D Gukesh finishes tied sixth at St. Louis Rapid and Blitz, Levon Aronian wins title

World Champion D Gukesh finished tied sixth at the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz tournament as Levon Aronian of the USA took home the title on Friday, August 15. Gukesh ended the campaign with 18 points in total after enduring a tough campaign.

On the final day of the event, the Indian grandmaster raised the expectations of fans with a fine comeback as he went unbeaten in the first four games and secured 3.5 points in the process. After conceding a draw to Aronian in the first game, Gukesh defeated USA's Shankland and Wesley So before overcoming Uzbekistan's Nodirbek Abdusattorov. However, Gukesh quickly lost steam in the second half of the day.

In the last five games, the world champion was unable to secure a win and ended with three draws and two losses. This forced him to settle for the tied sixth spot with Liem Le of Vietnam. Aronian took home the title with 24.5 points to his name. Fabiano Caruana finished in the second spot with 21.5 points, while Maxime Vachier-Lagrave got third with 21.

Abdusattorov (20.5 points) and Wesley So finished fourth and fifth respectively. For Aronian, it was his second back-to-back title after winning the Freestyle Grand Slam at Las Vegas earlier in the year.

Gukesh will now turn his attention towards the Sinquefield cup, which will begin in two days. This will be the last event before the finals of the Grand Chess tour. Gukesh will be joined by compatriot R Praggnanandhaa for the Sinquefield cup.

The tournament will be played under Classical chess rules, which is the forte of Gukesh.

St. Louis Rapid and Blitz: Final standings

1. Levon Aronian – 24.5

2. Fabiano Caruana – 21.5

3. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – 21

4. Nodirbek Abdusattorov – 20.5

5. Wesley So – 19

6. Liem Le – 18

7. Gukesh Dommaraju – 18

8. Leinier Dominguez Perez – 15.5

9. Grigoriy Oparin – 13

10. Sam Shankland – 9