Sinquefield Cup 2018

[Hans Jung]

Aronian WOW! push the H pawn and 1-0 (checkmate on the board)

[Hans Jung]

Three endgames again. Got our fill of endgames in this tournament. Magnus, Vishy, and MVL are pressing.

[Hans Jung]

That knight of Vishy's ended up sacking on e6! What a glorious death!

[Hans Jung]

We are headed for playoffs folks! Excitement galore!

[Hans Jung]

Magnus seems to be making headway but its going over 100 moves. Meanwhile the playoffs await.

[Hans Jung]

Im rooting for Magnus. Not for the normal reasons. Apparently the tournament rules state (and they seem complicated) that in event of playoffs and more than two players and in short if all players got their wins as White than ..... lots are drawn for the two that playoff and the other(s) lose out. I never heard of this before. Is this correct and if so then Fabi Caruana could possibly have led the tournament and tied for first and be excluded for first without playing? Is this hypothetically true? and bizarre if it is.

[Hans Jung]

Well Magnus won and we have a situation - drawing (but not like chess) for the playoffa.

[Wayne Komer]

Sinquefield Cup 2018

August 27, 2018

Round Nine (Part I)

Mike Klein has tweeted this about the percentage of wins in the Sinquefield since 2013:

A dearth of wins this year. A look at win percentage here over the years

2013=50%
2014=47%
2015=42%
2016=29%
2017=38%
2018=17%

Time to bring the gloves back out?

As a reply, Silvio Danailov tweeted this:

The idea of Sofia rules occurred to me during dinner in Monaco 1999 with Piket & Ljubojevic. We first introduced them in MtelMasters 2005, a giant step which reduced the draws to almost only the fighting ones. Оbviously not enough, because chess still suffers a lot from them. What to do?

_________

The shop selling Chess Hall of Fame merchandise can be found online at

https://www.qboutiquestl.com/product...ears-2013-2017

There appear to be three different products on the history of the tournament:

The Sinquefield Cup: Celebrating Five Years 2013-2017
$ 50.00

It had been decades since an elite-grandmaster event had been held in the United States. So who could have thought, just six years ago, that a chess club in Saint Louis, Missouri, would not only end that drought but also revolutionize the chess world?

The Sinquefield Cup, hosted by the Saint Louis Chess Club, is now ingrained upon the chess world’s landscape. A chess calendar without a Sinquefield Cup is unthinkable. This book celebrates the first five years of a glorious event that has not only provided fans with high-level chess, but that has broken new ground with superlative standards for players and for both in-person and online spectators.

The Sinquefield Cup: Celebrating Five Years 2013–2017 is written by five of the Cup’s premier writers and commentators and lavishly illustrated with images by world-class photographers. Each chapter opens by setting the stage, giving the participants’ recent successes and form coming into the Sinquefield Cup, and provides anecdotes from the event, interesting game moments, and one fully-annotated game, all with a lively narrative. As the Saint Louis Chess Club celebrates its ten-year anniversary, this book will stand as a worthy monument for the first five exceptional years of its flagship event.

The other two types available are the book autographed by GMs and Authors at $200 and by the Authors alone for $125.

I bought an unsigned copy and the shipping is almost as much as the price of the book.

___________

The decision has just been made that there are three co-winners to the tournament. So there is no playoff for first place. There is a playoff tomorrow between Fabiano and Wesley for a place in the Grand Chess Tour.

Round 9, August 27
So, Wesley –- Caruana, Fabiano
C42 Petrov’'s Defence

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nd3 Nxe4 5.Qe2 Qe7 6.Nc3 Nf6 7.b3 Nc6 8.Bb2 Bf5 9.Nf4 O-O-O 10.Qxe7 Nxe7 11.O-O-O Ng6 12.Bd3 Bd7 13.Nxg6 hxg6 14.Ne4 Nxe4 15.Bxe4 g5 16.h3 c6 17.c4 Be6 18.Bf3 d5 19.d3 f6 20.Rhe1 Bf7 21.cxd5 Bxd5 22.Bxd5 Rxd5 23.Re8+ Rd8 24.Rxd8+ Kxd8 25.Re1 Bc5 26.f3 Re8 27.Re4 Kd7 28.Kc2 Bd6 29.a4 a6 30.Bc3 b5 31.Bb2 Re6 32.Bc3 Re8 33.Bb2 Re6 34.Bc3 Re8 35.Bb2 Re6 1/2-1/2

