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Levon Aronian wins Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz 2025; World Champion Gukesh finishes joint sixth
Levon Aronian claimed victory after 18 rounds of blitz and three days of rapid chess. FIDE/GCT
The fourth event of the 2025 Grand Chess Tour, the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz 2025, ended on Friday, August 15, with Levon Aronian lifting the title. The Armenian-American grandmaster played solid and attacking chess throughout and finished on 24.5 points, a full three points ahead of the rest of the field.
Aronian sealed the title with two rounds to spare after drawing French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Aronian won against Sam Shankland in the final round, which earned him the top prize of $40,000 (Rs 35 lakh).
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It's official! Levon clinches the #STLRapidAndBlitz title with 2 rounds to spare after drawing MVL!#grandchesstour pic.twitter.com/F60rChtV3R — Grand Chess Tour (@GrandChessTour) August 15, 2025
American GM Fabiano Caruana, who drew with Leinier Dominguez in the final round, came second on 21.5 points, taking home $30,000 (Rs 26 lakh). Maxime Vachier-Lagrave finished in third place with 21 points and a prize money of $25,000 (Rs 21 lakh).
Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan finished fourth on 20.5 points, while Wesley So ended fifth with 19 points. World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju shared sixth place with Vietnam's Liem Le, both scoring 18 points. After losing to Caruana in Round 15, Gukesh drew his next three games.
With this victory, Aronian also earned 13 Grand Chess Tour points, putting himself firmly in the race for the overall GCT title.
Standings after Blitz Round 18
# Player Title Rating Points 1 Levon Aronian GM 2732 24.5 2 Fabiano Caruana GM 2750 21.5 3 Maxime Vachier-Lagrave GM 2725 21 4 Nodirbek Abdusattorov GM 2721 20.5 5 Wesley So GM 2704 19 6 Liem Le GM 2655 18 7 Gukesh Dommaraju GM 2687 18 8 Leinier Dominguez GM 2705 15.5 9 Grigoriy Oparin GM 2634 13 10 Sam Shankland GM 2621 9
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