The St. Louis Rapid and Blitz  decisively won by Levon Aronian of the USA as D Gukesh ended tied for sixth place

Levon Aronian of the USA won the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz with a resounding victory, and world champion GM D Gukesh ended tied for sixth place. On the last day of the competition, Gukesh sped to 3.5 points from his first four games, raising hopes of a spectacular comeback.

The Indian defeated Americans Shankland, Wesley So, and Uzbek Grandmaster Nodirbek Abdusattorov before losing steam after giving up a draw against Aronian in the opening game. Gukesh finished his campaign with 18 points after drawing three and losing two of his last five games.

Aronian had a two-point lead at the beginning of the day and won the event with two rounds remaining, accumulating 24.5 points. With 21.5 points, Fabiano Caruana of the United States came in a far-off second, half a point ahead of third-place finisher Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France.

Wesley So finished fifth on 19 ahead of Gukesh and Liem Le Quang of Vietnam, while Abdusattorov finished fourth on 20.5. This was Aronian’s second consecutive victory; the 42-year-old had previously won the Freestyle Grand Slam in Las Vegas with relative ease. Out of the USD 175,000 total pool, the winner received USD 40,000.

Gukesh will now prepare for the upcoming event, which begins in two days. Gukesh’s countryman R Praggnanandhaa will accompany him at the Sinquefield Cup, the final competition before the Grand Chess Tour finals. It’s time to switch things up because Gukesh’s specialty, classical chess, will be used to play the Sinquefield Cup.