8/16/2019 – Levon Aronian won the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz 2019 despite losing the first and last game on the final day. Aronian managed to score only 5 points out of the last nine rounds but that was enough to beat Vachier-Lagrave. MVL's only consolation is that he beat Aronian in both of their blitz encounters. Caruana got his much awaited revenge against Carlsen in round fourteen. IM VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reports from Saint Louis. | Pictured: Aronian on being just informed by fellow Armenian GM Manuel Petrosyan that he has won the tournament. | Photo: Crystal Fuller / Grand Chess Tour

8/14/2019 – Levon Aronian won the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz tournament despite losing his last round game against former leader Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The French grandmaster ended up sharing second place with Yu Yangyi and Ding Liren — the Chinese duo had a strong showing at the blitz, as they got the best scores in the last two days of action (11½ out of 18, the same score obtained by Sergey Karjakin). World champion Magnus Carlsen finished in sixth place but still leads the overall GCT standings. Express report. | Photo: Austin Fuller / Grand Chess Tour

8/14/2019 – IM VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reviews the highlights from the St. Louis Rapid in more depth, paired with video interview clips of the players with GM Maurice Ashley (pictured with Vachier-Lagrave) from the official webcast. | Photo: Austin Fuller

8/14/2019 – Ding Liren and Sergey Karjakin were the heroes of the day as both of them scored 6½/9 on Day 1 of Blitz. Wild cards Richard Rapport and Yu Yangyi also had a fantastic start in the Blitz as they scored 6.0/9 and 5½/9 respectively. Magnus only managed to score 50% while Caruana scored a meagre 1½/9 in Blitz. IM VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN brings you all action from Saint Louis. | Photo: Crystal Fuller / Grand Chess Tour

8/13/2019 – Carlsen started Day 3 of Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz with a loss against Aronian. The World Champion defeated MVL in the final round of the rapid event, however it is MVL who overcame Carlsen in the FIDE rapid ranking according to live ratings. Vachier-Lagrave remained undefeated on the final rapid day by defeating the former World Championship challenger Caruana in the final round. IM VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reports from Saint Louis. | Photo: Justin Kellar / Grand Chess Tour

8/12/2019 – Rapid rounds four to six at the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz yielded no change at the top of the leader board, but Levon Aronian is now being closely pursued by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who won all three of his games on Sunday. Perhaps even more surprisingly, World Champion Magnus Carlsen lost two more of his rapid games, including to world number two Fabiano Caruana. IM VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reports from Saint Louis. | Photo: Justin Kellar / Grand Chess Tour

8/11/2019 – "The chess world is a better place when Aronian is playing well!" These words of Garry Kasparov in 2015 reverberated on day one of the Saint Louis Rapid 2019 as the Armenian GM went on to score wins against MVL, Karjakin and Mamedyarov. Aronian now leads the event with a 6.0/6 score. Magnus Carlsen suffered a shock defeat against Ding Liren but came back to score two wins. We bring you an on-site report by VENKATACHALAM SARAVANAN, with photos, player's quotes and analysis.

8/10/2019 – It's the next leg of the Grand Chess Tour, IM VENTKATACHALAM SARAVANAN reports on the opening ceremony from the Saint Louis Chess Club on the eve of the rapid tournament. Can Magnus Carlsen be stopped? Sergey Karjakin: “My answer may be primitive, but we (all have) to play very well!” Levon Aronian: “I don't think it is about stopping somebody. It is about achieving more points than the person”.