GM Ray Robson leads the 2023 Saint Louis Fast & Blitz after scoring 11/18 within the speedy section. 3/6 was sufficient for Robson to keep up the lead on Thursday, however GM Fabiano Caruana, who scored 4/6 on day three, looms one level shy of the lead, together with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who made three attracts.

A five-way tie in third place leaves the event vast open and GM Alireza Firouzja, who went 18 blitz video games with out a single loss in final yr’s version, will really feel bullish about his probabilities to make up the two-point deficit.

The Saint Louis Fast & Blitz will proceed with rounds one to 9 of the blitz section on Friday, November 17, at 2:15 p.m. ET/20:15 CET/0:45 a.m. IST.

Standings After Fast

Because the ninth seed, Robson didn’t come into the occasion as a favourite however has confirmed that he can duke it out with the world’s prime speedy gamers. Pairings in opposition to GMs Vachier-Lagrave, Ian Nepomniachtchi, and Wesley So made his third day one of many hardest, and to make issues tougher, he must play with the black items in opposition to Vachier-Lagrave and So.

This made his rating of three/6 all of the extra spectacular and the puzzle battle world champion even managed to choose up a 40-move win in opposition to Nepomniachtchi’s Grunfeld Protection.

Robson would have remained undefeated if not for a round-nine loss in opposition to So, which mockingly was So’s sole victory of the speedy section.

The sensible 39.Rxc5!! was the transfer that compelled Robson right into a worse endgame, and So was profitable in his conversion.

Robson’s 5.5/9 (10/18 with two factors for a win), 2800-level efficiency has earned him 25 score factors, that means he’s now firmly within the 2600 membership for speedy chess and continues to be in all probability underrated on this time management.

After scoring 2/6 on the primary day, Caruana recovered nicely and scored 4/6 for the second day in a row. Attracts in opposition to GMs Sam Sevian and Anish Giri kicked off the day for Caruana earlier than he dispatched the struggling GM Jeffery Xiong.

A positional battle within the Giuoco Piano Recreation: Giuco Pianissimo Variation unfolded between the compatriots and a managed efficiency by each gamers indicated {that a} draw was the possible consequence. Eager to make his mark on the leaderboard, although, Caruana flicked his tactical change someday after transfer 40 and Xiong was unable to carry on.

Our Recreation of the Day has been annotated by GM Rafael Leitao under. 

Nepomniachtchi was one other participant who scored 4/6 on Thursday, however his disappointing first two days considerably marred his efficiency on the third.

A crafty tactic in opposition to GM Liem Le was the spotlight of his day, and the consequence left him inside hanging vary of the lead with 18 rounds of blitz to play.

A topsy-turvy day for Firouzja has left the defending champion with loads of work to do to catch the leaders though, given his heroics within the 2022 occasion, something is feasible. Following a tricky loss by the hands of Sevian, the Frenchman recovered in fashion and stunned Giri with a move-12 novelty within the English Opening. 

With solely 4 factors separating the highest and the underside of the desk, all 10 of the individuals are nonetheless able to profitable the $40,000 first prize. Followers ought to control Firouzja’s actions on Friday as he declared that he can nonetheless win the occasion. “I’ve caught up earlier than in blitz, I like my probabilities,” had been the parting phrases from the world number-one within the time management.

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All Video games Day 3

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 speedy (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. 

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