Caruana beats Rapport, wins Sinquefield Cup for a third time

by Carlos Alberto Colodro
12/1/2023 – With a final-round win over Richard Rapport, Fabiano Caruana secured tournament victory at the Sinquefield Cup in Saint Louis. This was Caruana’s third victory in this event, as he had previously won it in 2014 (when he famously grabbed seven wins in a row) and in 2018. Sole second place went to Leinier Dominguez, who drew Levon Aronian with the black pieces on Thursday. | Photo: Lennart Ootes

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“I was so nervous during this game”

Fabiano CaruanaDespite having collected success after success during an illustrious, lengthy chess career, Fabiano Caruana confessed that he was very nervous during his final-round Sinquefield Cup game against RIchard Rapport. The 30-year-old scored a convincing win to claim his third victory in this event. In the Sinquefield Cup, he had previously stunned the chess world by winning seven games in a row in 2014 and tied for first with Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian in 2018.

Caruana is having a great year, with classical wins at the Superbet tournament in Romania and at the U.S. Championship, not to mention his strong showing at the FIDE World Cup, where he secured third place to get a spot in the 2024 Candidates Tournament.

The string of good results allowed the Italo-American grandmaster to again cross the 2800 mark in the ratings list, as he now stands in the clear second spot ‘only’ 26 points behind the virtually unreachable Carlsen — notably, though, Hikaru Nakamura now stands 16 points behind Caruana, while world champion Ding Liren stands 8 points further back.

The tournament winner noted that this was his last classical tournament of the year. Caruana will not participate in the 2024 edition of the Tata Steel Masters, but will make his way to the Weissenhaus Resort in Germany to face Carlsen & co. at the recently announced Freestyle Challenge, a chess960 tournament set to take place in February.

Caruana’s strong showing in the 2023 Grand Chess Tour gained him US$ 310,000 in prize money, with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Wesley So — placed second and third respectively — obtaining less than half that amount for their (still strong) performances.


Check out Karsten Müller’s Endgame Magic show with Fabiano Caruana!


Grand Chess Tour 2023

In sole second place finished Leinier Dominguez, who was undefeated throughout the event and grabbed wins over Anish Giri and Richard Rapport. The Cuban-born grandmaster gained 11.2 rating points in Saint Louis, which allowed him to climb to seventh place in the live ratings list (overtaking an out-of-form Alireza Firouzja).

Dominguez thus found himself unexpectedly in the fight to reach the Candidates by rating. However, he is still 1 point behind So, and is forced to play one more tournament in December to become eligible in the rating race.

Moreover, the GM now representing the United States needs to play outside the U.S. after FIDE published a clarification regarding the World Championship cycle regulations. The last-minute announcement was harshly criticized by former Women’s World Champion Susan Polgar.

Nonetheless, a level-headed Dominguez told Anastasiya Karlovich after drawing Levon Aronian in the final round that he will look for ways to make the most of this unexpected opportunity as “it’s not every day that you get a chance to fight for a place in the Candidates”.

Leinier Dominguez

Leinier Dominguez | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Caruana 1 - 0 Rapport

Analysis by GM Karsten Müller

Fabiano Caruana, Richard Rapport

Fabiano Caurana and Richard Rapport | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Final standings

Rk.NameRtg.Nt.Pts.n
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
TBPerf.
1
2795
5.5
8
20.25
2892
2
2745
5.0
8
18.50
2852
3
2752
4.5
8
16.25
2799
4
2771
4.0
8
16.00
2754
5
2734
4.0
8
16.00
2758
6
2727
4.0
8
15.25
2759
7
2752
3.5
8
13.75
2713
8
2777
3.0
8
11.75
2666
9
2748
2.5
8
9.25
2616
TBs: Sonneborn-Berger

