St. Louis Rapid And Blitz: D Gukesh Slumps To Surprise Defeat Against Sam Shakland, Fabiano Caruana Takes Lead
American Sam Shankland got the better of Gukesh in the fourth round, before the Indian followed it up with a couple of draws against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France and Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan.
Fabiano Caruana, the highest-ranked American in the competition, dramatically took the lead by conceding only one draw and defeating the overnight leader, Levon Aronian, in the final game of the day, securing a two-point lead. Aronian, like Gukesh, managed only two draws and lost one game.
With three rounds left in the rapid section, Caruana, scoring 10 points out of a possible 12, appears poised to win this segment, which would give him an advantage in the upcoming blitz section consisting of 18 rounds in a double round-robin format.
Aronian remains close behind in second place with eight points, sharing the spot with fellow American Wesley So. Vachier-Lagrave holds fourth place with seven points, while Gukesh shares the next position with Leinier Dominguez Perez, another US import originally from Cuba.
Nodirbek Abdusattorov from Uzbekistan and Liem Le Quang from Vietnam share the seventh spot with five points. Two points further back is Grigoriy Oparin, who also switched his federation to the United States. At the bottom is Sam Shankland, who secured the lone win against Gukesh, netting him two points.
The Indian ace performed well by winning two consecutive games after losing to Aronian in the opening round, but faced a tougher opponent in the second round. Against Shankland, Gukesh attempted complications that backfired, as the American's tactical skills allowed him to gain a piece through precise calculation in the middle game.
Gukesh opted for a draw against Vachier-Lagrave and did not find many opportunities against Abdusattorov, leading to a king-versus-king position after 60 moves.
Round 4 Results:
Leinier Dominguez Perez (Usa) drew with Levon Aronian (Usa); Sam Shankland (Usa) beat D Gukesh (Ind); Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb) beat Grigoriy Oparin (Usa); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra) drew with Liem Le Quang (Vie); Wesley So (Usa) drew with Fabiano Caruana (Usa).
Round 5 Results:
Gukesh drew with Vachier-Lagrave; Wesley drew with Aronian; Caruana beat Shankland; Liem drew with Abdusattorov; Dominguez drew with Oparin.
Round 6 Results:
Abdusattorov drew with Gukesh; Caruana beat Aronian; Shankland lost to Vachier-Lagrave; Liem drew with Dominguez; Wesley beat Oparin.
Standing after round 6:
1. Caruana (10); 2-3. Aronian, Wesley (8 each); 4. Vachier-Lagrave (7); 5-6. Gukesh, Dominguez (6 each); 7-8: Liem, Abdusattorov (5 each); 9. Oparin (3) 10. Shankland (2).
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