Sinquefield Cup video highlights (Part 2)

Bonus material and interviews

Below you can browse a number of embedded clips or link directly to others. All content is from the Saint Louis Chess Club's extensive and expanding channel on YouTube, indexed here for convenient review.

Round 4

Maxime Vachier-Lagrave discussed the consequence of his devotion to the Najdorf against Grischuk.

• Confessional Booth visit of Vachier-Lagrave
• Post-game interview with MVL: "I didn't have any regrets".

Viswanathan Anand is a rare guest in the confession booth, but he decided to pop by in the fourth round to discuss his "very tense

• Confessional Booth visit of Anand
• Post-game interview with Anand

Possibly a first for the fifteenth World Champion

Maurice Question to Players: Why do you think we have not seen a repeat winner at the Sinquefield Cup?

Caruana: "For a long time Magnus was dominating at the top, but he's not winning every tournament, and recently he hasn't been winning as much as before."

Nakamura, So, Karjakin, Mamedyarov, Dominguez, Caruana, Aronian, Vachier-Lagrave and Anand weigh in

• The Count’s Corner with GM Cristian Chirila on So vs Karjakin
• The Breakdown with GM Alejandro Ramirez (Anand vs Carlsen)
• Interview with Shannon Bailey, Chief Curator at the World Chess Hall of Fame

Other player interviews

• Karjakin, who started with two losses with the black pieces
• Carlsen: "I felt I should take this one chance to get active"
• Caruana scored a win over Nakamura, after an interesting queenside castling novelty, to move to the top of the table: "He played logical moves, but I just don't think the best ones".

Caruana fielded a couple of questions about the upcoming World Championship match. "I'm not really feeling pressure right now. When the match actually comes around, then I'll feel the pressure. But right now I'm just happy that I made it there".

Maurice Ashley and Yasser Seirawan had a few questions related to Caruana's World Championship bid

• Caruana on the Russian commentary (in English) — Long-castles is "an interesting practical try" but Black will find multiple good options.

Games of Round 4

Round 4 recap and ChessBase round-up show

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GM Daniel King on the highlights of the round

Round 5

The webcast for this round of the Sinquefield Cup got a boost from being a top trending video on YouTube, which garnered the show over 250,000 views, and to-date has 290,000 views which is over 100k more than the next highest round of the tournament.

• Confessional Booth visits of Vachier-Lagrave
• The Breakdown with GM Alejandro Ramirez checks Vachier-Lagrave vs Caruana
• The Count’s Corner with GM Cristian Chirila on Nakamura vs Mamedyarov

Maurice Question to Players: Would Levon be a Super Hero or a Super Villain?

Keyser Söze or the Joker? "The goodie-goods are not that attractive", is Aronian's own verdict.

Showing the lighter side of Nakamura, Karjakin, Mamedyarov, Grischuk, Anand, So and Caruana 

What about Magnus Carlsen? (from Round 8)

Zoro or James Bond? Hero seems to be the verdict here. But Caruana goes with Bain from Batman, and that's just fine with Magnus!

Aronian, So, Anand, Vachier-Lagrave, Karjakin, Mamedyarov, Grischuk, Nakamura, Caruana and Carlsen

Other player interviews

• Anand after his fifth draw — "Periodically my seconds would jog my memory" as to which queen move is the important improvement. In a line of the Queen's Gambit Declined, Anand says 16...Qf6 "kills this particular line"
• Aronian also weighed in — "I decided to play this opening in the morning...I didn't analyse Qf6"

• Caruana drew with Vachier-Lagrave — "I thought I was under some slight, but annoying, pressure"
• Vachier-Lagrave — "I liked my position. I think if you manage to refute the Petroff, you deserve more than a win. I felt this was an OK try"
• Grischuk — "I think there is just a different meaning of the word 'friend' in Russian and in English...I can say we are comrades, but I cannot say we are friends in the Russian sense". "Friend" in English is like for Facebook and Grischuk doesn't have an account. Karjakin then added his insight on the subject.
• Mamedyarov explained his big reaction after a draw with Nakamura, and also his veritable addition to playing dominoes. He's played in the national championship of Azerbaijan.

Both players were shaking their heads and upset with their fifth round draw

• Carlsen — "I was really puzzled when he went Qe7 because I have some really interesting options there", but ultimately he could only give credit to Wesley So: "Well done, good defence".
• Romana Gracanin, President of CCSCSL Young Professionals Board  

How important is physical fitness?

So, Karjakin, Nakamura, Vachier-Lagrave, Caruana, Aronian, and Anand on their workout routines and staying fresh

Games of Round 5

Round 5 recap and ChessBase round-up show

IM Lawrence Trent covered Round 5

Round 6

Caruana won again to take the sole lead in the tournament.

• The Count’s Corner with GM Cristian Chirila on Mamedyarov vs Vachier-Lagrave
• GM Cristian Chirila also interviewed two “Superfans” who brought a large Poster of Fabi’s Head to the tournament – 4.18.20
• Kitty Radcliff, President, Explore St Louis
• GM Peter Svidler on his participation in the upcoming Chess 960 match event

 
Player interviews

• Grischuk missed a golden opportunity against Carlsen
• Caruana scored the only win to take the sole lead
• Vachier-Lagrave drew with Mamedyarov
• Aronian sacrificed a rook against Nakamura after an oversight, but Nakamura, bungled the conversion and the game ended drawn

Caruana interviewed after taking the lead

Games of Round 6 (annotated by GM Daniel Fernandez)

Round 6 recap and ChessBase round-up show

IM Lawrence Trent on the highlights of the day

Continued in part 3...

Links

• Official site
• More news from the 2018 Grand Chess Tour
• Round 4: Five leaders
• Round 5: Draws, some short, some hard-fought
• Round 6: Caruana grabs the lead
• Sinquefield Cup video highlights, part 1