GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu had the best start on day one of the 2026 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz, taking the sole lead with five out of a possible six points. He’s trailed by two players a point behind, GMs Javokhir Sindarov and Wesley So.
The first day featured three rapid games, and there are nine in total. Rounds four through six are on Monday, August 3, starting at 1:10 p.m. ET / 19:10 CEST / 10:40 p.m. IST.
Praggnanandhaa was the only player to win two games and make one draw. His closest rivals made two draws and scored just one win. There were five decisive games in total, and GM Levon Aronian was the only other player to both win and lose on day one.
Standings
The 2026 Grand Chess Tour, which started in May, concludes in August with its last three events. First is the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz on August 2-6, followed shortly by the 2026 Sinquefield Cup on August 10-20 (which runs this year alongside the 2026 Cairns Cup), and finally the 2026 Grand Chess Tour Finals on August 22-27.
The first event of the month is the last rapid and blitz event on the tour, and as in previous years, there are two segments. The first three days are devoted to rapid chess, where a win earns two points, while the last two days feature blitz. The two formats count together as one cohesive tournament.
Returning players from last year are GMs Fabiano Caruana (2023 winner), So, and Aronian (the returning champion). GMs Anish Giri and Leinier Dominguez are veterans of the Saint Louis Chess Club and Grand Chess Tour events, but did not play last year, while Praggnanandhaa played just once before in 2024. The rest of the 10-player field features debutants: World Championship Challenger Sindarov (his first time playing in St. Louis), GM Vincent Keymer, GM Awonder Liang (a wildcard), and GM Jorden van Foreest.
Two-time winner GM Alireza Firouzja, who had accrued 18 Grand Chess Tour points after three events, has dropped out of the Grand Chess Tour and will instead participate in the 2026 Esports World Cup, which conflicts with the Sinquefield Cup. He’s been taken out of the Grand Chess Tour and will be replaced in the Sinquefield Cup by GM Sam Sevian.
Today, Grandmaster Alireza Firouzja, a Full Tour Player in the 2026 Grand Chess Tour, has informed the Grand Chess Tour that he will not participate in the 2026 Sinquefield Cup due to a scheduling conflict and his decision to compete in another event.
As a Full Tour Player,… pic.twitter.com/LEYgayqGkl
— Grand Chess Tour (@GrandChessTour) July 27, 2026
By the end of the Sinquefield Cup, the top-four full-tour players will advance to the Grand Chess Tour Finals. You can see the standings below.
Winning the tournament comes with $50,000, but even the player in last place walks away with a not-insignificant $7,000 consolation prize. The total prize fund enjoys a $25,000 increase compared to last year.
With all that out of the way, we can jump right into the chess. Praggnanandhaa’s +2 score is a good result, and it’s already a notable improvement over his debut in 2024, where he finished in last place. In the rapid portion that year, he scored 4/9 (with no draws). He said of this year, “I think the last two games were good. The first game, I could have put more pressure, but I can’t complain too much, after scoring +2 in a day.”
I can’t complain too much, after scoring +2 in a day.
—Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu
Praggnanandhaa’s only draw was in round one, though this came as a massive surprise to Sindarov. Assuming Praggnanandhaa was on +3, and learning otherwise only in his interview, Sindarov exclaimed, “I thought he won that game! Then I still have a chance!” The draw was as clean as it gets, ending with bare kings after 99 accuracy for 49 moves.
Aronian took an early lead (with So) after round one. He won his first game against Van Foreest, who made an interesting exchange sacrifice but fell apart later with less material.
After the game against Praggnanandhaa, however, Aronian was back on 50%. The Armenian-American played the thematic pawn break 13…c5?, but it was mistimed. White grabbed the pawn and Black never quite found a way to win it back.
Following up on that in round three, Praggnanandhaa played the Game of the Day against last year’s runner-up, Caruana. From the black side of a French Defense, Praggnanandhaa said:
It felt like an unpleasant position for me because I was not having space, but still I felt if I can get my pieces to some decent squares, I should have some counter. And once I got this knight takes d4 maybe I am even taking over.
His sister, GM Vaishali Rameshbabu, told him after the game that 43…Rxf3 was an easier win, but he still converted a winning advantage without much trouble—eventually reaching the rare imbalance of four pawns for a piece. GM Rafael Leitao goes over the full game below.
The other two players to score wins were So and Sindarov, with the American starting with the black pieces in both rounds one and two before getting the white pieces in round three. So pointed out that the field this year is “much stronger” than in 2025.
In both of his games with Black, So played the Berlin Defense. He had been pressing in the endgame against Liang with the bishop pair, but in the mutual time scramble, the younger grandmaster let go of his e-pawn and didn’t get enough counterplay in return.
Sindarov, on the other hand, started with two draws before scoring a win in round three, against Van Foreest (a second loss for the Dutchman). The Uzbek GM said, “In general I’m happy I finished +1 because the second game [against Keymer] was tricky. At some moment I’m just losing, but in time trouble I managed to survive the position.”
In round one, he had winning chances against Giri, but they slipped in the heavy-piece endgame, and in round two he was at one point worse against Keymer, but never losing. In round three, Sindarov finally won an opposite-color bishop endgame, with rooks on the board. 40…h5? was a move designed to slow down the white pawn expansion, but the pawn became a target surprisingly quickly.
Sindarov is cautiously optimistic: “In Warsaw I also finished +1 on the first day and on the second day I lost three in a row, so I will try to manage not to lose three in a row tomorrow!”
I will try to manage not to lose three in a row tomorrow!
—Javokhir Sindarov
On day two, the leader Praggnanandhaa will have the white pieces twice. In his first game, he takes on Sindarov.
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.
