R Praggnanandhaa won the GCT Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz 2026 with a draw against Javokhir Sindarov. The Indian chess prodigy was 1.5 points ahead of the field.
R Praggnanandhaa continued his purple patch and defeated Javokhir Sindarov in the penultimate round to win the GCT Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz 2026. The Indian chess prodigy won the final with a score of 23/35. He was 1.5 points ahead of the field. This is the first time Praggnanandhaa has won a Rapid and Blitz tournament. He scored 12 out of 18 points to keep his final hopes alive. He lost the ninth round against Dutch GM Jorden van Foreest, but still managed to qualify for the final.
“It feels great. When you see the final score, winning with one and a half rounds to spare, everything looks smooth, but that wasn’t really the case. It was a crazy tournament. Kudos to Javokhir, he kept fighting until the very end. I’m just happy I managed to get through. My strategy today was simply not to do anything stupid. Ironically, I managed to do exactly that in the second game. I was completely winning but didn’t take the draw when I had the chance, and I ended up losing. That was exactly what I wanted to avoid. Still, I felt the quality of my games was good, so I just tried to stay in control and not overpush,” Praggnanandhaa said after the win.
“I also wanted to win the Rapid and Blitz sections separately, which I think I managed, so that’s also nice. Last year, my rapid and blitz results put me in a position where I had to perform at the Sinquefield Cup. This time, they’ve actually helped me get into a much better position before Sinquefield. I’m happy I’ve improved in that area, and I think my rapid and blitz are getting better,” he added.