Round 9, August 27
Carlsen, Magnus –- Nakamura, Hikaru
D37 QGD, Hastings variation

1.Nf3 Nf6 2.d4 e6 3.c4 d5 4.Nc3 Be7 5.Bf4 O-O 6.e3 b6 7.Bd3 dxc4 8.Bxc4 Ba6 9.Qe2 Bxc4 10.Qxc4 c5 11.dxc5 bxc5 12.O-O Nc6 13.Rac1 Rc8 14.Ne5 Qb6 15.Nxc6 Rxc6 16.b3 h6 17.Rfd1 Qb7 18.h3 Rfc8 19.Na4 Nd7 20.Rd2 Nb6 21.Nxb6 Rxb6 22.Rcd1 Bf6 23.Rd7 Qa6 24.Qe4 e5 25.Bxh6 Re8 26.Qg4 Qxa2 27.e4 Qxb3 28.Be3 Rb7 29.R7d6 Be7 30.R6d5 Bf8 31.Bxc5 Bxc5 32.Rxc5 Qe6 33.Qe2 Rd7 34.Rxd7 Qxd7 35.Rd5 Qc7 36.Qd2 Ra8 37.Rd7 Qc4 38.f3 Qc5+ 39.Kh2 Qc6 40.Rd6 Qc5 41.Ra6 Qe7 42.Qe3 Kh7 43.Kg3 Qb7 44.Qa3 f6 45.Kh2 Qc7 46.Qa1 Qb7 47.Qa5 Qd7 48.Qa2 Qe7 49.Qf2 Qb7 50.Qa2 Qe7 51.Qd5 Rb8 52.Qa5 Rb7 53.Qe1 Qd7 54.Qh4+ Kg8 55.Qf2 Qf7 56.Qa2 Qxa2 57.Rxa2 Kh7 58.Ra6 Kg6 59.h4 Kh5 60.Kh3 Rf7 61.g4+ Kh6 62.Kg3 g5 63.h5 Kg7 64.Kf2 Rb7 65.Ra3 Kh6 66.Ke3 a5 67.Rxa5 Rb3+ 68.Kf2 Rb2+ 69.Kg3 Kg7 70.Ra7+ Kg8 71.Ra1 Kg7 72.Rf1 Ra2 73.Rf2 Ra3 74.Rd2 Ra7 75.Kf2 Kf7 76.Ke2 Rb7 77.Rd3 Ra7 78.Kd2 Ke6 79.Kc3 Ke7 80.Kc4 Rc7+ 81.Kb5 Rc1 82.Rb3 Kf7 83.Kb6 Rc2 84.Kb7 Rc1 85.Kb8 Kg8 86.Rb6 Kg7 87.Rb7+ Kg8 88.Rc7 Rb1+ 89.Kc8 Rb3 90.Kd7 Rxf3 91.Ke6 Rf4 92.h6 Kh8 93.Rb7 Kg8 94.Rg7+ Kh8 95.Kf7 Rxe4 96.Kg6 Ra4 97.Rh7+ 1-0

Position after White’'s 89.Kc8




Keith Arkell: Beautiful grind by Magnus - what a pleasure to watch such a game live!


