2025 Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz Day 4: Aronian Takes Back Lead Before Final Day

With 18 rounds in the books and nine more to go, physical stamina becomes a significant factor in the five-day event. Caruana slowed his roll, while others stepped up their game. Isolating for just the blitz performance, we have the following table with GMs Wesley So, GM Grigoriy Oparin, Aronian, Liem Le, and Nodirbek Abdusattorov all scoring 6/9. 

Blitz Only Standings

Surprisingly, Oparin, who ended the rapid portion in last place, was off to the best start in the blitz. He started with three consecutive wins against So, Abdusattorov, and Dominguez. In round two, Abdusattorov looked like he was going to win a brilliancy after sacrificing his queen, but he later missed 28…Qb1+ and his attack went up in smoke.

Oparin nearly pulled off a fourth against his boss Caruana, but they drew, and he slowed down after that. He’d go on to win one more game in the remaining rounds, draw two, and lose one against Aronian. In the last round, he just barely missed a win against World Champion Gukesh Dommaraju in the king and pawn endgame, a game that indicates just how tired both players were.

Former Blitz World Champion Le was another player who did better after a not-so-good rapid portion. He commented on his and Oparin’s success: “He’s a very strong blitz player too, and I guess because we both didn’t do so well in the rapid we felt that we had to up our game.” He won four games, drew four, and lost zero.

… we felt that we had to up our game.

—Liem Le

Moving onto the leaders, Caruana’s misfortune in the final round of rapid seemed to carry over to the next day. He drew GM Sam Shankland in round one but then went down against Le in a time scramble. With five seconds, Caruana could have won with 57.Bc8+, setting up a mating net, but got ensnared in a mating net himself a few moves later.

The slings and arrows persisted. Caruana didn’t win a single game, lost three, and drew six. The most ridiculous draw was in the last round against GM Leinier Dominguez, who had a terrible day and scored just one point across nine rounds. Up a piece, Caruana allowed a teachable kamikaze rook sacrifice for stalemate.

The good news is that Caruana’s immense score from the rapid portion buffers a bad day at the office, and he can still regroup in time to win it tomorrow. One has to have the memory of a goldfish to pull it off.

Aronian, on the other hand, continued to put up the points, even if he himself wasn’t so proud of his games. He won four, drew four, and lost one. Things worked out for Aronian, even from bad positions. He was lost against Oparin in the penultimate round, for example, but given one chance he turned it around. 41…Ra2! was such a cold shower for Oparin, who had been winning earlier.

Aronian’s most notable game, of course, was in round five against Caruana, and it was payback for their game in the rapid section. In a nutshell, Aronian outplayed his opponent brilliantly, with one highlight being the exchange sacrifice 20.Rd5!?. In a bad position, however, Caruana set innumerable tricks for his opponent and escaped into an endgame he could draw with a stalemate trick. Just when the draw seemed to be in the bag, however, there was one final twist, and Aronian won one of the most hard-fought battles of the day.

GM Dejan Bojkov analyzes the Game of the Day below. (It will be added later.)

With that win, Aronian took the sole lead, but he wasn’t too happy with the quality of his play. About the aforementioned game, he said, “I had a completely winning position and then I don’t know what I did, couldn’t explain it, and then he also couldn’t explain what he did.” He added, “I cannot say that I am too proud of my play. Yesterday I was playing much better” and “I’m in a good position. It’s a good position to enjoy and I have to come up with better play if I want to win this tournament.”

Yesterday I was playing much better.

—Levon Aronian

So had a steady performance, losing only his first game against Oparin in round one but then scoring four wins and four draws. Abdusattorov, who finished the rapid section on 50 percent, did better in the blitz this time to also score 6/9. A shocking victory was his against Gukesh, where the reasonable-looking 28…f6?? simply lost on the spot after 29.Bd4!. The world champion scored 3/9 in the blitz, the same as Caruana. 

Abdusattorov needed a little luck on his side, of course. In round six, he was getting rolled over by Shankland, but received a full rook as a gift.

Scoring a solid 5.5/9, Vachier-Lagrave is still in the mix. He won two games and made seven draws, with zero losses. He leads the race to finish in the top four by tour points, and he needs one more strong day to improve his chances.

There are nine more rounds of blitz, and we will have another round-robin with the same players. This time, they will switch colors with their opponents. Who do you think will win the title? Share in the comments below!