Chess
Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz: D Gukesh falls to joint 5th after second day
Gukesh faced his second defeat of the tournament, losing to Sam Shankland of the USA in the 4th round.
Gukesh Dommaraju (Photo credit: Lennart Ootes/Freestyle Chess)
World Champion GM Gukesh Dommaraju fell to tied fifth place after a disappointing second day of the Rapid program at the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz tournament in Missouri, the USA, on Tuesday.
Gukesh had a poor start to the day, suffering his second loss of the tournament in the fourth round against Sam Shankland of the USA, dropping a full minor piece and conceding after the 62nd move.
He could not register a single win on the day and played two consecutive draws in the following rounds against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France and Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan, respectively.
With just 2/6 points from the second day, Gukesh has slipped to tied fifth place alongside Leinier with six points from six rounds, trailing by a massive 4-point margin to the leader, Fabiano Caruana of the USA.
He will now face three more tough battles on the final day of the Rapid Program on Wednesday against Leinier Dominguez, Wesley So, and the current leader Fabiano in the final round.
After nine rounds of rapid chess, the players will battle it out in the blitz time control. It will see a double round robin format, with one point for a win and half a point for a draw.
The player at the top of the standings combined after both the Rapid and Blitz events will be crowned the winner of this fourth leg of the 2025 Grand Chess Tour.
