Saint Louis Rapid 2026: Praggnanandhaa increases his sole lead

By admin August 4, 2026 0 comments

R Praggnanandhaa increased his sole lead by two points after Round 6 of Grand Chess Tour Saint Louis Rapid 2026.

Only two decisive games out of 15

The second day of Grand Chess Tour 2026 Saint Louis Rapid witnessed only two decisive games out of 15. R Praggnanandhaa and Jorden van Foreest were the only two victors of the day. They defeated Awonder Liang and Wesley So respectively. Praggnanandhaa is in sole lead 9/12, followed by Javokhir Sindarov at 7/12. Then five players – Vincent Keymer, So, Anish Giri, Leinier Dominguez and Levon Aronian are at 6/12 each.

Round 4: Praggnanandhaa – Sindarov: 1-1

R Praggnanandhaa (2701) started the second day with a draw against the FIDE World Cup 2025 winner and the current World Championship Challenger, Javokhir Sindarov (UZB). Sindarov self-trapped his bishop and got into a little bit of a pickle. However, he managed to get a compensation quickly to salvage a draw via repetition.

One will have to wait a little longer to witness a full fledged battle between R Praggnanandhaa and Javokhir Sindarov | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Round 5: Awonder – Praggnanandhaa: 0-2

Awonder Liang (USA, 2549) faced R Praggnanandhaa (2701) for the first time in a Rapid rated game. It was also one of the only two decisive games of the day out of 15.

Position after 25.Bg2?

25..Nc4 26.Rae1? Ba5-+ 27.Rc1 Nxb2 28.Bxb2 Bxc3 29.Bxc3 Rxc3 30.Rf2 Qd6 31.Ref1 Bb5 32.Nxf5 Bxf1 and it’s over.

R Praggnanandhaa defeated Awonder Liang (USA) to increase his sole lead | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

R Praggnnanandhaa finished the day 117-move long draw against Wesley So (USA) | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

The Women’s World Championship Challenger, GM R Vaishali sounded the bell to signify the start of Day 2 at Grand Chess Tour Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz 2026 | Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour

Interview with Fabiano Caruana | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

Replay live stream

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Replay Rapid Round 4-6 live commentary by GMs Yasser Seirawan and Maurice Ashley, IMs Nazi Paikidze and Irene Sukandar | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

Replay Rapid Round 4-6 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.