 5 | 9 | 2634 | GM | Dominguez Perez, Leinier | ½ - ½ | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | 2760 | 1 |
Standings after Blitz Round 9
Blitz Round 10 pairings
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | 2651 | GM | Shankland, Sam | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | 2760 | 1 | ||
| 2 | 9 | 2634 | GM | Dominguez Perez, Leinier | GM | Le, Quang Liem | 2675 | 2 | ||
| 3 | 8 | 2757 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2769 | 3 | ||
| 4 | 7 | 2803 | GM | So, Wesley | GM | Oparin, Grigoriy | 2651 | 4 | ||
| 5 | 6 | 2613 | GM | Gukesh, D | GM | Aronian, Levon | 2768 | 5 |
Prize
The total prize fund for each of the Rapid and Blitz event is US$ 175000. The top three prizes are $40000, $30000 and $25000.
