Goodbye Sinquefield Cup, hello Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz
8/14/2017 – Closing the books on the Sinquefield Cup with video from the closing ceremony, and turning to the next major event right on its heels, the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz tournament, which opens Sunday with live-streamed opening ceremony and drawing of lots. Find out who Garry Kasparov will play on Monday! | Photos: Lennart Ootes
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Goodbye and hello again
"After nine rounds of heart-stopping action ended in a convincing victory for the pride of France, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, his critical win in the final round pulled him away from the rest of the pack."
That's how Maurice Ashley's introduction began as he hosted the closing ceremony on Saturday night in Saint Louis:
Sinquefield Cup closing ceremony | Source: CCSCSL on YouTube
In case you've missed out on the past two weeks of coverage, you can find all ChessBase reports along with other Grand Chess Tour related posts on our GCT event page:
Tournament winner Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is one of the four players (along with Magnus Carlsen, Wesley So, and Peter Svidler) who now say au revoir to Saint Louis, and head home.
Maxime's final handshake of the 2017 Sinquefield Cup | Photo: Austin Fuller
Shaking things up
Four new entrants join the remaining players in the fourth leg of the 2017 Grand Chess Tour, the Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz. They are:
| Name | FideID | FED | Rtg | |
| GM | Nakamura Hikaru | 2016192 | USA | 2822 |
| GM | Kasparov Garry | 4100018 | RUS | 2812 |
| GM | Nepomniachtchi Ian | 4168119 | RUS | 2810 |
| GM | Dominguez Leinier | 3503240 | CUB | 2803 |
| GM | Aronian Levon | 13300474 | ARM | 2794 |
| GM | Anand Viswanathan | 5000017 | IND | 2778 |
| GM | Karjakin Sergey | 14109603 | RUS | 2765 |
| GM | Le Quang Liem | 12401137 | VIE | 2761 |
| GM | Navara David | 309095 | CZE | 2737 |
| GM | Caruana Fabiano | 2020009 | USA | 2700 |
Note: FIDE rapid ratings shown (via Chess-Results), but Universal Rating System ratings are used by the Grand Chess Tour.
Garry Kasparov arrived in Saint Louis for Round 7 | Photo: Lennart Ootes
Of course a major point of intrique will be how Garry Kasparov fares in a slighty more serious return to the board than he's had in recent years (although there have been a few). He has already made his presence felt with a memorable appearance in the Round 7 live commentary webcast:
Kasparov joined Yasser Seirawan, Jennifer Shahade and Maurice Ashley
Master Class Vol.7: Garry Kasparov
On this DVD a team of experts gets to the bottom of Kasparov's play. In over 8 hours of video running time the authors Rogozenko, Marin, Reeh and Müller cast light on four important aspects of Kasparov's play: opening, strategy, tactics and endgame.
Newly arrived in town are blitz specialists Le Quang Liem and Leinier Dominguez Perez, plus Czech number one David Navara, fresh off a disappointing tournament experience in Biel where he finished with two wins, three losses and four draws.
Navara did not participace in the last World Rapid and Blitz in Doha, and his FIDE rapid rating currently stands at exactly the same as his classical rating 2737.
This evening the players turned out in advance of the opening ceremony for an autograph session at the Kingside Diner, adjacent to the Chess Club and Scholastic Center.
#GarryKasparov signing autographs for #GrandChessTour #STLRapidBlitz event starting tomorrow at 1 PM at the #STLChessClub pic.twitter.com/lUKsdA86EC
— SaintLouis ChessClub (@CCSCSL) August 13, 2017
Watch the Opening
The opening ceremony of the Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz takes place at 6:30 PM local time (Monday 1:30 AM CEST):
Saint Louis Rapid and Blitz opening ceremony | Source: CCSCSL on YouTube
Rapid Round 1 pairings:
Aronian - Navara
Nepomniachtchi - Dominquez
Anand - Nakamura
Kasparov - Karjakin
Le - Caruana
Links
- Official site
- Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis
- Sinquefield Cup Round 1 - Creativity and Precision
- Sinquefield Cup Round 2 - Carlsenomics
- Sinquefield Cup Round 3 - Five Draws
- Sinquefield Cup Round 4 - Vachier-Lagreat!
- Sinquefield Cup Round 5 - Carlsen back in the pack
- Sinquefield Cup Round 6 - Aronian arises
- Sinquefield Cup Round 7 - Three at the top
- Sinquefield Cup Round 8 - Poised for a photo-finish
- Sinquefield Cup Round 9 - MVL Wins!
Discussion and Feedback
Join the public discussion or submit your feedback to the editors
Nice trophy that MVL is holding. But isn't it supposed to be a Cup?
Not a great opening ceremony. I would have had many more questions from the press/audience, each introducing themselves before their question, and fewer questions from GM Ashley. Some camera angles of the audience would have been nice, as it had the feeling of being a local event in a small room, even though it's an international event with the best players in the world. The players should have each stood a bit longer when being recognized. Loved the snippets from the Sinquefields!
"Tournament winner Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is one of the four players (along with Magnus Carlsen, Wesley So, and Peter Svidler) who now say au revoir to Saint Louis, and head home."
@turok: who is carlson?
where is carlson
1