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1.d4 2 Nf6 9 2.c4 3 e6 8 3.Nf3 3 d5 6 4.Nc3 7 Bb4 5 5.Bg5 10 h6 7 6.Bh4 4 dxc4 16 6...g5!? 7.Bg3 Ne4= 7.a3 6 D38: Queen's Gambit Declined: Ragozin Defence (4 Nf3 Bb4). Bxc3+ 35 8.bxc3 5 c5 2:58 9.e3 1:44
9...Qd5N 8 9...Qa5!? Predecessor: 9...cxd4 10.cxd4 Qa5+ 11.Nd2 Ne4 12.Bxc4 b6 13.Bd3 Bb7 14.f3 Nxd2 15.Qxd2 Qxd2+ 16.Kxd2 1-0 Wei,Y (2722)-Zhao,J (2591) Shaoxing Hua Yi Rapid Cup 2nd 2023 (3.1) 10.Qa4+ 20:18 Bd7 5:33 11.Qxc4 12 Nc6 50 12.Rb1 11:36 Na5 9:21 13.Qxd5 3:59 Nxd5 1:34 14.c4! 11:17 Ne7 26 15.Bd3 7:10 Rc8 4:54 16.0-0 3:48 b6 6:05 17.Rfc1 1:50 Nf5 5:18 18.Bxf5 9:53      
Deflection 18...exf5 9 Black is weak on the dark squares 19.d5 5 f6 8:52 20.Bg3 1:09 Kf7 2:45 The position is equal. 21.Nd2 12 Rce8 1:08 22.Rc3 2:22 g5 3:20 23.f3 32 h5 8 24.h4 2:47 f4 5:37 25.exf4 50 Bf5 26 26.Re1 5:45 Rxe1+ 2:18 27.Bxe1 6 Re8 5:30 28.Kf1 2:32 gxf4 1:34 ...Re3 is the strong threat. 29.Kf2 6 Dodges Re3 Kg6 4:51 30.Nb3 5:43 Nxb3 2:38 31.Rxb3= 6       Endgame KRB-KRB Bc2 46 32.Rc3 8 Ba4 57 33.Bd2 1:47 Kf5 7 34.g3 1:16 fxg3+ 15 35.Kxg3 5 Re2 3:19 36.Bf4 9 Rc2 18 37.Rxc2 14 Bxc2 5 KB-KB 38.Bb8 19 a6 1:11 39.Ba7 42 Ke5 18 40.Bxb6 20 Kd6 9 41.Ba7 30:50 Bd3 30:10 42.Bb8+ 2 Kd7 9 43.Ba7 1 Kd6 9 44.Bb8+ 2 Kd7 5 45.Ba7 2 Kd6 16 An interesting draw. Weighted Error Value: White=0.04 (flawless) /Black=0.04 (flawless)
½–½
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Vachier-Lagrave,M2734Aronian,L2727½–½2023D38GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20231.1
Dominguez Perez,L2745Caruana,F2795½–½2023B90GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20231.2
Rapport,R2748Nepomniachtchi,I2771½–½2023C42GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20231.3
So,W2752Firouzja,A2777½–½2023A32GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20231.5
Nepomniachtchi,I2771Dominguez Perez,L2745½–½2023A34GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20232.1
Firouzja,A2777Giri,A2752½–½2023C54GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20232.2
So,W2752Vachier-Lagrave,M2734½–½2023B90GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20232.3
Caruana,F2795Aronian,L2727½–½2023C65GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20232.4
Rapport,R2748Firouzja,A2777½–½2023C42GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20233.1
Giri,A2752So,W2752½–½2023C65GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20233.2
Aronian,L2727Nepomniachtchi,I2771½–½2023D37GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20233.3
Vachier-Lagrave,M2734Caruana,F2795½–½2023C93GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20233.4
Giri,A2752Vachier-Lagrave,M2734½–½2023D27GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20234.1
Nepomniachtchi,I2771Caruana,F2795½–½2023E46GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20234.2
So,W2752Rapport,R27481–02023E83GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20234.3
Firouzja,A2777Dominguez Perez,L2745½–½2023D02GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20234.4
Dominguez Perez,L2745So,W2752½–½2023C67GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20235.1
Aronian,L2727Firouzja,A27771–02023E21GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20235.2
Rapport,R2748Giri,A2752½–½2023C50GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20235.3
Vachier-Lagrave,M2734Nepomniachtchi,I2771½–½2023C78GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20235.4
So,W2752Aronian,L27271–02023C67GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20236.1
Firouzja,A2777Caruana,F27950–12023C58GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20236.2
Rapport,R2748Vachier-Lagrave,M2734½–½2023B50GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20236.3
Giri,A2752Dominguez Perez,L27450–12023B20GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20236.4
Caruana,F2795So,W27521–02023E42GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20237.1
Aronian,L2727Giri,A2752½–½2023C42GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20237.2
Nepomniachtchi,I2771Firouzja,A2777½–½2023D12GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20237.3
Dominguez Perez,L2745Rapport,R27481–02023B12GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20237.4
Rapport,R2748Aronian,L2727½–½2023C50GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20238.1
Giri,A2752Caruana,F2795½–½2023E08GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20238.2
Dominguez Perez,L2745Vachier-Lagrave,M2734½–½2023B33GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20238.3
So,W2752Nepomniachtchi,I2771½–½2023E32GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20238.4
Nepomniachtchi,I2771Giri,A2752½–½2023C54GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20239.1
Vachier-Lagrave,M2734Firouzja,A2777½–½2023C67GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20239.2
Aronian,L2727Dominguez Perez,L2745½–½2023C48GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20239.3
Caruana,F2795Rapport,R27481–02023D94GCT 10th Sinquefield Cup 20239.4

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Carlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.

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