GCT Updates: Firouzja Wins 2024 Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz, Sinquefield Cup to Begin Today

The penultimate event of the 2024 Grand Chess Tour (GCT) has concluded in St. Louis, with French GM Alireza Firouzja victorious in the 2024 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz.

The champion! (Photo courtesy Lennart Ootes/SLCC)

Firouzja entered the blitz portion of the event in a three-way tie for first place after three days of rapid, but quickly shot out ahead of his co-leaders. The speedster led by a point-and-a-half after the first day of blitz, and doubled his lead by the end of the event. His 23/36 score put him three points ahead of GM Wesley So, who won $30,000 for his second-place finish.

Courtesy of GCT/SLCC. Note that "WC" stands for "Wild Card," meaning these invited players do not accumulate 'tour points.'

So finished a half-point ahead of fellow American GM Hikaru Nakamura, thanks in large part to an unfortunate end to their head-to-head encounter. Below you can review a video of the final moves along with a reconstruction:

Sometimes chess is painful🫣😢
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♚#STLChessClub #STLRapidBlitz #GrandChessTour #chess pic.twitter.com/R2M582W1xT
— Saint Louis Chess Club (@STLChessClub) August 15, 2024

After a weekend off, the Sinquefield Cup begins today in St. Louis at 1:00 p.m. CDT. A full schedule of the event, plus more information, can be found here.

Both participants of the upcoming FIDE World Championship Match, D. Gukesh and Ding Liren, have arrived in St. Louis and met for the first time at our production house, where we conducted interviews with them. Are you looking forward to their game in the Sinquefield Cup, which… pic.twitter.com/fEp9cvcD2y
— Grand Chess Tour (@GrandChessTour) August 17, 2024

A major story headed into today's opening round is the head-to-head meeting of GMs Ding Liren and Gukesh D. This will be the first time the two players have faced off since Gukesh won the 2024 FIDE Candidates tournament earlier this year. The 2024 FIDE World Championship will officially begin in just under three months in Singapore.

Courtesy GCT/SLCC

This event is also significant for the final standings in this year's GCT. With their strong showings last week, Firouzja has now leapfrogged GM Fabiano Caruana to top the leaderboard, while So has jumped into third place. With bonuses paid out to the top three finishers in this year's Tour, there will be more storylines to follow in this year's event.

Full regulations on Tour bonuses can be found here. More blitz games can be seen in our study here.