Saint Louis Rapid R4-6: Fabiano Caruana emerges new sole leader
Fabiano Caruana (USA) has emerged new sole leader at Grand Chess Tour Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz 2025. He started the day with a draw against Wesley So (USA). Then he defeated Sam Shankland (USA) and Levon Aronian (USA) in fifth and sixth round respectively to move to the top of the standings 10/12. The World Champion, D Gukesh had a tough day. He once again started his day with a loss. It was against Shanland. Then he drew against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) and Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB). Currently he is at fifth place with a 50% score 6/12. His last three opponents in the Rapid are Leinier Dominguez Perez (USA), So and Caruana. Round 7 starts at 12 p.m. local time, 10:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Crystal Fuller / Grand Chess Tour
A tough day for Gukesh
Round 4: Shankland - Gukesh: 2-0
GM Sam Shankland (USA, 2621) and GM D Gukesh (2687) faced only once in a Rapid rated game against each other. Shankland won that encounter. The result was repeated in this game. Gukesh got himself in a difficult position out of the opening and could not recover for the rest of the game.
Round 5: Gukesh - Vachier-Lagrave: 1-1
Round 6: Abdusattorov - Gukesh: 1-1
Replay live stream
Replay Round 4-6 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 6 results
Standings after Round 6
Round 7-9 pairings
| Round 7 on 2025/08/13 at 12:00 | ||||||||||
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | 2732 | GM | Aronian, Levon | GM | Shankland, Sam | 2621 | 10 | ||
| 2 | 5 | 2634 | GM | Oparin, Grigoriy | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | 2750 | 3 | ||
| 3 | 6 | 2655 | GM | Le, Quang Liem | GM | So, Wesley | 2704 | 2 | ||
| 4 | 7 | 2687 | GM | Gukesh, D | GM | Dominguez Perez, Leinier | 2705 | 1 | ||
| 5 | 8 | 2725 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2721 | 9 | ||
| Round 8 on 2025/08/13 at 13:30 | ||||||||||
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
| 1 | 10 | 2621 | GM | Shankland, Sam | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2721 | 9 | ||
| 2 | 1 | 2705 | GM | Dominguez Perez, Leinier | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2725 | 8 | ||
| 3 | 2 | 2704 | GM | So, Wesley | GM | Gukesh, D | 2687 | 7 | ||
| 4 | 3 | 2750 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | GM | Le, Quang Liem | 2655 | 6 | ||
| 5 | 4 | 2732 | GM | Aronian, Levon | GM | Oparin, Grigoriy | 2634 | 5 | ||
| Round 9 on 2025/08/13 at 15:00 | ||||||||||
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
| 1 | 5 | 2634 | GM | Oparin, Grigoriy | GM | Shankland, Sam | 2621 | 10 | ||
| 2 | 6 | 2655 | GM | Le, Quang Liem | GM | Aronian, Levon | 2732 | 4 | ||
| 3 | 7 | 2687 | GM | Gukesh, D | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | 2750 | 3 | ||
| 4 | 8 | 2725 | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | GM | So, Wesley | 2704 | 2 | ||
| 5 | 9 | 2721 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | GM | Dominguez Perez, Leinier | 2705 | 1 | ||
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.
