Levon Aronian clinches Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz 2025 with two rounds to spare
Levon Aronian (USA) won Grand Chess Tour Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz 2025 with two rounds to spare. The maestro scored 5.5/9 on the final day, taking his total score 24.5/36 and finished three points ahead of the rest. Fabiano Caruana (USA) scored 21.5/36 to secure second place, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) was third 21/36. The reigning World Champion, D Gukesh started his day with a draw against the eventual champion, Aronian. Then he won the next three games in-a-row against Sam Shankland (USA), Wesley So (USA) and Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB). He scored 5/9 on the final day, finishing with 18/36 at shared sixth place. The fifth event of the season, Sinquefield Cup starts on 18th August. Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour
A much better final day for Gukesh
GM D Gukesh made a great recovery on the final day of Blitz. He scored 5/9 including a hat-trick of wins to finish with a 50% score 18/36. His next event is Sinquefield Cup which starts on Monday 18th August 2025. Fabiano Caruana (USA), R Praggnanandhaa, Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB), Alireza Firouzja (FRA), Wesley So (USA), Levon Aronian (USA), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (POL) and Samuel Sevian (USA) will be the remaining players in the fifth event of the season.
After a draw against Levon Aronian, Gukesh won his next three games in-a-row against Sam Shankland (USA), Wesley So (USA) and Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB).
The one and only Garry Kasparov congratulated Levon Aronian and to which Aronian also replied
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Replay Blitz Round 10-18 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 18 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | 2651 | GM | Shankland, Sam | 0 - 1 | GM | Aronian, Levon | 2768 | 5 | |
| 2 | 4 | 2651 | GM | Oparin, Grigoriy | ½ - ½ | GM | Gukesh, D | 2613 | 6 | |
| 3 | 3 | 2769 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | ½ - ½ | GM | So, Wesley | 2803 | 7 | |
| 4 | 2 | 2675 | GM | Le, Quang Liem | ½ - ½ | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2757 | 8 | |
| 5 | 1 | 2760 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | ½ - ½ | GM | Dominguez Perez, Leinier | 2634 | 9 |
Final standings after Blitz Round 18
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.
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