Round 9, August 27
Anand, Vishy -– Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar
C80 Ruy Lopez, open, Bernstein variation

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.Nbd2 Nc5 10.c3 Be7 11.Bc2 d4 12.Nb3 d3 13.Bb1 Nxb3 14.axb3 Bf5 15.Re1 O-O 16.Be3 Qd5 17.Bd4 d2 18.Re2 Bxb1 19.Rxb1 Nxd4 20.Nxd4 Bg5 21.g3 c5 22.Nf5 Qd3 23.Nd6 Qg6 24.h4 Bh6 25.h5 Qxh5 26.Rxd2 Qxe5 27.Rd5 Qf6 28.Ra1 g6 29.Ne4 Qc6 30.Nxc5 Rfe8 31.b4 Bf8 32.Nd7 Re6 33.Ne5 Qe8 34.Nd7 h5 35.Qf3 Qe7 36.Nc5 Rf6 37.Qe4 Qxe4 38.Nxe4 Rc6 39.Nd2 Re8 40.Kf1 Rf6 41.Nb3 Re4 42.Rd8 Kg7 43.Ra8 Ree6 44.Nd4 Rd6 45.Kg2 Be7 46.Re1 Rd8 47.Ra7 Bxb4 48.Ne6+ Rxe6 49.Rxe6 Bc5 50.Rc7 Rd2 51.Rxg6+ Kxg6 52.Rxc5 Rxb2 53.Rc6+ f6 54.Rxa6 Rc2 55.Rb6 Rc1 56.Rb7 Rc2 57.Rb6 Rc1 58.Rb7 Rc2 59.Rb6 1/2-1/2

[Wayne Komer]

Sinquefield Cup 2018

August 27, 2018

Round Nine (Part II)

Round 9, August 27
Aronian, Levon -– Grischuk, Alexander
A46 Queen’s Pawn

1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d6 3.g3 Nbd7 4.Bg2 e5 5.c4 c6 6.Nc3 e4 7.Nh4 d5 8.O-O Bb4 9.cxd5 cxd5 10.f3 Bxc3 11.bxc3 O-O 12.Ba3 Re8 13.Nf5 Nb6 14.Nd6 Nc4 15.Nxc4 dxc4 16.fxe4 Nxe4 17.Qc2 Qd5 18.Rxf7 Kxf7 19.Rf1+ Bf5 20.g4 g6 21.Qc1 Kg7 22.gxf5 gxf5 23.Bxe4 fxe4 24.Qf4 h6 25.Qc7+ Kh8 26.Bd6 Rg8+ 27.Kf2 Rg6 28.Be5+ Kg8 29.Ke3 Rd8 30.Qe7 b5 31.h4 a5 32.h5 Rg5 33.Rf6 Rxe5 34.Rg6+ 1-0

Position after White’'s 18.Rxf7



Aronian: The stroke on f7 dramatically alters a drawn game. When you have half an hour to make twenty moves to time control and your opponent has only nine, it can be very frustrating for him. On estimating the position I that that I had compensation and the time advantage.

Garry Kasparov: The chess goddess Caissa rewards the bold!

Round 9, August 27
Karjakin, Sergey -– MVL
D86 Grunfeld, Exchange, Classical variation

