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Saint Louis Rapid 2024 R1-3: A tough start for Praggnanandhaa

by Shahid Ahmed - 13/08/2024

R Praggnanandhaa had a rough start at Grand Chess Tour Saint Louis Rapid 2024. He drew against Levon Aronian (USA) then lost his next two games against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) and Ian Nepomniachtchi. In the first two games, he got himself a better position. Yet he was unable to capitalize on his chances. His tough form continues from Biel GMT. MVL has gained an early sole lead scoring 5/6. He is closely followed by Nepomniachtchi, Aronian and Leinier Dominguez Perez (USA) at 4/6 each. The defending champion, Fabiano Caruana (USA) also had a forgettable start. He could only muster 1/6. Round 5 starts today from 1 p.m. local time, 11:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Crystal Fuller/Grand Chess Tour

MVL takes an early sole lead

Praggnanandhaa's form went down after 12th Norway Chess 2024. Sure he finished third at 57th Biel GMT and won medals at World Rapid and Blitz Team 2024 but he is not playing at his level which is quite high. Fabiano Caruana equally had a tough day. Both of them have plenty of rounds to recover as it is quite a long event - six rounds of rapid and 18 rounds of Blitz games are left to recover.

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave gains an early sole lead 5/6 | Photo: Crystal Fuller/Grand Chess Tour

Round 1: Aronian - Praggnanandhaa: 1-1

It has been nearly 1.5 years since Levon Aronian (USA, 2754) and R Praggnanandhaa (2688) faced each other. Praggnanandhaa had a few good chances to score his first win in a rated game, over the only two-time World Cup winner in history.

Position after 33.Qd4

Keeping the queens on the board would have given Black more practical chances 33...Rc4 34.Qd6 a4 is a better choice than what was played in the game 33...Qc5 34.Qxc5 Rxc5. Although Black stilll got a couple of more chances. A few imprecise moves shut the window of opportunity quickly and the game ended in a draw.

Praggnanandhaa had a few chances to score his first win against Levon Aronian in a rated game | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour

Round 2: Fabiano Caruana (USA) made a one move tactical blunder against Leinier Dominguez Perez (USA) | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour

Round 2: Praggnanandhaa - Vachier-Lagrave: 0-2

The first and only time Praggnanandhaa defeated Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA, 2747) in a rated game was last year at Tata Steel India Blitz 2023.

Position after 29...Nd6

30.c4 right now is suggested by the computer. Black obviously cannot take as Rc3 drops the knight due to the absolute pin. 30.Rb6+ Kc7 now White can no longer play c4 directly as the tactical support is gone. 31.b3 Ne4 32.Re6 Nxc3+ 33.Kf1 Nd5 the position became balanced and eventually White blundered and lost the game.

Praggnanandhaa lost to the former World Blitz champion - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour

Nakamura - Caruana, Round 3

Position after 14.Kf2

The battle between the World no.2, Hikaru Nakamura (USA, 2747) and World no.3, Fabiano Caruana (USA, 2777) was an exciting one. They followed a game played between Anand - Mamedyarov and Cheparinov - Shevchenko, last year for a few moves before deviating. Caruana needed to play 14...Ne3! to turn things in his favor. 14...Nf4 15.Qg4+ put White in control Kd6 16.Bxf4 Bxf4 17.Qxg7 and White went on to win the game.

Hikaru Nakamura handed Fabiano Caruana his second consecutive loss of the day | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour

Round 2 in progress | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour

Draw of Lots

Cufflinks and... | Photo: Crystal Fuller/Grand Chess Tour

...Toiletry bags determined the seeding at the Draw of Lots | Photo: Crystal Fuller/Grand Chess Tour

Hikaru Nakamura got number five | Photo: Crystal Fuller/Grand Chess Tour

Fabiano Caruana drew number eight | Photo: Crystal Fuller/Grand Chess Tour

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave checking which number he got | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour

Players sharing a light moment | Photo: Crystal Fuller/Grand Chess Tour

A group photo of all participants minus Levon Aronian | Photo: Lennart Ootes/Grand Chess Tour

Video Gallery

Opening Ceremony: Toiletry Bags and Cufflinks Determine Seeds | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club
Abdusattorov: Hikaru’s ...Be8 was big blunder | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club
Aronian reveals secret prep from Croatia | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club
Nepomniachtchi: 25+10 closer to classical than rapid | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club
MVL barely avoids Pragg’s beautiful trap | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

Replay live stream

Replay Grand Chess Tour Saint Louis Rapid 2024 Round 1-3 Live Commentary by GMs Yasser Seirawan, Peter Svidler, Cristian Chirila, and IM Nazi Paikidze | Video: Saint Louis Chess Club

Replay Round 1-3 games

Round 3 results

Details

Standings after Round 3

Details

Round 4 pairings

TableWhiteScoreFed.RatingBlackScoreFed.RatingResult
1GM Praggnanandhaa R0.5IND2688GM Abdusattorov, Nodirbek1.5UZB2732
2GM Caruana, Fabiano0.5USA2777GM Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime2.5FRA2747
3GM Firouzja, Alireza1.5FRA2731GM Nakamura, Hikaru1.5USA2746
4GM Aronian, Levon2.0USA2754GM Dominguez Perez, Leinier2.0USA2693
5GM Nepomniachtchi, Ian2.0FID2753GM So, Wesley1.0USA2735

Details

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.

Schedule | Source: Official site

Prize

The total prize fund for each of the Rapid and Blitz event is US$ 175000.

Links

Official site


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