Saint Louis Rapid 2026: Praggnanandhaa Leads After Two Days

Praggnanandhaa leads the Saint Louis Rapid 2026 chess event on 4.5/6 after wins over Levon Aronian, Fabiano Caruana and Awonder Liang.

The Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz 2026, a Grand Chess Tour event in St. Louis, Missouri, is two days old, and India's Praggnanandhaa R is setting the pace. After six rounds of the rapid section, Praggnanandhaa has 4.5 points out of 6, a full point clear of Uzbekistan's Javokhir Sindarov on 3.5.

The rapid section is a 10-player round-robin, which means everyone plays everyone once. Each player gets 25 minutes for the whole game plus 10 seconds added after every move. That is fast enough to cause mistakes but long enough for real chess ideas.

Praggnanandhaa started with a draw against Leinier Dominguez Perez, then won three of his next four games. In round 2 he beat Levon Aronian with the white pieces in a Reti Opening. In round 3 he beat Fabiano Caruana with Black in the French Defense. In round 5 he outplayed Awonder Liang with Black in the Caro-Kann Defense, finishing in just 32 moves. A long 117-move draw with Wesley So in round 6 showed his fighting spirit even when a win was out of reach.

Other players had their own moments. Aronian opened with a win over Jorden Van Foreest, and Wesley So began by beating Awonder Liang. Van Foreest then bounced back in round 5 to defeat So in a Najdorf Sicilian. Behind the top two, five players share third place on 3 points: Vincent Keymer, Aronian, Anish Giri, So and Dominguez Perez.

Here is a lesson for students. Notice how Praggnanandhaa won with both colours and against very different openings. Strong players do not depend on one favourite line. They understand the ideas behind several openings, so they feel comfortable whatever their opponent chooses. If you play the same opening every game, try learning one more this month, just its main ideas and not long move lists.

Three rapid rounds remain before the blitz section begins. In this tournament format rapid games count for double points, so the rapid lead is especially valuable. Can Praggnanandhaa keep it?