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Bc4 c5 8.Ne2 Nc6 9.Be3 O-O 10.O-O Bg4 11.f3 Bd7 12.Rb1 Qc7 13.h4 cxd4 14.cxd4 Nxd4 15.Bxf7+ Rxf7 16.Nxd4 Rd8 17.Qb3 Qg3 18.Ne2 Qxh4 19.Bf2 Qf6 20.Rfd1 b6 21.Qa3 e6 22.Rd2 Be8 23.e5 Qf5 24.Rxd8 Qxb1+ 25.Kh2 Rf8 26.Ng3 Bxe5 27.Qxa7 Qb4 28.Kg1 Qb1+ 29.Kh2 Qb4 30.Kg1 Bf6 31.Rd1 Ba4 32.Rf1 Bc6 33.Qxb6 Qxb6 34.Bxb6 Ra8 35.Rf2 Bd5 36.Ne4 Be5 37.Re2 Bxa2 38.Ng5 Bd6 39.Kf2 Bc4 40.Rd2 Be7 41.Be3 Bd5 42.Rc2 h6 43.Ne4 Bxe4 44.fxe4 h5 45.Rc7 Bf6 46.Rc6 Ra2+ 47.Kf3 Ra3 48.Ke2 Kf7 49.Rc7+ Ke8 50.Rh7 Rb3 51.Ra7 Rb2+ 52.Kf3 g5 53.e5 g4+ 54.Ke4 Rb4+ 55.Kd3 Bd8 56.Ra8 Kd7 57.g3 Bc7 58.Bd4 Kc6 59.Bc3 Rb8 60.Ra6+ Rb6 61.Ra8 Rb5 62.Ke4 Rb3 63.Bd4 Bb8 64.Ra6+ Kd7 65.Ra8 Rb1 66.Bf2 Rb4+ 67.Bd4 Bc7 68.Kd3 Rb8 69.Ra7 Rb5 70.Kc4 Ra5 71.Rb7 Kc6 72.Rb3 Bxe5 73.Rb6+ Kd7 74.Bxe5 Rxe5 75.Kd4 Ra5 76.Ke4 Ke7 77.Rb8 Ra3 78.Rh8 Rxg3 79.Rxh5 Ra3 80.Kf4 Ra4+ 81.Kg3 Kd6 82.Rh8 Kd5 83.Rd8+ Ke5 84.Rb8 Rd4 85.Ra8 Re4 86.Ra5+ Kf6 87.Ra8 e5 88.Rf8+ Ke6 89.Re8+ Kd5 90.Rd8+ Kc4 91.Ra8 Kd5 92.Rd8+ Kc5 93.Rc8+ Kd4 94.Ra8 Rf4 95.Re8 Ke4 96.Rg8 Rf3+ 97.Kxg4 Rf1 98.Kh3 Ke3 99.Kg2 Ra1 100.Rg3+ Ke2 101.Rg4 Ke3 102.Rg3+ Kd2 103.Rg4 Re1 104.Ra4 e4 105.Ra2+ Ke3 106.Ra3+ Kf4 107.Kf2 Rb1 108.Ke2 Rb2+ 109.Ke1 Ke5 110.Ra4 Kf5 111.Ra8 Kf4 112.Ra3 Rh2 113.Kf1 Rd2 114.Ke1 Rd3 115.Rxd3 exd3 116.Kd2 Ke4 117.Kd1 Ke3 118.Ke1 d2+ 119.Kd1 Kd3 1/2-1/2

Position after 79.Rxh5



This is a draw though Yasser thought it was a win for Black.

Final Standings

1-3 Carlsen, Caruana, Aronian 5.5
4 Mamedyarov 5
5-7 Grischuk, MVL, Anand 4.5
8 So 4
9-10 Nakamura, Karjakin 3

The top three were all declared winners. Fabiano and Wesley will have a playoff tomorrow to see who goes as the fourth to London.

Tony Rich interviewed with Maurice and said that he talked to all three contestants and told them they were all equal on the mathematical tiebreaks. Magnus said that then there should be an all-player playoff or that the three be declared co-champions. All three players had to agree to modify the regulations. David Sedgewick, the Tour director, stayed awake and in contact from London, and the final agreement was that the three should be declared co-champions.

Mike Klein: The Grand Chess Tour tiebreak playoff for fourth place between So and Caruana takes place tomorrow at 1pm local time. They will play two games of 25+10 and if tied after that, a series of 5+3 game couplets, until the fourth pair when the arbiter may decide to break the tie "by other means!"

[John Nguyen]

I’m amazed at Magnus’s grind it out style. I mean his patience knowing Naka is impatient and would inevitably force matters played right into Magnus’s hands. The co-champions thing makes more sense than drawing lots. I wonder if they split the 1st, 2nd, 3rd place money and divide it evenly?

[Hans Jung]

Thanks for the clarification on lack of playoffs and the commentary Wayne.

[Hans Jung]

Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, and Levon Aronian are cochampions of Sinquefeld Cup. (they would split first, second, and third money). No playoffs needed.
Congratulations to each in their own way for some excellent play.

[Hans Jung]

This fan was highly entertained. Thanks also to Uncle Yaz, Jennifer, Maurice, Alejandro, Christian, and Peter Svidler.

[Wayne Komer]

Grand Chess Tour Playoff

August 28, 2018

The tie-break between Caruana and So to determine who will go as the fourth spot to the Grand Tour Final in London.

