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2015 Sinquefield CupThis super-GM single Round Robin brings together some of the best players in the world. This is the second leg of the Grand Chess Tour. The players – Magnus Carlsen (Norway), Levon Aronian (Armenia), Fabiano Caruana (USA), Hikaru Nakamura (USA), Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), Alexander Grischuk (Russia), Anish Giri (Netherlands), Viswanathan Anand (India), Wesley So (USA). The venue is the Chess Club and Scholastic Center at 4657 Maryland Avenue, Saint Louis, MO 63108. Tickets can be purchased at the Saint Louis Chess Club. |
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Round One
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Name
|
Rtg
|
Res.
|
Name
|
Rtg
|
Giri, Anish | 2793 |
1-0
|
Grischuk, Alexander | 2771 |
So, Wesley | 2779 |
0-1
|
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2731 |
Aronian, Levon | 2765 |
1-0
|
Caruana, Fabiano | 2808 |
Carlsen, Magnus | 2853 |
0-1
|
Topalov, Veselin | 2816 |
Nakamura, Hikaru | 2814 |
1-0
|
Anand, Viswanathan | 2816 |
What a scintillating start to the 2015 Sinquefield Cup! We could not have asked for more: a round full of brilliancies, attacks, and many confusing moves!
The hall was a bit packed
Some needed extra assistance to see the games
The first game to finish was brilliant. Aronian smashed Caruana’s position when there was a tremendous amount of tension in the center. Caruana released it too early, the Armenian saw his opportunity and sacrificed a full rook! His devastating continuation with a quiet move, Rf1, was sufficient to topple the American’s defenses and Caruana lost soon after.
A big victory for Aronian
Three games then finished almost at the same time. First, Giri finished off Grischuk with a nice novelty from a blitz game played some time ago. Grischuk was caught off guard. got low on time and his position collapsed. A clean victory for the Dutch.
Giri: "My wife knew about 7...g5 in that Sicilian (Carlsen-Topalov) I don't know why Carlsen didn't"
Next MVL won his game against Wesley So. So’s greedy approach in the opening was severely punished. Despite having an extra pawn, his position was simply terrible. Black’s pieces were too active and controlled the board. After White had to give up his light-squared bishop for the opponent’s knight it was clear that So was just trying to survive. He was unable to do so, and MVL took his extra exchange to victory.
The Frenchman punished big greed
Nakamura was trying to pressure Anand, who defended in clever ways. However the Indian player missed a couple of chances to fully equalize, and after a series of inaccuracies he saw himself unable to protect his pawn. In an awful position, but perhaps not 100% lost, Anand decided to resign.
Anand could not find the precise moves to hold
Last, but certainly not least, a spectacular series of fireworks in the Carlsen-Topalov game. Topalov opened with a crazy novelty: 7...g5!? which apparently had been analyzed in an article recenntly. Carlsen sacrificed a piece for two pawns an an initiative, but the Bulgarian was unfazed. He defended well, Carlsen continued to be aggressive, but it was to no avail. The attack never crashed through, and the pawns were not enough compensation for the extra piece. In a big time scramble Topalov won with his extra material.
Carlsen's reaction to 7...g5
Select from the dropdown menu to replay the games
Photos by Lennart Ootes
Round One
|
||||
Name
|
Rtg
|
Res.
|
Name
|
Rtg
|
Giri, Anish | 2793 |
1-0
|
Grischuk, Alexander | 2771 |
So, Wesley | 2779 |
0-1
|
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2731 |
Aronian, Levon | 2765 |
1-0
|
Caruana, Fabiano | 2808 |
Carlsen, Magnus | 2853 |
0-1
|
Topalov, Veselin | 2816 |
Nakamura, Hikaru | 2814 |
1-0
|
Anand, Viswanathan | 2816 |
Games start at 1 p.m. local time (20:00h CEST, 22:00h Moscow, Thursday 12:30 New Delhi, 03:00h Tokyo, 04:00 Canberra – check your location here).
Playoffs, if necessary, will be on the 2nd at 1pm.
The games will be broadcast live on Playchess, with expert analysis (see schedule below).
Day | Date | Time | Event | German |
English
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Sunday | Aug. 23 | 1 PM | Round 1 | Thomas Luther |
Mihail Marin
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Monday | Aug. 24 | 1 PM | Round 2 | Calrstedt/Pähtz |
Mihail Marin
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Tuesday | Aug. 25 | 1 PM | Round 3 | S. Siebrecht |
Simon Williams
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Wednesday | Aug. 26 | 1 PM | Round 4 | S. Siebrecht |
Simon Williams
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Thursday | Aug. 27 | 1 PM | Round 5 | S. Siebrecht |
Simon Williams
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Friday | Aug. 28 | Rest Day | |||
Saturday | Aug. 29 | 1 PM | Round 6 | Reeh/Breutigam |
Y. Pelletier
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Sunday | Aug. 30 | 1 PM | Round 7 | Reeh/Breutigam |
Y. Pelletier
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Monday | Aug. 31 | 1 PM | Round 8 | S. Siebrecht |
Daniel King
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Tuesday | Sept. 1 | 1 PM | Round 9 | Y. Pelletier |
Daniel King
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Wednesday | Sept. 2 | 1 PM | Playoffs |
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LinksThe games are being broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download a free Playchess client there and get immediate access. You can also use ChessBase 12 or any of our Fritz compatible chess programs. |