Sinquefield 01: Kamsky and Aronian self-destruct

The Sinquefield Cup is taking place from September 9th to September 15th at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. The tournament brings together the top two players in the world as well as the top two Americans in a double round robin. The time control is the standard FIDE 90 minutes for 40 moves plus thirty minutes at move 40 with 30 second increment throughout.

The tournament's opening ceremony was only open for the players, the organizers and select members of the press.

The Executive Director of the Saint Louis Chess Club Tony Rich and the arbiter for the event Chris Bird

The man who is most essential in all of this: Rex Sinquefield, sponsor of the club and the tournament

Carlsen drew number one by picking one of four boxes with a number inside and will start against number four, Gata Kamsky

The trophy that the players are playing for, that and a $70,000 first prize

Round one

The Americans started off with the surprises in the opening. The Bf5 variation of the a6 Slav is unusual but played, and it seems that it certainly was not what Carlsen was expecting. Kamsky quickly got an advantage on the clock and a solid but passive position - very much his style. In the other game, Nakamura's Nbd2!? seemd to catch Aronian off-guard, not an easy thing to do as the Armenian is arguably the best player of the Spanish in the World.

Nakamura's strong opening immediately put Aronian against the ropes

Aronian was in very high spirits before the game, but his mood considerably changed when Nakamura uncorked 32.Nd7!

Levon Aronian was the last one to show up, and without a pen

The organizers promptly provided him with one. The players also have access to all kinds of snacks and pastries they can possibly think of.

Hikaru mentioned after the game that he was ready to offer a draw to Aronian had he played 30...Qc6 instead of 30...Qb5?? From the opening it seems that Nakamura thought he had a slight edge somewhere, but was unable to figure out exactly how to proceed. When asked if he felt as if he was representing America in this tournament, he simply said that he, as always, will try to play his best, but that he clearly was the one that would have to give face for the country as Kamsky's position was already nearly lost. The American player admitted that he didn't realize that Qb5 was immediately losing, but was able to see the winning combination seconds after his opponent played the losing move.

Aronian was very graceful after the game, simply calling chess a very "humbling game". It must be so if even the World number two can fall for such blunders! He categorized his mistake as "ridiculous" but also resigned himself to the fact that "these things happen". Regarding the opening he admitted to forgetting everything about this variation, but figured that c5 was the natural way to continue.

The sponsor Rex Sinquefield quickly made Carlsen's opening move

Carlsen faced a quick onslaught by Kamsky, but he defended cooly and won with a swift counterattack

A number of spectators lined up to try to observe the opening moves of the tournament

Daniel King's Play of the day

Sinquefield Cup Round 1: Magnus Carlsen vs Gata Kamsky

Carlsen condemned the move h5 as the beginning of Black's problems, but he also mentioned he was unable to fully exploit this.

"I played a couple of rook moves that were stupid, I thought he would repeat the position, but he didn't, and that allowed him to get everything he wanted". Remarked Carlsen after the game. When asked how he will spend the evening he mentioned trying to catch the tail end of the US Open, without a particular favorite.

Kamsky seemed very upset but composed after the game. "This is a tournament where there is nothing at stake; I wanted to play chess and make things interesting" was his reasoning for the move h5 and how he continued forward on the kingside. Originally his idea was to get g3 for his knight but he realized that probably playing g4 instead of Nf6 was considerably better.

Nakamura will try to go for 2-0 as he repeats white, this time playing against Gata Kamsky. Levon Aronian will try to pick himself up from his blunder as he has the white side against Magnus Carlsen.

Opening ceremony photos by Carmen Schuette

Round one photos by Sabrina Chevannes

Schedule

The games start at 20:00h European time, 22:00h Moscow, 2 p.m. New York. You can find your regional starting time here. The commentary on Playchess begins one hour after the start of the games and is free for premium members.

Links Official tournament site All games in PGN The games will be 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.