2018 Sinquefield Cup (St. Louis, USA)

With the Chess Olympiad and the World Championship coming up this fall, the Sinquefield Cup will round out the summer’s last Grand Tour event before the London Chess Classic in December. The London event will follow the Championship which is also held in London and will feature two of the GCT participants, World Champion Magnus Carlsen and Challenger Fabiano Caruana. Carlsen will not participate in the Classic, but will certainly be ready to try to win his second Sinquefield Cup. In fact, Carlsen tweeted his inspiration.

The 2018 Sinquefield Cup is not very different from last year’s edition with the exception of Alexander Grishcuk’s return (from 2015) and the hottest player in the past year Shakriyar Mamedyarov replacing Russians Ian Nepomniachtchi and Peter Svidler.

In addition, the previous four GCT tournament (this included) will serve as qualification events for the finale which will be held in London. The format has been tweaked over time and this year means that players have to fight more vigorously to compete for a lion’s share of the prize money.

The Sinquefield Cup sees Magnus Carlsen and 9 more of the world’s best players compete in the Saint Louis Chess Club from 18-27 August 2018. The event is the last leg of the 2018 Grand Chess Tour before the final in London, with Carlsen joining the tour regulars as a wild card. In addition to tour points the prize fund is $300,000, with $75,000 for 1st place.

Players receive 100 minutes for 40 moves then 60 minutes for the rest of the game, with a 30-second delay from move 1. A tie for first place will be decided in a 2-game rapid mini-match (10 min + 5 sec delay), only between the top two, and if necessary an Armageddon game (5 vs. 4) on 28 August at 13:00 local time.

Rex Sinquefield presenting some words about the Sinqufield Cup’s role as part of the 10-year history of the St. Louis Chess Club. Sitting on the dais from left to right are: Shahkriyar Mamedyarov, Viswanathan Anand, Wesley So (partially hidden), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Fabiano Caruana, Sinquefield, Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Sergey Karjakin, Levon Aronian. Photo by Lennart Ootes

This is the 6th edition of the Sinquefield Cup and since it’s start as a four-player tournament has blossomed into a round robin format that includes 10 players. Mamedyarov has vaulted over the 2800-level to join Carlsen and Caruana while the other players have essentially shuffled positions. The same core of players are participating this year with the return of Carlsen. This will be a tuneup for the pending match as he will not compete in the Olympiad.

The venue is the Chess Club and Scholastic Center at 4657 Maryland Avenue, Saint Louis, MO 63108. Full information available at the official web site. Live commentary will be given by an eminent line-up of Maurice Ashley, Jennifer Shahade, Yasser Seirawan with commentary at Kingside Diner by Grandmasters Alejandro Ramirez and Cristian Chirila. Games start at 13:00 local time (14:00 New York, 19:00 London, 20:00 Paris, 21:00 Moscow, 01:00 Mumbai).

For more information, visit www.grandchesstour.com or follow along at @CCSCSL.

2018 Sinquefield Cup
August 17th – August 28th, 2018 (St. Louis, USA)
Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (4657 Maryland Ave.)

Players
Rank Name Rating Country Flag Age
No. 1 GM Magnus Carlsen 2842 Norway
27
No. 2 GM Fabiano Caruana 2822 USA
26
No. 3 GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 2801 AZE
33
No. 6 GM Wesley So 2780 USA
24
No. 8 GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 2779 France
27
No. 9 GM Hikaru Nakamura 2777 USA
30
No. 10 GM Sergey Karjakin 2773 Russia
28
No. 12 GM Viswanathan Anand 2768 India
48
No. 13 GM Levon Aronian 2767 Armenia
35
No. 14 GM Alexander Grischuk 2766 Russia
34
Official Site

One Comment

  1. Wacky three-way tie in Sinquefield 2018!

    In a first result of its kind, the 2018 Sinquefield Cup ends in a tie… a three-way tie at that. Fabiano Caruana had led the tournament for several rounds, but was caught at the finish line by Levon Aronian and Magnus Carlsen who both won their games in thrilling fashion. All three ended with 5½/9.

    The tournament had a bunch of twists and turns and with the “Confession Booth” there were some light moments. In the 7th round, Carlsen and Caruana battled and the American seemed to be holding, but the champion was confident that he broke the resistance. He went to the “confession booth” and made this brilliant statement!

    Kobe Bryant silenced quite a few crowds, but perhaps Carlsen imitation was a bit presumptuous.

