Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu won the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz after leading the tournament from start to finish. The Indian grandmaster secured the title with a round to spare by holding Javokhir Sindarov in their penultimate-round encounter, before finishing 1½ points clear. The result moved Praggnanandhaa into second place in the Grand Chess Tour standings ahead of the Sinquefield Cup.

Pragg earned $50,000 and 13 Grand Chess Tour points for winning outright, avoiding a playoff. His victory moved him into second place in the overall GCT standings behind Fabiano Caruana. Wesley So and Vincent Keymer currently occupy the other two qualifying positions for the season-ending Grand Chess Tour Finals with Sindarov close behind in fifth.

Pragg’s Saint Louis victory continued an improvement in results after a difficult start to the year. He finished 11th at the Tata Steel Masters with 5½/13 and tied for 6th at the Candidates Tournament with 6/14. His performances improved during the Grand Chess Tour, including a share of third place at the rapid and blitz event in Zagreb. His biggest success this year came in Oslo, as he won the Norway Chess super-tournament, which featured an elite field including Magnus Carlsen.

The final day did not begin smoothly for the leader. Pragg drew with Keymer in Round 10 before losing to Awonder Liang in Round 11. At the same time, Sindarov drew Levon Aronian and then defeated Jorden van Foreest after the Dutchman dropped a piece. Those results reduced Pragg’s advantage to only ½ point.

Sindarov kept up the pressure in round 12 by beating Keymer for his second consecutive victory. Pragg responded immediately, defeating Anish Giri to remain narrowly in front. Further back, So and Aronian were level on 17 points after the latter collected successive victories over Keymer and Liang. The gap widened again in Round 13, when Caruana defeated Sindarov with the help of a passed a-pawn.

Pragg, meanwhile, faced So in a game that could have significantly altered the standings. The eventual champion then increased his lead to 1½ points by defeating Van Foreest in Round 14. A tactical oversight cost the Dutchman a pawn, and the tournament leader converted the resulting advantage. Pragg and Sindarov both drew in the following round, against Caruana and Leinier Dominguez, respectively.

Final standings

R Praggnanandhaa (India) – 23.5 points; Javokhir Sindarov (Uzbekistan) – 22 points; Wesley So (USA) – 20.5 points; Levon Aronian (USA) – 19 points; Fabiano Caruana (USA) – 17 points; Lenier Dominguez Perez (USA) – 17 points; Jorden van Foreest (Netherlands) – 17 points; Anish Giri (Netherlands) – 15.5 points; Vincent Keymer (Germany) – 14.5 points; Awonder Liang (USA) – 14 points

Also read: Pragg in joint lead after Round 3 at Zagreb Grand Chess Tour