Praggnanandhaa set to battle World's best at Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz 2024
The fourth event of the Grand Chess Tour 2024 season is Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz. The defending champion, Fabiano Caruana (USA) will be seen in action along with Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Ian Nepomniachtchi, Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB), Alireza Firouzja (FRA), Wesley So (USA), R Praggnanandhaa, Leinier Dominguez Perez (USA), Levon Aronian (USA) and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA). Praggnanandhaa will be the sole Indian taking part in this event. Who do you think will win this tournament? The tournament takes place at The World Chess Hall of Fame in Saint Louis, Missouri, USA. Aronian, MVL and Nepomniachtchi are Praggnanandhaa's first three opponents. Three rounds will be played today. Round 1 starts at 1 p.m. local time, 11:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Grand Chess Tour
Aronian, MVL and Nepomniachtchi are Praggnanandhaa's first three opponents
Schedule and Format
Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz will have three rounds per day in the Rapid portion from 12th to 14th August. The Blitz event will take place on 15th and 16th 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 1 p.m. local time, 11:30 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 will be 5 minutes + 2 seconds increment.
Participants
The lineup includes the World no.2 and current World Fischer Random champion - Hikaru Nakamura, World no.3 and the defending champion - Fabiano Caruana, World no.5 - Ian Nepomniachtchi, World no.7 and former World Rapid champion - Nodirbek Abdusattorov, World no.9 - Alireza Firouzja, World no.10 and former World Fischer Random champion - Wesley So, World no.12 and the newly crowned FIDE World Blitz Team 2024 champion - R Praggnanandhaa, World no.13 - Leinier Dominguez Perez, and World no.19 and only two-time World Cup winner in history - Levon Aronian.
Rapid Round 1 pairings
| 1 | GM Aronian, Levon | 0.0 | USA | 2754 | GM Praggnanandhaa R | 0.0 | IND | 2688 | |
| 2 | GM Nepomniachtchi, Ian | 0.0 | FID | 2753 | GM Firouzja, Alireza | 0.0 | FRA | 2731 | |
| 3 | GM So, Wesley | 0.0 | USA | 2735 | GM Caruana, Fabiano | 0.0 | USA | 2777 | |
| 4 | GM Dominguez Perez, Leinier | 0.0 | USA | 2693 | GM Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 0.0 | UZB | 2732 | |
| 5 | GM Nakamura, Hikaru | 0.0 | USA | 2746 | GM Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 0.0 | FRA | 2747 |
GCT standings
Prize
The total prize fund for each of the Rapid and Blitz event is US$ 175000.
