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The rapid leg of the Leuven Grand Chess Tour concluded on Thursday evening with Armenian grandmaster Levon Aronian finishing the second - three points adrift at the leader Wesley So.

Aronian lost a game to GM Sergey Karjakin from the winning position. He recovered well, though, winning against Caruana in the very next round and signing peace with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in round nine.

After 18 rounds played, the Armenian has scored 11 points and shares the 2-3 positions with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Wesley So leads the table with 14 points.

After the two rapid and blitz events, this week (Leuven) and next week (Paris), the next events will be the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz (August 10-16) and the Sinquefield Cup (August 17-28), both in St. Louis. The tour will again finish in London in December, this time with a four-player playoff.

The total prize fund is $1,050,000 with $150,000 allocated for the three rapid and blitz events each, with a $37,500 first prize. The fund is $300,000 each for the Sinquefield Cup and for London.