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Scientific wins over GMs Wesley So and Jeffery Xiong have left GM Le Quang Liem within the sole lead on 5/6 on the 2023 Saint Louis Fast & Blitz after the primary day of play. The beginning would have been an ideal 6/6 if not for a mistake that value him a degree in opposition to GM Ray Robson.
Second place is presently tied between defending champion GM Alireza Firouzja and Robson, who each transformed wins with the black items in opposition to GMs Fabiano Caruana and Sam Sevian, respectively.
The Saint Louis Fast & Blitz will proceed with rounds 4 by six of the fast phase on Wednesday, November 15, at 11 a.m. PT/20:00 Central European.
Standings (2 factors for a win in fast chess)
| Rank | Fed | Title | Participant | Ranking | 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 Fast & Blitz is the precursor to some of the well-known occasions on the world chess calendar, The Sinquefield Cup, and naturally attracts in most of the world’s greatest gamers.
This 12 months the event is headlined by the world’s number-one blitz participant and defending champion, Firouzja. A win in St. Louis would see him be part of GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Levon Aronian as a two-time winner.
GMs Caruana, So, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and Anish Giri are additionally among the many contributors, making this one of many hardest velocity chess occasions to win.
With a $40,000 first prize on the road, gamers will play a round-robin (9 video games) of fast chess (25+10) over three days, adopted by an 18-round blitz (5+2) double-round robin to find out the winner. The less fast video games are weighted doubly within the standings in order that each segments are valued equally.
| Place | Prize |
| 1st | $40,000 |
| 2nd | $30,000 |
| third | $25,000 |
| 4th | $20,000 |
| fifth | $15,000 |
| sixth | $11,000 |
| seventh | $10,000 |
| eighth | $9,000 |
| ninth | $8,000 |
| tenth | $7,000 |
Play was brimming with vitality within the opening spherical, and dazzling techniques had been on the menu for all three winners: Sevian, Le, and Firouzja. Sevian’s first FIDE-rated win over Nepomniachtchi was the spotlight. On the white aspect 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 Sport of the Day, supplied by GM Rafael Leitao, can be added shortly.
So was the following Tremendous-GM to be shellshocked in spherical one as he was overcome by the 2013 world blitz champion, Le. Having scored 56 attracts out of 65 in his FIDE classical video games this 12 months makes him 2023’s most strong 2700+ participant; nevertheless, on Tuesday, Le broke fortress-So.
Hikaru hasn’t misplaced a classical sport this 12 months
pic.twitter.com/hdIWJSmQax
— Chess.com (@chesscom) November 12, 2023
A positional wrestle within the Queen’s Gambit Declined: Ragozin, Alekhine Variation transpired, and Le was capable of make the most of So’s 37…Ng6?, permitting the Vietnamese GM to march his d-pawn up the board.
The 2022 winner Firouzja additionally began in type with Black, knocking over Caruana, courtesy of a shock kingside assault within the Ruy Lopez Opening: Berlin Protection. An incisive rook sacrifice on transfer 29 iced the sport in favor of the Iranian-born GM.
Spherical two was in stark distinction to the opening one as all 5 video games resulted in attracts! Regardless of the spherical having little influence on the leaderboard, two of the video games concerned main misses: Vachier-Lagrave-Caruana and Robson-Le.
The sport between Vachier-Lagrave and Caruana left the analysis pendulum swinging as each missed golden alternatives to attain what would have been the one win of the spherical.
Caruana’s luckless day continued into spherical three as he did not win in opposition to Nepomniachtchi after constructing a powerful benefit. Two good strikes nonetheless weren’t sufficient to interrupt down the staunch protection of his opponent, although the American celebrity can take solace in figuring out he has already performed the three highest-rated fast gamers within the discipline.
In the meantime, Christmas got here early for Le after he was gifted a pawn in opposition to Xiong that proved to be decisive. Had Xiong traded bishops on transfer 39, the ensuing rook endgame would have been drawable for the 23-year-old.
Robson’s win over Sevian is probably the most instructive of the spherical, with the Puzzle Battle world champion displaying the facility of pawns in an ending that resembles a sport of Horde Chess.
For Le, holding onto the lead can be troublesome with pairings in opposition to Sevian, Giri, and Caruana developing on Wednesday. Sizzling on his heels, in fact, are Robson and Firouzja, the latter of whom led from begin to end within the 2022 occasion.
Learn how to watch the 2023 Saint Louis Fast & Blitz
You possibly can sustain with all of the video games and outcomes of the event on our stay occasions platform by following this hyperlink.
All Video games Day 1
The 2023 Saint Louis Fast & Blitz is the fourth leg of the 2023 Grand Chess Tour and the final of its velocity chess occasions. Gamers compete in a 10-player fast (25+10) round-robin and a 10-player blitz (5+2) double round-robin for his or her share of a $175,000 prize fund.
Earlier Protection
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