For a third consecutive day, GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu finds himself at the top of the standings in the 2026 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz. He finished the rapid portion with 12 points on Tuesday and stayed in the lead even after losing to GM Jorden van Foreest in the last round. He’s closely followed by GM Javokhir Sindarov, one point behind, and GM Wesley So, another point further back, as we head into two days of blitz.
Day four, featuring the first nine rounds of blitz, is Wednesday, August 5, starting at 1:10 p.m. ET / 19:10 CEST / 10:40 p.m. IST.
The standings look similar to what they have been for the last two days, with Praggnanandhaa at the top and Sindarov and So close behind. In the next two days of blitz, each win will now only count for one point, as opposed to two in the rapid.
Standings
Praggnanandhaa has been a picture of stability in the first three days of the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz. Across the nine rounds, he won four games, drew four, and only lost the very last one. For the first time in his career, Praggnanandhaa has broken into the world top-10 in rapid chess on the live rating list.
Round seven, which was the first of the day, saw two decisive games, but they were won by players who find themselves at the bottom of the standings, GMs Fabiano Caruana and Vincent Keymer. For both of them, it was a first win; Caruana got back to 50% and Keymer, who previously made six draws, was suddenly two points behind the leader.
Caruana defeated GM Awonder Liang by targeting the weak pawn on e5. With the doubled f-pawns fixed in place, unable to defend the e-pawn, it was effectively isolated, and Caruana’s maneuver of …Rd4-Rd5 was a nice find to win material.
Keymer, on the other hand, scored his victory against Van Foreest. It was also an endgame, but this one was decided by a one-move blunder.
For both Caruana and Keymer, it would be their only win in the rapid portion—and they’d both go on to lose in round eight. Though the other three games in round seven were drawn, interested readers should definitely check out the brilliant fight between So and GM Levon Aronian.
In round eight, there were three decisive results. Praggnanandhaa defeated Keymer, So took down Caruana, and Sindarov landed another blow on Liang.
It wasn’t hard to choose the Game of the Day: So’s win against the U.S. number-one. He explained that after 12.Qb3, he was caught in Caruana’s preparation, and that by this point, “I realized I either lose slowly or I go all out.” GM Rafael Leitao takes us through the adventures seen in this game below.
Meanwhile, Praggnanandhaa scored a critical win at just the right moment to maintain his lead. This round was a close call for the leader; he was an exchange up, but the position spun out of control as both players pushed connected passed pawns. Keymer found the impossible-looking 59…Ne1! to keep his chances alive, and if had he found 60…Nd3!!, he could have saved this game (or more). Despite the chances we may find in analysis, the game ended when the German number-one let go of his bishop with check.
In the same round, Sindarov’s win against Liang was a masterclass in playing against isolated pawns. After 24….g6?, Black ended up with four isolated pawns. Even after he sacrificed the h6-pawn, the others stayed weak.
Sindarov regretted not winning what should have been an easy win against Aronian in round five, but shared, “You need to forget this after the game finishes, but it’s not easy.” He is still in a good tournament position and has every chance to catch Praggnanandhaa in the blitz portion.
Referring to his seventh-ninth place finish in the Super Rapid & Blitz Poland 2026 earlier this year, he said, “I think the U.S. is better than Warsaw, but tomorrow is a tough day. We’ll see, hopefully I’ll try to get more points.”
Round nine featured just one decisive game, though one of the draws—GM Anish Giri vs. Caruana—was a big miss for the American, who was winning but could not see it through. Giri and GM Leinier Dominguez are the two players to make nine draws in nine games.
Van Foreest scored the only win against the tournament leader, and he revealed that his mind-bending 18.a3!! was all preparation. “This is some prep I’ve had for ages. I didn’t expect to get it over the board or anything,” he said.
Van Foreest, who played spoiler against both So and Praggnanandhaa in the rapid portion, still finds himself three points above last place. He reflected, “Especially in these rapid and blitz tournaments, if things go bad, they can really go bad.”
The blitz portion is a double round-robin, with 18 games in total. The first nine start tomorrow, and the leader Praggnanandhaa faces Keymer in round one on Wednesday. Sindarov, on the other hand, plays Aronian, the player who had escaped and nearly swindled him in round five.
The 2026 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz is the fourth leg and final rapid and blitz event of the 2026 Grand Chess Tour. Ten players compete in a rapid (25+10) single round-robin followed by a blitz (5+2) double round-robin for their share of a $200,000 prize fund and to finish at the top of the tour standings.
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