Grand Chess Tour: D Gukesh joint third after Day 1 at St. Louis Rapid and Blitz

World champion D Gukesh recovered from his initial defeat to American Levon Aronian by securing victories over Grigoriy Oparin and Liem Le Quang at the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz tournament, part of the Grand Chess Tour.

He ended the first day in shared third position.After losing to Aronian in a complex opening round, Gukesh demonstrated resilience by defeating Oparin and following it with a victory against Liem, accumulating four points out of six possible points on Monday.Aronian dominated the opening day by winning all three games, earning two points per rapid win. The American Grandmaster, fresh from his victory at the Freestyle Chess tournament in Las Vegas, defeated key opponents Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France.Aronian leads with six points, with fellow American Fabiano Caruana following at five points after securing two wins and a draw. Gukesh shares third place with American Wesley So, while Vachier-Lagrave and Leinier Dominguez Perez are tied for fifth with three points each.Liem and Oparin hold two points each, followed by Nodirbek with one point. Sam Shankland remains at the bottom after losing all his matches.Gukesh faced a challenging first round, losing in complex positions during a Caro Kann defense game.

He quickly rebounded against Oparin in a Sicilian Rossolimo game, where he executed a queen sacrifice to checkmate his opponent.In his final game of the day against Liem, Gukesh, playing with black pieces, encountered complicated positions. Unlike the Aronian match, Gukesh capitalized on Liem's mistakes under pressure to secure a winning position.Day 1 Results

Standings (points)1. Aronian (6); 2. Caruana (5); 3-4 Gukesh, Wesley (4 each); 5-6: Vachier-Lagrave, Dominguez (3 each); 7-8. Oparin, Liem (2 each); 9. Abdusattorov (1); 10. Shankland (0)