D Gukesh’s Blitz struggles exposed with four defeats in single day at Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz 2025

World champion D Gukesh had a horrible day at Grand Chess Tour’s Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz 2025 on Thursday as the Blitz round got underway. The 19-year-old Indian chess Grandmaster could collect only three out of the possible nine points on Day 1 of the Blitz round as he suffered four defeats, including on time from an equal position against American Grandmaster Wesley So in Round 3.

Having already scored 10 out of 18 points in the Rapid section, Gukesh was in the fourth spot, but he has now slid to the sixth spot in the standings with a total of 13 points against his name. Just in the Blitz-only standings, Gukesh finds himself in the seventh position, while American Levon Aronian leads with six points.

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Aronian's fantastic display on the opening day of the Blitz round has also helped him to overtake Fabiano Caruana in the overall standings. He heads the table with 19 points, followed by Caruana on 17. French Grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is third with 16.5 points. The chances of Gukesh winning the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz 2025 are as good as nil.

The Blitz section of the Grand Chess Tour competition is played in a double-round robin format with a time control of 5 minutes + 2 seconds increment. As it's the fastest format in the tournament, Gukesh has often been found at sea against the top opponents. At the Grand Chess Tour Zagreb event, Gukesh lost five consecutive matches on Day 1 of the Blitz round.

Gukesh suffers poor Day 1 in Blitz section

On Thursday, he began the Blitz section with a tense draw against Aronian and Sam Shankland, before suffering a defeat against So, despite being in an equal position, which highlighted Gukesh's weakness in failing to calculate moves quickly under time pressure. As he is more of an analytical player rather than relying on his instincts, the Chennai boy has often found it tough in Blitz matches.

Gukesh also lost to Nodirbek Abdusattorov before scripting a victory against Leinier Domínguez Pérez. In the last four matches, Gukesh suffered two defeats, against Le Quang Liem and Vachier-Lagrave respectively, and notched up two draws, against Caruana and Grigoriy Oparin.

The remaining nine rounds of Blitz will be played on Friday, followed by the Classical event of the Grand Chess Tour -- Sinquefield Cup, which will start on 18 August.