The Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz is the rapid-and-blitz leg of the Grand Chess Tour held the week before the Sinquefield Cup. The 2026 edition is scheduled for August 10 to 15 at the Saint Louis Chess Club. The format mirrors its sister event in Zagreb: nine rounds of rapid (15+10) followed by eighteen rounds of blitz (3+2), with combined point totals deciding the standings.
The event has been won variously by Hikaru Nakamura (multiple), Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and others. The blitz portion in particular tends to produce extraordinary chess — in 2019 Carlsen scored 12/18 in the blitz section, a result that contributed to his GCT season title.
The Saint Louis Chess Club’s broadcast standard remains the global benchmark. Multi-camera coverage, engine analysis with depth indicators, English and Spanish commentary, and full integration with Chess.com and Lichess broadcasts make this one of the most-watched events of the chess year.
The 2026 field will be the same ten players as the Sinquefield Cup that immediately follows, with the rapid-and-blitz event serving as a warm-up for the classical week. Players who do well here often carry momentum into the Sinquefield Cup; players who struggle (typically the GCT classical specialists who are weaker at faster time controls) sometimes use the event to test ideas before the more consequential classical games.
For the live broadcast and final standings, see the official Grand Chess Tour site linked in the right column.