Latest news with #SaintLouisRapid&Blitz2025
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Sport
- Indian Express
Why does Fabiano Caruana want to be inducted into the US Chess ‘Hall of Shame'?
Finishing second in any event or tournament would often be a point of pride for any player, right? Wrong, for American-Italian grandmaster Fabiano Caruana, things are different. Caruana, who placed second in the recently concluded Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz 2025, a Grand Chess Tour event on Friday, wants to be inducted into the US Chess 'Hall of Shame' after reflecting on his performance in the blitz portion. For context, Caruana won the rapid event in Saint Louis, finishing with 14 out of a possible 18 points. Expected to continue his strong run in the shortest time control in blitz, he instead suffered a free fall, losing six games and finishing eighth out of 10 players with 7.5 points. Despite this, he secured second place overall with 21.5 points, just half a point ahead of France's Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. 'I don't actually know. I stopped being able to play chess the last two days…,' chuckled Caruana during the post-tournament analysis with GM Yasser Seirawan and IM Nazi Paikidze. 'My childhood coach was recently inducted into the US Chess Hall of Fame… Bruce Pandolfini and I think I should be inducted into the US Chess Hall of Shame,' he laughed. Fabiano Caruana: 'I stopped being able to play chess the last 2 days… My childhood coach was recently inducted into the US Chess Hall of Fame, Bruce Pandolfini, and I think I should be inducted into the US Chess Hall of Shame!' — chess24 (@chess24com) August 15, 2025 When asked if he was happy with his second-place finish, Caruana replied: 'I usually try to… but I can't be happy, no.' 'I mean, of course, second place is not bad or anything, and I'm lucky to have second place considering how I played in the blitz. It was going very well. I think I was playing well in rapid. I believe that my quality was very high until the last game, and even including the last game, it's still a pretty good result overall,' he added. Meanwhile, American-Armenian Levon Aronian continued his stellar form to claim yet another title. After finishing the rapid portion second behind Caruana with 13 points, Aronian dominated the blitz, scoring 11.5 out of 18 to win the event with a combined 24.5 points.
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First Post
2 days ago
- Sport
- First Post
Levon Aronian wins Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz 2025; World Champion Gukesh finishes joint sixth
Levon Aronian won the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz 2025 with 24.5 points, sealing the Grand Chess Tour title with two rounds to spare. Fabiano Caruana and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave finished second and third, while World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju shared sixth place with Liem Le. 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). STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD It's official! Levon clinches the #STLRapidAndBlitz title with 2 rounds to spare after drawing MVL!#grandchesstour — 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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First Post
6 days ago
- Sport
- First Post
'He had a bad classical event': Viswanathan Anand cites Gukesh's example as he urges chess players to master all formats
Viswanathan Anand has urged young chess players to master all formats, citing world champion D Gukesh's example. Gukesh is often known for his struggles in formats other than classical. Anand advised aspiring players not to focus on just one format and to take other formats seriously as well. read more Indian chess legend Viswanathan Anand has advised young players to keep an open mind and play all types of chess formats. Speaking at the Chennai Grand Masters, Anand said that in modern chess, it is important to be mentally ready for all formats, including classical, rapid, blitz, and even Chess960. Anand gave the example of the current world champion D Gukesh, who did not have a good result in a recent classical event in Romania, even though it is considered his best format. Gukesh is known for struggling in other formats of the game, especially the fast-paced ones like rapid and blitz. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'The simplest way to say it is that they shouldn't rule out any format mentally. In a sense, you won't probably have good results in all the formats, in all the years but I don't think you're assured of one format either. I mean Gukesh has had a bad Classical (event) in Romania, for instance. I think when one misfires, you should be able to compete in the other. So, you should try to be competitive in all. Maybe you won't succeed, but it's worth it," Anand told reporters. Gukesh has often been criticised for being weaker in blitz and rapid chess, even by former world champion Magnus Carlsen. However, the 19-year-old proved those critics wrong recently by winning the rapid section at the SuperUnited Croatia Rapid and Blitz event in Zagreb, where he even beat Carlsen in one of the games. Gukesh impresses in Grand Chess Tour Meanwhile, Gukesh bounced back in style after an opening defeat to Levon Aronian to finish Day 1 of the Grand Chess Tour at Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz 2025 with two wins from three rounds of Rapid games on Monday, August 11. In a short interview after the three games, Gukesh admitted that he had a poor opening game, but was satisfied with how things turned around for him. 'I guess it was overall good. The first game was bad. Once I allowed the knight f3 in the opening…I should have just played g4. I got careless in that one moment and it was just hard to play that. I was happy with how I came back after that….the third (game) was also pretty good. Feeling good about the last three games. It's just the start of the tournament, so wonderful,' Gukesh said.
