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"After nine rounds of heart-stopping action ended in a convincing victory for the pride of France, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, his critical win in the final round pulled him away from the rest of the pack."
That's how Maurice Ashley's introduction began as he hosted the closing ceremony on Saturday night in Saint Louis:
Sinquefield Cup closing ceremony | Source: CCSCSL on YouTube
In case you've missed out on the past two weeks of coverage, you can find all ChessBase reports along with other Grand Chess Tour related posts on our GCT event page:
Tournament winner Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is one of the four players (along with Magnus Carlsen, Wesley So, and Peter Svidler) who now say au revoir to Saint Louis, and head home.
Maxime's final handshake of the 2017 Sinquefield Cup | Photo: Austin Fuller
Four new entrants join the remaining players in the fourth leg of the 2017 Grand Chess Tour, the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz. They are:
Name | FideID | FED | Rtg | |
GM | Nakamura Hikaru | 2016192 | USA | 2822 |
GM | Kasparov Garry | 4100018 | RUS | 2812 |
GM | Nepomniachtchi Ian | 4168119 | RUS | 2810 |
GM | Dominguez Leinier | 3503240 | CUB | 2803 |
GM | Aronian Levon | 13300474 | ARM | 2794 |
GM | Anand Viswanathan | 5000017 | IND | 2778 |
GM | Karjakin Sergey | 14109603 | RUS | 2765 |
GM | Le Quang Liem | 12401137 | VIE | 2761 |
GM | Navara David | 309095 | CZE | 2737 |
GM | Caruana Fabiano | 2020009 | USA | 2700 |
Note: FIDE rapid ratings shown (via Chess-Results), but Universal Rating System ratings are used by the Grand Chess Tour.
Garry Kasparov arrived in Saint Louis for Round 7 | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Of course a major point of intrique will be how Garry Kasparov fares in a slighty more serious return to the board than he's had in recent years (although there have been a few). He has already made his presence felt with a memorable appearance in the Round 7 live commentary webcast:
Kasparov joined Yasser Seirawan, Jennifer Shahade and Maurice Ashley
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Newly arrived in town are blitz specialists Le Quang Liem and Leinier Dominguez Perez, plus Czech number one David Navara, fresh off a disappointing tournament experience in Biel where he finished with two wins, three losses and four draws.
Navara did not participace in the last World Rapid and Blitz in Doha, and his FIDE rapid rating currently stands at exactly the same as his classical rating 2737.
This evening the players turned out in advance of the opening ceremony for an autograph session at the Kingside Diner, adjacent to the Chess Club and Scholastic Center.
#GarryKasparov signing autographs for #GrandChessTour #STLRapidBlitz event starting tomorrow at 1 PM at the #STLChessClub pic.twitter.com/lUKsdA86EC
— SaintLouis ChessClub (@CCSCSL) August 13, 2017
The opening ceremony of the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz takes place at 6:30 PM local time (Monday 1:30 AM CEST):
Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz opening ceremony | Source: CCSCSL on YouTube
Rapid Round 1 pairings:
Aronian - Navara
Nepomniachtchi - Dominquez
Anand - Nakamura
Kasparov - Karjakin
Le - Caruana