Overview
- Fabiano Caruana and R. Praggnanandhaa stayed level on 5.5/8 after draws with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Wesley So.
- Wesley So and Levon Aronian sit half a point back entering Round 9 in St. Louis.
- Nodirbek Abdusattorov beat Alireza Firouzja for his first win of the event, the only decisive result of Round 8.
- World champion D. Gukesh drew Aronian, fell out of title contention, and next faces Caruana, who is effectively through to the GCT Finals.
- Round 9 pairings are Duda–Vachier-Lagrave, Caruana–Gukesh, Aronian–Praggnanandhaa, So–Abdusattorov, and Firouzja–Sevian.