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Sinquefield Cup (2015) The 3rd Sinquefield Cup was played in the Saint Louis Chess Club and Scholastic Center, Missouri USA, 23 August - 1 September 2015. It was this year the second of three events of the new Grand Chess Tour. The nine regular tour players were joined by wildcard Wesley So for a single round robin. Tournament director: Tony D Rich. Overall prize fund: $300,000, with $75,000 to the winner, and down to $15,000 for 10th place. Players received 120 minutes for 40 moves, 60 more minutes for the rest of the game, and a 30-second delay from move 41. Rounds started at 1 pm. Levon Aronian won with 6/9 and collected 13 Grand Chess Tour points (GP): 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 GP 1 Aronian 2765 * ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 1 ½ 1 6 13 2 Carlsen 2853 ½ * ½ 1 ½ 0 0 1 ½ 1 5 10 3 Nakamura 2814 0 ½ * ½ ½ 1 0 ½ 1 1 5 8 4 Vachier-Lagrave 2731 ½ 0 ½ * ½ ½ 1 ½ ½ 1 5 7 5 Giri 2793 ½ ½ ½ ½ * 1 ½ ½ ½ ½ 5 6 6 Grischuk 2771 ½ 1 0 ½ 0 * ½ 1 1 0 4½ 5 7 Topalov 2816 ½ 1 1 0 ½ ½ * 0 ½ ½ 4½ 4 8 Caruana 2808 0 0 ½ ½ ½ 0 1 * ½ ½ 3½ 3 9 Anand 2816 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ 0 ½ ½ * ½ 3½ 2 10 So 2779 0 0 0 0 ½ 1 ½ ½ ½ * 3 1 Category: XXII (2795). Chief arbiter: Christopher Bird Wikipedia article: Sinquefield Cup#2015 GCT page: https://grandchesstour.org/2015-tou... Regulations: https://grandchesstour.org/content/... Chess-Results: http://chess-results.info/tnr184011... Chess.com: https://www.chess.com/news/view/aro... ChessBase: https://en.chessbase.com/post/sinqu... TWIC: http://theweekinchess.com/chessnews... Previous: Sinquefield Cup (2014). Next: Sinquefield Cup (2016). Previous Grand Chess Tour event: Norway Chess (2015). Next (and last): London Chess Classic (2015)  page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 45  Game   Result Moves Year Event/Locale Opening 1. Aronian vs Caruana 1-0 39 2015 Sinquefield Cup D37 Queen's Gambit Declined 2. Carlsen vs Topalov 0-1 40 2015 Sinquefield Cup B51 Sicilian, Canal-Sokolsky (Rossolimo) Attack 3. Nakamura vs Anand 1-0 43 2015 Sinquefield Cup E06 Catalan, Closed, 5.Nf3 4. Giri vs Grischuk 1-0 34 2015 Sinquefield Cup D02 Queen's Pawn Game 5. So vs Vachier-Lagrave 0-1 35 2015 Sinquefield Cup A15 English 6. Topalov vs Nakamura 1-0 73 2015 Sinquefield Cup C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense 7. Vachier-Lagrave vs Aronian ½-½ 32 2015 Sinquefield Cup D38 Queen's Gambit Declined, Ragozin Variation 8. Giri vs So ½-½ 30 2015 Sinquefield Cup A30 English, Symmetrical 9. Caruana vs Carlsen 0-1 40 2015 Sinquefield Cup C78 Ruy Lopez 10. Grischuk vs Anand 1-0 35 2015 Sinquefield Cup A45 Queen's Pawn Game 11. Anand vs Topalov ½-½ 31 2015 Sinquefield Cup B51 Sicilian, Canal-Sokolsky (Rossolimo) Attack 12. Nakamura vs Caruana ½-½ 76 2015 Sinquefield Cup D81 Grunfeld, Russian Variation 13. So vs Grischuk 1-0 41 2015 Sinquefield Cup A35 English, Symmetrical 14. Carlsen vs Vachier-Lagrave 1-0 43 2015 Sinquefield Cup A15 English 15. Aronian vs Giri ½-½ 42 2015 Sinquefield Cup A29 English, Four Knights, Kingside Fianchetto 16. Grischuk vs Topalov ½-½ 31 2015 Sinquefield Cup B90 Sicilian, Najdorf 17. So vs Aronian 0-1 28 2015 Sinquefield Cup E20 Nimzo-Indian 18. Giri vs Carlsen ½-½ 31 2015 Sinquefield Cup B33 Sicilian 19. Vachier-Lagrave vs Nakamura ½-½ 51 2015 Sinquefield Cup E81 King's Indian, Samisch 20. Caruana vs Anand ½-½ 42 2015 Sinquefield Cup D43 Queen's Gambit Declined Semi-Slav 21. Topalov vs Caruana 0-1 53 2015 Sinquefield Cup C65 Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defense 22. Carlsen vs So 1-0 56 2015 Sinquefield Cup B90 Sicilian, Najdorf 23. Anand vs Vachier-Lagrave ½-½ 42 2015 Sinquefield Cup B92 Sicilian, Najdorf, Opocensky Variation 24. Nakamura vs Giri ½-½ 39 2015 Sinquefield Cup B48 Sicilian, Taimanov Variation 25. Aronian vs Grischuk ½-½ 30 2015 Sinquefield Cup B13 Caro-Kann, Exchange  page 1 of 2; games 1-25 of 45    REFINE SEARCH:   White wins (1-0) | Black wins (0-1) | Draws (1/2-1/2)   < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 43 OF 56 ·  Later Kibitzing> Aug-30-15    Strongest Force: I like Mag's game much better but I also thought Fab would win yesterday's game: don't mean squat didly. Aug-30-15    tpstar: Alejandro Ramirez has interesting insights during the coverage, especially comparing the opening play in real time, but