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World champion D Gukesh finished tied sixth after collecting 18 points.
D Gukesh will now focus on the Sinquefield Cup. (PTI Photo)
World champion GM D Gukesh finished in a tie for sixth place as Levon Aronian of the USA convincingly won the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz event in St. Louis (USA). Gukesh showed promise for a remarkable comeback on the final day of the event, securing 3.5 points from his first four games.
After drawing with Aronian in the first game, the Indian defeated Americans Shankland and Wesley So, as well as Uzbek Grandmaster Nodirbek Abdusattorov, before losing momentum.
In the last five games, Gukesh drew three and lost two, concluding his overall campaign with 18 points.
Aronian began the day with a two-point lead and clinched the event with two rounds to spare, scoring 24.5 points. Fabiano Caruana of the United States finished a distant second with 21.5 points, half a point more than Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who finished third.
Abdusattorov ended in fourth place with 20.5 points, while Wesley So finished fifth with 19 points, ahead of Gukesh and Liem Le Quang of Vietnam.
For Aronian, this was his second consecutive title, having also easily won the Freestyle Grand Slam in Las Vegas recently. The winner received USD 40,000 from a total prize pool of USD 175,000.
Gukesh will now focus on the next event starting in just two days, the Sinquefield Cup, which is the last event before the finals of the Grand Chess Tour. He will be joined by compatriot R Praggnanandhaa.
It will be a shift in pace as the Sinquefield Cup will be played under Classical chess rules, which is Gukesh’s forte.
With PTI Inputs
Feroz Khan has been covering sports for over 12 years now and is currently working with Network18 as Principal Correspondent. He embarked on his journey in 2011 and has since acquired vast experience in digital…Read More
Feroz Khan has been covering sports for over 12 years now and is currently working with Network18 as Principal Correspondent. He embarked on his journey in 2011 and has since acquired vast experience in digital… Read More
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