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. Sofia rules apply, which means none of the games can be drawn before move 30 - with certain exceptions.
The man: Rex Sinquefield. Thanks to him the Sinquefield Cup, the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, the World Hall of Fame not only exist but are top-tier class. Not to mention the over 500 schools the chess club reaches out to to popularize and teach chess.
The Sinquefield Cup has finished in a very unexpected way. Kamsky had the chance to upset Nakamura after the latter took too many early risks, but eventually Kamsky was unable to convert. His inaccuracies near the end of the game still gave him a small edge due to the weakend position of Black's king, but a combination of not being in shape and probably wanting to get the tournament over with influenced his decision to take a draw by perpetual check. This wasn't so bad for Nakamura as at this point Carlsen was significantly worse in his game.
Kamsky was friendly from start to finish, despite the less than stellar result
Nakamura's opening was risky and you could argue that he got the unbalanced position he wanted, but he soon found himself in trouble
Kamsky's 2625 performance is well below his rating, but he hopes to bounce back in future tournaments
When asked about his play in Saint Louis the Norwegian mentioned that he was overall pleased and that he was in good form. Despite being slightly worse at the beginning of the game, Carlsen fought back and even refused a draw offer when he sensed that he had chances to be better, despite the fact that a draw would've clinched first place.
Closing Ceremony
The closing ceremony was a relatively quick affair. The players were part of a quick question and answer session and immediately afterwards Carlsen was presented the winner's trophy replica.
The players were generally gracious and funny with their answers
Many of the questions were of course directed towards Carlsen and his preparation for the World Championship. He thanked the organizers for the event and mentioned that it was a perfect opportunity for him to play, as he had not been able to really have a challenge since the Tal Memorial earlier this year. Without this tournament he was afraid he might even be a little rusty at the match.
Nakamura liked the double round robin format and mentioned that it was much more fair than the traditional nine roudn tournaments, were one player having white and sometimes having that color against certain players gave them the davantage.
Aronian enjoyed the conditions in America and loved being here, he expressed his desire to be back soon. Carlsen was also happy with the conditions provided and thanked the organizers for an excellent job, except for the last bit of his match against Kamsky. This game was played on a Friday evening and music had started at the Central West End (the area of Saint Louis were the tournament is held) and it became "a little bit annoying".
The players agreed unanimously that the chess club is like nothing they have seen before and hope that it will increase the popularity of chess in Saint Louis and in America.
When asked about computers influencing draws in chess, Carlsen kicked back the answer challenging that the "death by draw" of chess has been an unfounded theory since the times of Capablanca and Alekhine, and that at his level most everything is just about fighting chess.
The mayor of Saint Louis Francis G. Slay gave the final words of the event
The people that made this happen and the tournament winner: Jeanne Sinquefield, Rex Sinquefield, Chess Club Executive Director Tony Rich and Magnus Carlsen
The last few words were incredibly encouraging for American chess: The Sinquefield Cup will return next year in approximately eleven months to Saint Louis!
Photos by Alejandro Ramirez
| Round 01 – September 09 2013, 13:00h | ||||
| Carlsen, Magnus | 2862 |
1-0
|
Kamsky, Gata | 2741 |
| Nakamura, Hikaru | 2772 |
1-0
|
Aronian, Levon | 2813 |
| Round 02 – September 10 2013, 13:00h | ||||
| Aronian, Levon | 2813 |
½-½
|
Carlsen, Magnus | 2862 |
| Nakamura, Hikaru | 2772 |
1-0
|
Kamsky, Gata | 2741 |
| Round 03 – September 11 2013, 13:00h | ||||
| Carlsen, Magnus | 2862 |
½-½
|
Nakamura, Hikaru | 2772 |
| Kamsky, Gata | 2741 |
½-½
|
Aronian, Levon | 2813 |
| Round 04 – September 13 2013, 13:00h | ||||
| Kamsky, Gata | 2741 |
0-1
|
Carlsen, Magnus | 2862 |
| Aronian, Levon | 2813 |
1-0
|
Nakamura, Hikaru | 2772 |
| Round 05 – September 14 2013, 13:00h | ||||
| Nakamura, Hikaru | 2772 |
½-½
|
Magnus, Carlsen | 2862 |
| Aronian, Levon | 2813 |
½-½
|
Kamsky, Gata | 2741 |
| Round 06 – September 15 2013, 11:00h | ||||
| Carlsen, Magnus | 2862 |
1-0
|
Aronian, Levon | 2813 |
| Kamsky, Gata | 2741 |
½-½
|
Nakamura, Hikaru | 2780 |
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.
LinksThe 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. |
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