Praggnanandhaa clinches Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz 2026 with a round to spare

By admin August 7, 2026 0 comments

R Praggnanandhaa scored 23.5/36, won Grand Chess Tour Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz 2026 with a round to spare. Javokhir Sindarov finished second 22/36, Wesley So third 20.5/36.

Praggnanandhaa wanted to win Rapid and Blitz separately and he achieved it

“Yeah it feels great. When you see the score, it’s like one and a half round to spare, everything looks smooth but (that) wasn’t the case. It was crazy. Kudos to Javokhir. He kept the fight till the end. He was also fighting very well. I am happy I managed to get through.” – Praggnanandhaa on how he felt winning the tournament.

“Basically what I just said yesterday, not to do anything stupid myself but then I managed to do it against Awonder in the second game where I was just, you know I had so much control and I was just winning but then I managed to basically not take the draw and then I lost the game which is exactly what I wanted to avoid. Even though I lost the game, I felt my game quality was okay. So I (was) just trying to keep control and not like overpush or something.” – Praggnanandhaa on coming into the final day with a 1.5 points lead.

R Praggnanandhaa started the final day with a draw against Vincent Keymer. Then he lost to Awonder Liang from having a decisive advantage and a guaranteed draw via perpetual check. He bounced back in the very next game with a win over Anish Giri. Then he drew again with Wesley So, defeated Jorden van Foreest, shared the point with Fabiano Caruana, won against Leinier Dominguez Perez. In the penultimate round, Praggnanandhaa had a well-contested draw against Javokhir Sindarov to win the event with a round left to go. He finished the event with a draw against the legend, Levon Aronian. Praggnanandhaa delivered a fantastic performance to win both Rapid and Blitz events separately. He wanted it and he achieved it too, that also with a round to spare in Blitz. Sure he lost a game each in both Rapid and Blitz events but that does not take away anything from his stellar performance.

The top three prizes were $50000 + trophy, $40000 and $30000 each.

Champion – R Praggnanandhaa 23.5/36 | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Interview with R Praggnanandhaa | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

Runner-up – Javokhir Sindarov (UZB) 22/36 | Photo: Austin Fuller / Grand Chess Tour

Second Runner-up – Wesley So (USA) 20.5/36 | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

R Praggnanandhaa vs Javokhir Sindarov, Blitz Round 17 | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

Replay live stream

Replay Blitz Round 10-18 live commentary by GMs Yasser Seirawan and Maurice Ashley, IMs Nazi Paikidze and Irene Sukandar | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

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 2nd to 4th August. The Blitz event will take place on 5th and 6th 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 is, 5 minutes + 2 seconds increment.