Grand Chess Tour: Three Lead After Rapids at SLCC

The 2024 Grand Chess Tour (GCT) is in the middle of its penultimate leg, with three days of rapid chess concluding Wednesday, August 14 at the Saint Louis Chess Club (SLCC). The first day of blitz games is currently underway, with the finale of the 2024 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz event taking place Friday, August 16. The 2024 Sinquefield Cup, which concludes the 2024 GCT, begins on Monday, August 19.

Photos courtesy Lennart Ootes/SLCC (except Nakamura, courtesy Austin Fuller/SLCC)

Nepo — Photos courtesy Lennart Ootes/SLCC (except Nakamura, courtesy Austin Fuller/SLCC)

After nine games of rapid chess, three players share the lead with 11/18 scores. Each rapid game is scored out of two points, and prizes and GCT points will be determined by cumulative standings after the blitz portion (with twice as many games, each worth one point).

Courtesy SLCC/GCT

French GMs Alireza Firouzja and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave share the lead with Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi on 11/18, but American GM Levon Aronian is not far behind with 10/18. Then, a trio of Americans — GMs Wesley So, Hikaru Nakamura, and Leinier Dominguez — is not far behind! Uzbek GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov joins a fifth American (GM Fabiano Caruana) with 8/10. Indian GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu has had a hard run of things, and currently rounds out the pack with a 4/18 score.

bag — Photos courtesy Crystal Fuller/SLCC

group — Photos courtesy Crystal Fuller/SLCC

The tournament has produced a number of hotly contested match-ups, with many of the "headline" duels living up to the hype. Nakamura won his head-to-head bout against Caruana, who then returned the favor against Nepomniachtchi.

While a few of the drawn games were light on drama, many of them were full of the "what-if" moments that make rapid chess far more of a suspenseful spectator sport than its classical counterpart. Below are a few of those moments:

The ever-looming threat of time scrambles — not to mention the immense pressure of playing multiple rounds a day at this level — also produce a number of "humanizing" moments that remind the viewers that even "Super-GMs" are still human, too. Here are five such shocking examples in our study.

The winner of the event will pocket $40,000, with second place taking home $30,000 and all prizes paid out. Next week, seven of the same ten players will return for the Sinquefield Cup. Dominguez, Aronian, and Nakamura will be replaced by GMs Anish Giri, Gukesh D, and reigning world champion Ding Liren.