Reigning world champion D Gukesh bounced back from a first-round loss to secure back-to-back wins to end Day 1 of the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz tournament as joint-third in the standings. Gukesh lost to American Levon Aronian and then secured wins over Grigoriy Oparin and Liem Le Quang. The tournament is part of the Grand Chess tour.

The Indian grand master was outplayed by Aronian in an intense battle before securing thumping wins over Oparin and Le Quang to end the day with four points out of a possible six. Aronian is currently the leader in the standings after winning all his three matches of the day. The American has been in fine form since winning the Freestyle Chess tournament in Las Vegas, and defeated key rivals Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France.

Fellow American Fabiano Caruana is in the second spot with five points as he secured two wins and one draw. Gukesh is tied in the third spot with Wesley So, with both men sitting on four points. Gukesh suffered heartbreak against Aronian due to extreme complexities arising from a Caro Kann defense game.

Gukesh defeated Oparin in style but did face some issues against Le Quang. But he faltered under pressure Gukesh and allowed the Indian GM to pick up his second win of the day.

Results

Round 1: Levon Aronian (Usa) beat D Gukesh (Ind); Grigoriy Oparin (Usa) beat Liem Le Quang (Vie); Wesley So (Usa) drew with Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzb); Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (Fra) drew with Fabiano Caruana (Usa); Leinier Dominguez Perez (Usa) beat Sam Shankland (Usa).

Round 2: Gukesh beat Oparin; Leim beat Shankland; Vachier-Lagrave lost to Aronian; Abdusattorov lost to Caruana; Dominguez drew with Wesley.

Round 3: Oparin lost to Vachier-Lagrave; Liem lost to Gukesh; Wesley beat Shankland; Aronian beat Abdusattorov; Caruana beat Dominguez.

Standings

1. Aronian (6); 2. Caruana (5); 3-4 Gukesh, Wesley (4 each); 5-6: Vachier-Lagrave, Dominguez (3 each); 7=8. Oparin, Liem (2 each); 9. Abdusattorov (1); 10. Shankland (10).

– Ends