Fabiano Caruana and Alexander Donchenko win Saint Louis Masters

by André Schulz
12/10/2024 – At the beginning of December Fabiano Caruana was the sole winner of the U.S. Masters in Charlotte, but at the Saint Louis Masters he had to share victory with German Grandmaster Alexander Donchenko. With one round to go, Caruana led the field by one point, but in the final round he lost to Donchenko with White and both finished with 6.5/9. | Photo: (from left to right) Tony Rich, Fabiano Caruana, Alexander Donchenko, Sabina Foisor | Photo: Saint Louis Chess Club

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From 3 to 7 December, the Saint Louis Chess Club held its Saint Louis Chess Masters, an open tournament with almost 60 players, almost all of them titled players, including numerous grandmasters. The tournament was a 9-round-Swiss, with four of the five days of play featuring two rounds per day.

Top seed was Fabiano Caruana, followed by several other top US grandmasters, including Ray Robson, Samuel Sevian and Sam Shankland. 

By participating in open tournaments Caruana hopes to improve his standing in the FIDE Circuit before the end of the year. In the FIDE Circuit, FIDE awards points for results in listed tournaments and the winner of the 2024 FIDE Circuit will qualify for the 2026 Candidates Tournament. Currently Arjun Erigaisi and Caruana fight for the number one spot.

Among the players who travelled from the US Masters in Charlotte to Saint Louis was Alexander Donchenko, who is apparently warming up in the USA for the World Rapid and Blitz Championships in New York at the end of the year.

The prize money of $100,000 was no doubt another good argument for many players to take part in the Saint Louis Masters. The tournament was not held at the Saint Louis Chess Club - it wouldn't be big enough for 60 players - but in the Maryland Ballroom of the Royal Sonesta Chase Park Plaza Hotel in Saint Louis.

Caruana started with two wins, then drew with Aram Hakoyan and then beat Sam Shankland. In round five Caruana drew against Nikolas Theodorou, the only player to beat Caruana at the U.S. Masters. After two more wins and a draw against Grigoriy Oparin in round 8, Caruana had 6.5/8 and was one point ahead of his closest rivals with one round to go.

Fabiano Caruana

Alexander Donchenko's tournament also went well, but not quite as well as Caruana's. The German grandmaster took a bye in the first round and then had three wins and four draws.

Alexander Donchenko

Going into the final round Donchenko was part of a group of six players with 5.5/8 each, one point behind Caruana. In the final round Donchenko had to play Caruana with Black and won with energetic play.  

Caruana, Fabiano28050–1Donchenko, Alexander2618
Saint Louis Masters 2024
07.12.2024[Schulz,A]
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+ Nd7 4.0-0 a6 5.Be2 5.Bxd7+ or 5.Bd3 are also popular moves. 5...Ngf6 6.d3 g6 6...e6 7.a4 b6 8.Nfd2 Bb7 9.f4 Be7 10.Bf3 Qc7 11.Nc3 d5 12.e5 Ng8 13.Qe2 Nh6 14.Nd1 Nf5= 1-0 (41) Firouzja,A (2744)-Caruana,F (2796) Chess.com INT 2024 7.c4 Bg7 8.Nc3 e5 8...0-0 9.d4 cxd4 10.Nxd4 Nc5 11.f3 Ne6 12.Nc2 g5 13.Rf2 Nf4 14.Bf1 h6 15.Be3 Be6 16.Nd4 Ng6 17.Qb3 Bd7 18.Nf5 Bxf5 19.exf5 Nh4 20.Bd3± 1-0 (39) Aronian,L (2729)-Kelires,A (2536) Budapest 2024 9.Ne1 Nf8 9...Rb8 10.Rb1 Nf8 11.Nc2 Ne6 12.b4 cxb4 13.Nxb4 Bd7 14.Be3 1/2-1/2 (45) Sheng,J (2474)-Chen,R (2408) San Jose 2024 10.f4 exf4 11.Bxf4 Ne6 12.Be3 0-0=
13.Qd2 13.a4!? 13...b5 14.Rd1 14.cxb5?! axb5 15.Nxb5 Rb8 16.Nc3 d5 and Black has good play for the pawn. 17.exd5 Nxd5 14...Rb8 15.b3 b4 16.Na4 Bd7 Black seized the initiative and is slightly better. 17.e5 17.Nb2 Qa5 18.Ra1 Qa3 with strong pressure on the long diagonal. 17...Ne8 18.exd6 A possible alternative was 18.Bg4!? Bxa4 19.Bxe6 fxe6 20.Rxf8+ Kxf8 21.bxa4 Bxe5 Black is a pawn up but White is still in the game. 18...Bxa4 19.bxa4 Bc3 20.Qc1 Nxd6 21.Bg4 f5 21...Nd4 was slightly better. 22.Bf3 f4 23.Bd2 Bxd2 24.Qxd2 24.Rxd2 Nd4 25.Bd5+ Kg7 26.Nc2 Qf6 27.Qa1 Nxc2 28.Qxf6+ Kxf6 29.Rxc2 g5 24...Nd4 25.Bd5+ More stubborn was 25.Nc2 Qf6 26.Nxd4 Qxd4+ 27.Qf2 Nf5 25...Kg7 26.Nf3 Qf6 27.Kh1 Rbe8 28.Nxd4 Qxd4 29.a5 g5 Black dominates the board. 30.Qc2 Nf5 31.Qa4 Rf6 Threatening ...Ng3+ and ...Rh6#. 32.h3 Ng3+ Black wins material - the game is practically over. 33.Kh2 Nxf1+ 34.Rxf1 Re7 35.Qd1 Qe5 36.Kh1 Qe2 37.Qa1 Qxd3 38.Bf3 Qxc4 39.Rc1 Qd4 40.Qb1 Rfe6 41.Rf1 Qc3 42.Qf5 Re5 43.Qg4 Qd3 44.Rd1 Qf5 45.Qxf5 Rxf5 46.Rd6 c4
0–1

With this win Donchenko caught up with Caruana and as none of the other players with 5.5/8 could win in the last round, Caruana and Donchenko were declared joint winners of the tournament.

Though sole victory at the Saint Louis Masters would have given Caruana even more FIDE Circuit points, he still managed to overtake Erigaisi and now leads the Circuit. However, Erigaisi is likely to pick up points at the Qatar Masters and the race will probably only be decided at the World Rapid and Blitz Championships in New York at the end of the year.

FIDE Circuit 2024

Source: FIDE...

Final standings

Rk. Name Pts.
1 Caruana, Fabiano 6,5
Donchenko, Alexander 6,5
3 Sevian, Samuel 6
Saric, Ivan 6
Oparin, Grigoriy 6
Hakobyan, Aram 6
Zhou, Jianchao 6
Can, Isik 6
9 Robson, Ray 5,5
Shankland, Sam 5,5
Bok, Benjamin 5,5
Quesada Perez, Yasser 5,5
Khanin, Semen 5,5
Woodward, Andy 5,5
Kacharava, Nikolozi 5,5
16 Mishra, Abhimanyu 5
Swiercz, Dariusz 5
Kevlishvili, Robby 5
Kantor, Gergely 5
Cordova, Emilio 5
Harsha, Bharathakoti 5
Dudin, Gleb 5
Heimann, Mark 5
24 Theodorou, Nikolas 4,5
Vazquez, Guillermo 4,5

59 players...

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André Schulz started working for ChessBase in 1991 and is an editor of ChessBase News.

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