The Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz is the third stage of the 2018 Grand Chess Tour. The 10-player tournament takes place in the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis from 11-15 August and sees tour regulars Aronian, Caruana, Nakamura, Anand, Karjakin, MVL, So, Mamedyarov, Grischuk and wild card Dominguez. The prize fund is $150,000, with $37,500 for 1st place. The rapid section is a single round-robin with 3 rounds each day on the first 3 days at a time control of 25 minutes for all moves and a 10-second delay from move 1. The final 2 days are a blitz double round-robin, with 18 rounds of 5 minutes + 3-second delay blitz. Rapid games count double, with 2 points for a win and 1 for a draw. A tie for first place will be decided in a 2-game Rapid mini-match (10min + 5sec delay), only between the top two, and if necessary an Armageddon game (5 vs. 4). The playoff takes place shortly after the last round.
Live game with analysis will be provided daily with the best chess software competing in the Top Chess Engine Championship – Komodo, Houdini, and Stockfish.
More live chessAbu Dhabi Chess Festival 2018 /Topalov vs. Ding Liren /La Palma Island Open
Schedule CST
Opening Ceremony & Press Conference to be held on August 10 by invite only.
Rapid (11– 13 August)
Time 11 August 12 August 13 August
1:00 p.m. Round 1 Round 4 Round 7
2:30 p.m. Round 2 Round 5 Round 8
4:00 p.m. Round 3 Round 6 Round 9
Blitz (14 – 15 August)
Time 14 August Time 15 August
1:00 p.m. Round 1 1:00 p.m. Round 10
1:30 p.m. Round 2 1:30 p.m. Round 11
2:00 p.m. Round 3 2:00 p.m. Round 12
2:30 p.m. Round 4 2:30 p.m. Round 13
3:00 p.m. Round 5 3:00 p.m. Round 14
3:30 p.m. Round 6 3:30 p.m. Round 15
4:00 p.m. Round 7 4:00 p.m. Round 16
4:30 p.m. Round 8 4:30 p.m. Round 17
5:00 p.m. Round 9 5:00 p.m. Round 18
5:30 p.m. Playoffs
