Fabiano Caruana secured the final victory of the second Grand Chess, securing USD 150,000. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave finished as a runner-up, receiving USD 100,000.The competition saw Vachier-Lagrave win the opening match, followed by Caruana’s re-emergence with three consecutive wins. MVL almost forced the Playoff in the final but shaky under pressure.Levon Aronian claims third and USD 60,000 with a ruling performance against Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu. Aronian won three straight games, guaranteeing the game with three remaining games. Praggnanandhaa finished fourth, gaining USD 40,000.Saint Louis chess club will host three upcoming events in October. These include clutch chess: Kasparov vs Anand from October 6-11, US The tournament is from October 11-25, and a clutch chess featuring Carlsen, Nakamura, Caruana, and Gukesh from October 25-30.Grand chess visits have seen famous champions since 2015. Magnus Carlsen won in 2015 and 2017, Wesley So in 2016 and 2021, Hikaru Nakamura in 2018, Ding Liren in 2019, Alireza Firouzja in 2022 and 2024, and Fabiano Caruana in 2023 and 2025.Caruana shared his perspective to overcome the possibility in the game: “If you see it because you have to win two of the four games at Blitz against Maxime to tie the game, it’s not too good, but if you think about it because you have to win one game, and then it looks like you just lost one match on Blitz, then that’s not too bad.”The first game saw Vachier-Lagrave deviate from the theory with 13.QD2. Although Caruana had a chance, she rushed to move and lost the exchange, eventually losing the game.Vachier-Lagrave admits his position is uncertain, saying: “It is a problem to control and find my chances.”The second game features Queen’s Gambit down, ending with a draw. The emergence of Caruana began at the Blitz Games, where she scored a successive victory to reach the score.Caruana continued his momentum with the third consecutive victory in Sveshnikov Sicily. The final game almost saw Vachier-Lagrave forced the Playoff, but he couldn’t take advantage of his winning position.Describing his victory, Caruana said: “If I can choose one thing to win this year, I think it will be a big chess tour. It’s very prestigious, so hard. “Caruana remembers his previous success at Sao Paulo of the 2012 Grand Slam Masters final. He defeated Magnus Carlsen for the first time and led the tournament before his continuity in Bilbao, Spain. Carlsen finally won in the Tiebreaks.Caruana remembers his old relationship in chess: “Many of the same players, [like] Levon, we played in the tournament. It’s good to stay with the guys I have considered a colleague for years, and friends for years, as well as Pragg, one of the new generation leaders. “In third place, Aronian mastered three straight victories over Praggnanandhaa. The first game sets the tone when praggnanandhaa makes an important mistake.Aronian commented on his opponent’s mistake: “I think this is certainly a very difficult kind of mistake to come back.”Aronian described the praggnanandhaa error as “horrible,” even though the remaining games were played as required by the rules even though the match was decided.
