St. Louis Rapid & Blitz, Day 1: Aronian, Harikrishna Lead
Just a reminder, in case anyone is reading this, that the prestigious St. Louis Rapid & Blitz is underway. After day 1, Levon Aronian and Pentala Harikrishna each won two games and drew one, giving them 5/6. (Rapid games are scored 2-1-0; the later blitz games are traditionally scored, i.e. 1-.5-0.) Magnus Carlsen is two points back, but this is most likely a function of technology rather than purely chess factors. He won a good game with Black against Hikaru Nakamura in round 1, but (unintentionally) disconnected and lost on time in an equal position against Ian Nepomniachtchi in round 2. Nepo has 4 points, as does Wesley So, who drew with Carlsen in round 3.
The other five players all have minus scores, but it's still very early; there's plenty of time for Nakamura, Leinier Dominguez, Jeffery Xiong, Alireza Firouzja, and Alexander Grischuk to come back.
Reader Comments