    Gesturing of the “silencer” is a very common gesture by NBA players when they hit a winning shot to silence a home crowd. Kobe Bryant is perhaps the most famous NBA practitioner. It is well-known that Carlsen is a big NBA fan and has been seen courtside at games. Unfortunately, for Carlsen, Caruana held the position. In the post-game interview, he laughed and admitted that the optimism had backfired.

    Many of the observers were making a big deal about the importance of this matchup given that it is the last game they will play before their November match. In the pre-tournament press conference, there was a bit of banter between Carlsen and Caruana, but mostly there has not been much media buzz about the match which is only two months away. This was a good start to the pre-match buildup. However, Grischuk had an interesting take on Carlsen’s gesture!

    Carlsen flustered after having missed a big opportunity to score the win.
    Photo by Lennart Ootes

    Fast forward…

    The 8th round had five draws so the standings held. Even Carlsen’s trebled pawns on the e-file against Shahkriyar Mamedyarov couldn’t produce any magical outcomes. Going into the last round, Caruana was holding on to his lead with Carlsen, Aronian, Grischuk and Mamedyarov all 1/2-point behind. Going into the last round, these were the pairings.

    Graphics courtesy of Spectrum Studios

    Levon Aronian won his final game in style with a 18.Rxf7! rook sacrifice with Alexander Grischuk in zeitnot. In the video broadcast, the Russian jostled in his chair looking for a response with his clock ticking down. Under the mounting pressure, he collapsed. Further analysis showed that he could’ve held the position, but even with time on the clock it would have been a difficult task.

    In the Carlsen game against nemesis Hikaru Nakamura, the two battled into the 11th hour as the Norwegian was still fighting for 1st place. Nakamura had already cemented his Grand Tour victory, but wanted to end on a solid note. This battle would go on 97 moves.

    Photo by Lennart Ootes

    A number of viewers pointed out that this classic 4 vs. 3 position had been played several times including in Grzegorz GajewskiMaxime Vachier-Lagrave. Incidentally, Gajewski was in St. Louis as Viswanathan Anand’s second. It also appeared in Eltaj SafarliIlija Golichenko. It is one of those positions found in problem books, but of course each scenario is different.

    Neither MVL, nor Golichenko could hold. The same fate fell onto Nakamura.

    Nakamura extends his hand in resignation to Carlsen.
    Tough loss in a salvagable position.
    Photo by Lennart Ootes

    With wins by Carlsen and Aronian, there emerged a three-way tie for first. While Caruana had drawn quickly and was not on site, the two other co-leaders had a conference with the Chris Bird and the three players agreed that instead of the playoff, they would simply share the title.

    In fact Caruana, had to play a playoff against Wesley So to see who would qualify in the Grand Chess Tour standings to complete in the London Classic final. It was unlikely that Caruana would have wanted to play two playoffs in a day. So it was…

    Graphics courtesy of Spectrum Studios

    There were some interesting points in the tournament such as Carlsen’s Benko Gambit with …Bf5, Grischuk’s 1.f4, Aronian’s Rxf7, but there was one move that produced howls and whistles. Perhaps if the sound of gold coins could be made, we would have gotten a good shower. The game… the second playoff game of Caruana-So.

    GCT Qualifier for London Classic Final

    The next day Fabiano Caruana and Wesley So were poised to play two rapid games. The first two games would be 25 minutes with a 10 second delay. If tied the games would go to 5 minutes and 3 second delay for three iterations until a winner was determined. There has been a very interesting discussion on the delay vs. increment. The delay is less common, but it was noted that the Grandmasters had figured out how to milk the delay all the way down to the 9th second to avoid losing time.

    Photo by Mike Klein/chess.com

    The first game was relatively quiet Catalan and a rather peaceful handshake occurred after 33 moves. The second rapid game was also a Catalan and started out in similar fashion but quickly veered into murky waters after 15…f5?! This was criticized as “weakening” and soon white had a humongous space advantage.

    With black trying to clamp down the dark squares, Maurice Ashley mentioned that the engine was suggesting a very peculiar move. He also reflected on going over games and seeing moves that seemed antithetical only to find (upon further) examination the deadly intent. So what was the move that created a shower of golden coins?

    Venkat Saravanan (@reachvsara) covering live for ChessBase also weighed in…

    The thematic 26.Ra2!! Gold coins indeed and Caruana went on to win with class. He was very humble in his remarks and didn’t seem to realize the excitement he caused. So the championship challenger will have an extended stay in London after his match!

    Graphics courtesy of Spectrum Studios

    Video by CCSCSL

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