The third and final speed event of the Grand Chess Tour 2024, Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz Chess Tournament, is taking place from 12-16th August at The World Chess Hall of Fame in Saint Louis, USA.
This event features seven full-tour players and three wildcard players. The total prize fund is $175,000.
In the first leg of the Blitz tournament, Wesley So played brilliantly, scoring 7/9 points and significantly improving his standing after a disappointing performance in the rapid section. So now shares second place overall with Ian Nepomniachtchi, trailing behind leader Alireza Firouzja.
Blitz round 9 standings:
1 Alireza Firouzja FRA 2731 – 17.5
2-3 Wesley So USA 2735 and Ian Nepomniachtchi FID 2753 – 16.0
4 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave FRA 2747 – 15.5
5 Levon Aronian USA 2754 – 15.0
6 Hikaru Nakamura USA 2746 – 13.5
7 Fabiano Caruana USA 2777 – 13.0
8 Leinier Dominguez USA 2693 – 12.0
9 Nodirbek Abdusattorov UZB 2732 – 10.0
10 Praggnanadhaa R IND 2688 – 6.5
The event will be played in 9 round-robin rapid rounds (2 points/game), and 9 double round-robin blitz rounds (1 point/game), and the cumulative sum of the points will determine the Winner of the tournament.
Day 5 of the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz continues Friday, August 16, with live commentary from GM’s Yasser Seirawan, Peter Svidler, Cristian Chirila and IM Nazi Paikidze starting at 1:00pm CDT. Tune in to the Saint Louis Chess Club’s Twitch & YouTube channels.
Firouzja: Have to Win Both STL Events to Win GCT | #STLRapidBlitz
Wesley So: All About Form & Momentum | D4 #STLRapidBlitz
