Hot Topics: grand chess tour 2017 - page 2

Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz: Highlights from Day 5

8/20/2017 – The thrills and spills from Day 4 continued into the final round-robin. Karjakin's surge faded, and he ended in a tie for second with Hikaru Nakamura. But neither player could catch Levon Aronian, who stayed one step ahead in the combined standings, to clinch first place overall with two rounds to spare. Garry Kasparov finally hit his stride, scoring 5½ / 9 on the final day. If the blitz were a standalone tournament, Kasparov would have been fifth. Here are some of Friday's highlights. | Photos: Lennart Ootes

Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz: Closing Ceremony and Ultimate Moves

8/19/2017 – The live action continued Saturday featuring the now-traditional trash-talk filled blitz bonanza known as Ultimate Moves. "Team Rex" squeaked out the victory after a 3/3 tie sparked an wild impromptu tiebreak game (not planned in advance), which was unceremoniously concluded by an illegal move made by Randy Sinquefield!

All Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz interviews

8/19/2017 – Following on the heels of the Sinquefield Cup, the Saint Louis Blitz and Rapid lasted just five days, with each webcast lasting about 4½ hours. Most player interviews took place at the end of the day, after the rapid or blitz games concluded. For posterity, we've once again compiled quick links to all those post-game chats with Maurice Ashley and Cristian Chirila. | Photos: Lennart Ootes

Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz: Karjakin ascendent

8/18/2017 – Reigning World Blitz Champion Sergey Karjakin dominated the first leg of the Blitz event as he scored 8 points out of a possible 9, but still pronounced that he was ‘actually very angry that I didn’t win my first game against Garry!’ in their mutual encounter. Aronian continues to lead the overall standings comprising the score from the Rapid event as well. One more round-robin cycle of Blitz remains to be played on Friday, August 18th. | Photos: Lennart Ootes

Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz: Kasparov was "too democratic"

8/17/2017 – Where Kasparov is, there is drama. On the last day of rapid at the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz tournament, the 13th World Champion was particularly emotive after he completely outplayed David Navara, only to spoil the game utterly. Levon Aronian leads the field alone. | Photos: Lennart Ootes

Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz: Nepomniachtchi first to clear lead

8/16/2017 – After six rounds of rapid, Nepomniachtchi leads with 4.0 / 6. He dealt the first loss to Garry Kasparov in Round 5, as the 13th World Champion sits near the bottom of the cross table. But a large group is just half point behind with 3½ points. | Photos: Lennart Ootes

Goodbye Sinquefield Cup, hello Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz

8/14/2017 – Closing the books on the Sinquefield Cup with video from the closing ceremony, and turning to the next major event right on its heels, the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz tournament, which opens Sunday with live-streamed opening ceremony and drawing of lots. Find out who Garry Kasparov will play on Monday! | Photos: Lennart Ootes

Sinquefield Cup: MVL WINS!

8/12/2017 – Maxime Vachier-Lagrave wins the Sinquefield Cup, the first classical event of the 2017 the Grand Chess Tour. He settled the matter without consideration for tiebreak rules by winning over Ian Nepomniachtchi to reach 6 points. Magnus Carlsen gave it his best shot by beating and leapfrogging Levon Aronian to reach 5½ points. Viswanathan Anand earlier drew with So, and only reached 5½ | Photos: Lennart Ootes

Sinquefield Cup: Round 8 - Poised for a photo-finish

8/11/2017 – Anand is still in the joint lead after draw with Vachier-Lagrave, as Aronian drew with Svilder. Magnus Carlsen and Sergey Karjakin are lurking a half point back and will have to win in round 9 to have any chance for tournament victory | Photos: Lennart Ootes

Sinquefield Cup: Round 7 - Three at the top

8/10/2017 – We now have a three-way tie for first, after wins by Anand and Aronian. Vachier-Lagrave only drew, and Magnus Carlsen remains a half point back. Garry Kasparov arrived and delighted fans with an appearance on the live commentary webcast! | Photos: Lennart Ootes

Sinquefield Cup: Round 6 - Aronian arises

8/9/2017 – Levon Aronian was the sole winner of the sixth round, impressively defeating Wesley So and moving into shared second place with Vishy Anand and Magnus Carlsen. The latter missed chances to beat Hikaru Nakamura in a long drawn-out rook endgame, but had to settle for a draw after six hours of play. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave remains in the lead. | Photos: Lennart Ootes

Sinquefield Cup: Round 5 - Carlsen back in the pack

8/8/2017 – Magnus Carlsen is back in the black! It was a day when Vishy Anand and Magnus Carlsen showcased brilliant calculating skills and self belief in order to win their games against Caruana and So respectively. When your opponent makes a move which you have thought was impossible, it is natural to doubt your own calculation. But great players go beyond that doubt and play confidently if they can find no refutation. Anand did just that, and so did Carlsen to score the only victories of the day. Blow by blow analysis of both the games. | Photos: Lennart Ootes
Previous12