Grand Chess Tour 2025: Gukesh finishes joint sixth at Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz

D. Gukesh finished joint sixth while Levon Aronian clinched the title at the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz event of the Grand Chess Tour on Friday.

Gukesh, the reigning world champion in classical chess, began the final day in emphatic fashion with three wins and a draw in the first four games of the blitz format. However, he could not maintain the same level as he suffered two defeats and played three draws to finish the tournament with 18 points and share the sixth place with Vietnam’s Liem Le.

The top five comprised Aronian (24.5 points), Fabiano Caruana (21.5 points), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (21 points), Nodirbek Abdusattorov (20.5 points) and Wesley So (19 points).

Format

The 10-player event in Saint Louis was single round robin in the Rapid section, with two points for a win and one for a draw. After nine rounds, the Blitz section followed — a double round robin with one point for a win and 0.5 for a draw.

The Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz was the fourth leg of the 2025 Grand Chess Tour and the final rapid-and-blitz event of the season.