Saint Louis Rapid R1-3: Gukesh's dazzling queen sacrifice
12/08/2025 - The World Champion, D Gukesh started with a loss against Levon Aronian at Grand Chess Tour Saint Louis Rapid 2025. However, he bounced back immediately in the second round with a fantastic win over Grigoriy Oparin. The game is fascinating as Gukesh sacrificed an exchange after being ahead in material. He finished things off with a queen sacrifice which his opponent accepted and allowed to be checkmated by double bishop. Gukesh finished the day with another impressive win over World Blitz 2013 champion, Liem Quang Le. Aronian has currently taken early sole lead 6/6 by winning all three games. He is closely followed by Fabiano Caruana (USA) at 5/6, then Gukesh and Wesley So at 4/6 each. Round 4 starts at 12 p.m. local time, 10:30 p.m. IST. Photo: Lennart Ootes / Grand Chess Tour