Le Takes Lead As Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz Begins With A Bang
Clinical wins over GMs Wesley So and Jeffery Xiong have left GM Le Quang Liem in the sole lead on 5/6 at the 2023 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz after the first day of play. The start would have been a perfect 6/6 if not for a mistake that cost him a point against GM Ray Robson.
Second place is currently tied between defending champion GM Alireza Firouzja and Robson, who both converted wins with the black pieces against GMs Fabiano Caruana and Sam Sevian, respectively.
The Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz will continue with rounds four through six of the rapid segment on Wednesday, November 15, at 11 a.m. PT/20:00 Central European.
Standings (2 points for a win in rapid chess)
| Rank | Fed | Title | Player | Rating | Pts |
| 1 | GM | Le Quang Liem | 2652 | 5 | |
| 2 | GM | Ray Robson | 2596 | 4 | |
| 3 | GM | Alireza Firouzja | 2742 | 4 | |
| 4 | GM | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 2771 | 3 | |
| 5 | GM | Anish Giri | 2697 | 3 | |
| 6 | GM | Sam Sevian | 2581 | 3 | |
| 7 | GM | Jeffery Xiong | 2727 | 2 | |
| 8 | GM | Wesley So | 2753 | 2 | |
| 9 | GM | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 2789 | 2 | |
| 10 | GM | Fabiano Caruana | 2765 | 2 |
The Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz is the precursor to one of the most famous events on the world chess calendar, The Sinquefield Cup, and naturally draws in many of the world's best players.
This year the tournament is headlined by the world's number-one blitz player and defending champion, Firouzja. A win in St. Louis would see him join GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Levon Aronian as a two-time winner.
GMs Caruana, So, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Anish Giri are also among the participants, making this one of the toughest speed chess events to win.
With a $40,000 first prize on the line, players will play a round-robin (nine games) of rapid chess (25+10) over three days, followed by an 18-round blitz (5+2) double-round robin to determine the winner. The fewer rapid games are weighted doubly in the standings so that both segments are valued equally.
| Place | Prize |
| 1st | $40,000 |
| 2nd | $30,000 |
| 3rd | $25,000 |
| 4th | $20,000 |
| 5th | $15,000 |
| 6th | $11,000 |
| 7th | $10,000 |
| 8th | $9,000 |
| 9th | $8,000 |
| 10th | $7,000 |
Play was brimming with energy in the opening round, and dazzling tactics were on the menu for all three winners: Sevian, Le, and Firouzja. Sevian's first FIDE-rated win over Nepomniachtchi was the highlight. On the white side of the English Opening: Carls-Bremen, Smyslov System, the 22-year-old sacrificed a bishop and rook to open Nepomniachtchi's kingside.
Our annotations for the Game of the Day, provided by GM Rafael Leitao, will be added shortly.
So was the next Super-GM to be shellshocked in round one as he was overcome by the 2013 world blitz champion, Le. Having scored 56 draws out of 65 in his FIDE classical games this year makes him 2023's most solid 2700+ player; however, on Tuesday, Le broke fortress-So.
Hikaru hasn't lost a classical game this year 🔥 pic.twitter.com/hdIWJSmQax
— Chess.com (@chesscom) November 12, 2023
A positional struggle in the Queen's Gambit Declined: Ragozin, Alekhine Variation transpired, and Le was able to take advantage of So's 37...Ng6?, allowing the Vietnamese GM to march his d-pawn up the board.
The 2022 winner Firouzja also started in style with Black, knocking over Caruana, courtesy of a surprise kingside attack in the Ruy Lopez Opening: Berlin Defense. An incisive rook sacrifice on move 29 iced the game in favor of the Iranian-born GM.
Round two was in stark contrast to the opening one as all five games ended in draws! Despite the round having little impact on the leaderboard, two of the games involved major misses: Vachier-Lagrave-Caruana and Robson-Le.
The game between Vachier-Lagrave and Caruana left the evaluation pendulum swinging as both missed golden opportunities to score what would have been the only win of the round.
Caruana's luckless day continued into round three as he failed to win against Nepomniachtchi after building a strong advantage. Two brilliant moves still weren't enough to break down the staunch defense of his opponent, though the American superstar can take solace in knowing he has already played the three highest-rated rapid players in the field.
Meanwhile, Christmas came early for Le after he was gifted a pawn against Xiong that proved to be decisive. Had Xiong traded bishops on move 39, the resulting rook endgame would have been drawable for the 23-year-old.
Robson's win over Sevian is the most instructive of the round, with the Puzzle Battle world champion showing the power of pawns in an ending that resembles a game of Horde Chess.
For Le, holding onto the lead will be difficult with pairings against Sevian, Giri, and Caruana coming up on Wednesday. Hot on his heels, of course, are Robson and Firouzja, the latter of whom led from start to finish in the 2022 event.
How to watch the 2023 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz
You can keep up with all the games and results of the tournament on our live events platform by following this link.
All Games Day 1
The 2023 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz is the fourth leg of the 2023 Grand Chess Tour and the last of its speed chess events. Players compete in a 10-player rapid (25+10) round-robin and a 10-player blitz (5+2) double round-robin for their share of a $175,000 prize fund.
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