Fabi picks a black pawn from a bag and so will play as Black in the first game.

The format is:

• 2 rapid games: G/25 + 10 sec. delay

If undecided,

• 2 Blitz games: G/5 + 3 sec. delay

Repeat until a winner is declared

Playoff, Game 1, August 28, 2018
Rapid, G/25 + 10
So, Wesley -– Caruana, Fabiano
E04 Catalan, open

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 Nc6 6.Qa4 Bb4+ 7.Bd2 Nd5 8.Bxb4 Nxb4 9.O-O Rb8 10.Na3 O-O 11.Qb5 b6 12.Qxc4 Ba6 13.Nb5 Qe8 14.Rfc1 Nd5 15.Qxc6 Qxc6 16.Rxc6 Bxb5 17.Rc2 Rfc8 18.Rac1 c5 19.dxc5 Nb4 20.Rd2 Nxa2 21.Ra1 Nb4 22.Rxa7 Nc6 23.Ra1 bxc5 24.e3 h6 25.Bf1 Bxf1 26.Kxf1 Rb5 27.Rc1 Kf8 28.Rdc2 Nb4 29.Nd4 Nxc2 30.Nxb5 Rb8 31.Na3 Nxa3 32.bxa3 Rb3 33.Rxc5 Rxa3 1/2-1/2


Playoff, Game 2, August 2, 2018
Rapid, G/25 + 10
Caruana, Fabiano –- So, Wesley
E20 Nimzo-Indian, Romanishin-Kasparov System

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.g3 O-O 5.Bg2 d5 6.Nf3 dxc4 7.O-O Nc6 8.Qa4 Nd5 9.Qc2 Be7 10.Rd1 Bd7 11.e4 Ncb4 12.Qd2 Nb6 13.Ne5 Nc6 14.Nxc6 Bxc6 15.Qc2 f5 16.a4 fxe4 17.Bxe4 Bxe4 18.Qxe4 Qd7 19.d5 exd5 20.Nxd5 Nxd5 21.Rxd5 Qc6 22.Rd4 Bc5 23.Qxc6 bxc6 24.Rxc4 Bxf2+ 25.Kg2 c5 26.Ra2 Bd4 27.b4 Rad8 28.bxc5 c6 29.Bf4 Rfe8 30.Rd2 Bf6 31.Rd6 Rc8 32.h4 h5 33.Kf3 Re1 34.Re4 Ra1 35.Rd7 Ra3+ 36.Kg2 a5 37.Bd6 Kh7 38.Ra7 Bc3 39.Kh3 Ra2 40.Rc4 Bb4 41.Rf4 Bc3 42.Re7 Rd8 43.Re6 Rd7 44.Rf5 g6 45.Rf3 Bd4 46.Re4 Bg7 47.Rfe3 Rb7 48.Re2 Rxe2 49.Rxe2 Bd4 50.Re4 Rb4 51.Rf4 Bg1 52.Rf1 Bd4 53.Rf7+ Kg8 54.Rc7 Rxa4 55.Rxc6 Kf7 56.Ra6 Ke6 57.Bf4+ Kd5 58.c6 Rc4 59.c7 a4 60.Ra8 Bb2 61.c8=Q Rxc8 62.Rxc8 1-0

Position after Black’'s 25….....c5




Everybody was waiting for Fabi to play 26.Ra2 as the equalizing move. The commentators can talk about nothing else than that move. When he finally makes it, Maurice shouts, “"Slam dunk, baby!”"

Later:

- BLUNDER
- blunder?
- the same rook that gloriously went to a2, now unfortunately goes to e7...

Fabiano goes low on time and loses his edge and just is trying to survive. Wesley goes down on time too and Fabi is able to pull off the win.

Final position



Fabi wins this playoff match and goes to the London Final, where he will play Hikaru Nakamura in the semi-finals.

Maurice reminds us that Fabi will be going to London twice this year, for the World Championship and then, for the London Chess Classic.

Yasser reminds us that he will be commentating on the Chess960 Champions Showdown starting September 11.