2025 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz Day 2: Caruana Leads After Direct Encounter With Aronian

GM Fabiano Caruana wrested the lead from GM Levon Aronian in the last round of day two in the 2025 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz. He won their direct encounter to finish the day with 10 points. Tied in second-third are Aronian and GM Wesley So, who continues to go undefeated with two wins in the event so far.

The rapid portion concludes on Wednesday, August 13, and then the blitz portion begins on Thursday. Catch the show starting at 1:10 p.m. ET / 19:10 CEST / 10:40 p.m. IST.

Standings

The day started with a counterpunch from two players who suffered on the previous day, GMs Sam Shankland and Nodirbek Abdosattorov. 

After three losses the day before, Shankland defeated World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju. He said, “It’s a good relief after yesterday when it just looked like I’m going to lose every single game. To start 0-3 but then to come in and demolish the world champion is a good way to turn it around.” 

The American grandmaster went for the maximum against the Philidor Defense with the aggressive 5.Rg1, preparing g4 and an attack. Later on, Gukesh released the tension in the center with 9…exd4?, and it didn’t take long for White to overwhelm him in the center. Shankland won a piece and, after many moves, the game.

“I’m old enough to not get emotional after getting punched in the face, I guess,” said the winner, understanding that he’s a strong player even if he has a bad day.

I’m old enough to not get emotional after getting punched in the face.

—Sam Shankland

Abdusattorov, who lost two games and drew one on the previous day, also had a resurgence. He beat GM Grigoriy Oparin in his first game, taking advantage of a tactical detail after Black moved the wrong rook to e8—then winning quickly with an attack.

Unfortunately, that was the end of the comebacks. Neither player would win another game on day two; Abdusattorov would make two draws, while Shankland would endure another two tough losses.

All eyes moved on to the leader, Aronian, and his closest rival Caruana. Before their encounter in round six, Aronian made two draws. He was in big trouble against GM Leinier Dominguez in the first round after seemingly mixing something up in the opening, but got away, and then So accepted a threefold repetition in a position where he could have potentially pushed for more.

For Caruana, it was just like the day before; he scored another two wins with one draw. He said, “It was a perfect day. I was thinking +1 would be great, and +2 and also beating Levon, who was having a huge tournament [was even better].”

Caruana first made a draw against So and then beat Shankland in the second to catch Aronian in the lead. If Shankland “demolished” Gukesh (in his own words), he unfortunately had a taste of his own medicine in the only decisive game of round five. It was a nice attacking game, converted by brute force, in a sharp Sicilian Najdorf.

We then saw a heavily theoretical battle between Caruana and Aronian, one where Caruana said his opponent confidently confronted his preparation. The world number-three was still in book until 17…b6, the first time he had to start thinking.

A wild position eventually entered an equal endgame, but one where Aronian thought he was pressing for the advantage. Rather than go for 31…Rxd6 with an almost immediate draw, the Armenian-American continued the game, and then it was Caruana who thought he was better, even if the engine said it was equal all along. Aronian’s 36…b5?, played with one second on the clock, ended the game quickly though, and GM Rafael Leitao analyzes the Game of the Day below. 

With that win, Caruana’s taken the sole lead. On the turbulent and combative games at this tournament, he said, “I think everyone’s trying to fight and everyone, like the players who are full participants, are trying to have a good result to qualify to the top four. So everyone’s ambitious.”

So, who’s two points behind the leader, also made the same observation, saying, “We’re in one of the final legs and everyone wants to play in South America. I’ve never been to South America.” He also added that there are “some more targets,” naming Oparin and Shankland, which makes for more decisive games.

Just as on the previous day, So made two draws (against the two leaders Aronian and Caruana) before beating Oparin in a sharp Sicilian battle. Though he overestimated his attack at one point and missed some great defensive resources Oparin found, So ultimately did breakthrough after a decisive mistake in time trouble.

Vachier-Lagrave is in the best position on the tour standings, and finishing day two on +1 leaves him a point behind Aronian and So. After making draws with GM Liem Le and Gukesh, he scored a win in the last round against Shankland. It was truly a game that could have gone either way.

The French GM said, “I’m happy with the result, but I’m—I wouldn’t say disgusted with my play—but basically I had to think hard to figure out where I could play so badly. In the past two games, I don’t remember playing so badly in a rapid event.”

Vachier-Lagrave won a clear exchange in the middlegame shortly after finding the pretty resource 22…Bd4! (if not for this move, he said his position was close to resignable), but then completely lost control. Suddenly Shankland outplayed his opponent with a knight for a rook and an annoyingly far-advanced passed pawn, but again the pendulum swung back the other way. Shankland could have conceivably finished the day with two wins, especially if he found 46.f4.

“I came here with a mission, to qualify for the grand finals,” said Vachier-Lagrave, “Obviously I’m in an ideal position and my main goal is to lock it in before the classical portion.”

In round seven we will see the tournament leader Caruana face his second Oparin. Will someone catch up in the last three rounds of rapid?