Bit by bit, we creep our way back to the present. The most recently completed major tournament was the 2021 St. Louis Rapid & Blitz, the penultimate event of the 2021 Grand Chess Tour. (The ongoing Sinquefield Cup is the finale.) Now a streamer first (by his own admission) and a bit too low on the rating list to be a full-time member of the Grand Chess Tour, Hikaru Nakamura participated as a wildcard...and dominated. He went through all three round-robins undefeated, scoring 6/9 each time. His 6/9 - or rather, 12/18, as the rapid games counted double - in the rapid was good for a minimal lead over Fabiano Caruana and Richard Rapport. (Both scored 5.5/9 = 11/18.)
His combined 12/18 in the blitz obviously guaranteed overall first, and Le Quang Liem deserves great credit for finishing only half a point behind with 11.5; a remarkable turnaround from his last-placed 6/18 in the rapid portion. Caruana is an inconsistent blitz player at best, but not this time: he finished with a convincing 10/18, good for equal third in that phase (with Leinier Dominguez, who finished next-to-last in the rapid) and a clear second place overall.
With one event remaining in this year's Grand Chess Tour, four players are technically alive in the race for first: Wesley So (28.3 points), Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (22.5), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (22), Fabiano Caruana (17). With only 13 points available to the winner of the Sinquefield Cup, Caruana is essentially out of the running - unless So finishes in last while Caruana takes clear first, Caruana can't catch So. Mamedyarov and MVL have a better chance, but So can guarantee first in the Tour by coming in third. At the moment So is tied for first with Caruana at 3/4, while MVL has 2.5 and Mamedyarov has 2. Thus it doesn't look great for the chase pack, but there's still enough time left for things to change.
Anyway, back to the subject: Nakamura isn't in the Sinquefield Cup, but congratulations to him on making great use of his wildcard to win the Rapid & Blitz in very impressive fashion, by a noteworthy three point margin. Congrats to Caruana as well, who had an excellent performance, especially after a series of poor results even in classical. Judging by what has happened so far in the Sinquefield Cup, that result may have given him the shot of confidence he needed.