St. Louis, August 7, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Indian chess grandmaster R. Praggnanandhaa clinched the Grand Chess Tour St. Louis Rapid and Blitz title with a round to spare after securing a crucial draw against Javokhir Sindarov in their final head-to-head encounter.
The 20-year-old Indian star finished the championship with 23 points out of a possible 35, while Sindarov ended the tournament in second place with 22 points. Wesley So secured the third position with 20.5 points.
Levon Aronian finished fourth with 19 points, while Fabiano Caruana, Leinier Dominguez and Jorden van Foreest shared fifth place with 17 points each.
By winning the title outright, Praggnanandhaa earned a prize purse of USD 50,000 along with 13 Grand Chess Tour points, avoiding the need for a playoff. The victory also lifted him to second place in the overall Grand Chess Tour standings ahead of the Sinquefield Cup, with Caruana continuing to lead the standings.
Praggnanandhaa maintained control of the tournament throughout the five-day event. Although Sindarov produced a strong challenge during the closing stages, the Uzbek grandmaster finished just short of the Indian player by a 1.5-point margin.
The victory adds another landmark achievement to Praggnanandhaa’s growing list of accomplishments. In June, he became the first Indian chess player to win the prestigious Norway Chess title.
The 2026 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz tournament featured 10 elite grandmasters competing at the Saint Louis Chess Club from July 31 to August 7. The event featured nine rapid rounds and 18 blitz rounds, with a total of 135 games played for valuable Grand Chess Tour points ahead of the Sinquefield Cup and GCT Grand Finals.
The competition combined two formats — a nine-round single round-robin rapid event with a time control of 25 minutes plus a 10-second increment from the first move, and an 18-round double round-robin blitz event played at five minutes plus a two-second increment per move.
In the scoring system, rapid wins carried two points and draws one point, while blitz wins earned one point and draws contributed half a point.
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