I miss Teryn Schaefer and her side bits. Come back! Aug-30-15    Strongest Force: Nak's 'sophisticated' queenless endgame has given Lev a more than comfortable game, I don't get it. Aug-30-15    plang: This happens every tournament on here. Whoever is having a bad tournament and is in last place (and there is always someone in last place) shouldn't have been invited. Given the tournament is being held in the US and So is now representing the US it would make no sense not to invite him. Aug-30-15    breaker90: Why is everyone talking about how Wei Yi should be here? If any Chinese deserves to be here, it's Ding Liren. Aug-30-15    AzingaBonzer: <Troller: This is completely irrational logic.> Oh? Please enlighten us, then, with why it is so irrational. I notice you made no argument whatsoever, so I can only conclude at this point that you <have> no argument. Please try to do better next time. Aug-30-15    Strongest Force: My mind does not accept the possibility that Nak may have started the game aiming for a drawn (with white). It must be some super gm strategy going on. I like the caveman thinking better: kill and destroy (like Fischer). Aug-30-15    Chessgames Bookie: Bet on the Carlsen-Grischuk game as it's happening: Sinquefield Cup Rd 7: Carlsen - Grischuk LIVE. - Penguin Aug-30-15    AzingaBonzer: Also, as far as I can tell, Wesley So had <no> exposure to 2700+ players in all of 2014 except Yu Yangyi, and I don't think Yu was 2700+ at the time. He definitely did not play any games against 2750+ players. So if we're talking about previous records, I stand by what I originally said: <The only reason not to cite statistics from those years is because he was mostly playing in open tournaments, where 2750+ players are scarce.> In other words, So was chosen for Sinquefield, not because of his past tournament performances, but purely because he has a high(ish) rating. It's debatable, to say the least, whether he's actually stronger than Wei Yi, who played similarly few games against 2700+ players in 2014. (Notably, he scored a draw against Michael Adams.) That World Cup thing with Shirov and Nepo in 2013 was nothing to sneeze at, either. The point is not that Wei Yi should have been invited to Sinquefield. (I agree that this is too early for him.) The point is that So has no stronger of a claim to the wildcard position than Wei does, apart from playing for the USCF. If anything, <neither> of them should have been invited; they should have invited Kramnik and/or Ding instead. (Probably Ding.) Aug-30-15    Strongest Force: More sophistication: Fab is blocking the scope of his pieces which makes me yearn for the Morphy days. Aug-30-15    Abdel Irada: <HaydenB: To paraphrase Max Plank: Chess is not a democracy, every second rate player is NOT entitled to an opinion!> I see you've paraphrased Planck at <length>. ∞ Aug-30-15    DirkMcCallahan: What would happen if a spectator shouted out a move? Obviously they'd be ejected from the venue, but what if they were consulting a computer (even if only on their phone)? Also, what's to stop the spectators from signalling to the players? Aug-30-15    MarkFinan: <DirkMcCallahan: What would happen if a spectator shouted out a move?> Mr Goldsby would be removed from the building, plus the super Grand Master would most likely need some sort of suppressant to calm the giggle fit. Then play could resume.. Aug-30-15    Shams: <DirkMcCallahan> This is from memory but Soltis wrote of a guy ejected from the playing hall for yelling "move your rook!" to a GM who had gone in the tank after an opponent made a move that contained a clear one-move threat. If I remember correctly the player thought for a while longer and then made a bad move hanging his rook anyway. Aug-30-15    SirRuthless: What a wonderful day of chess! Glorious win by Aronian and stunning reversal by Grischuk. Aug-30-15    epistle: <plang: This happens every tournament on here. Whoever is having a bad tournament and is in last place (and there is always someone in last place) shouldn't have been invited. > Excuse me. But long before the games started I was already posting that So should not have gotten the wild card entry, that a Chinese (Ding Liren or Wei Yi) should have been the wild card entry instead of So, and in fact a day or two before the first round I was asking if a last minute replacement of So is still possible. Aug-30-15    fisayo123: <SirRuthless> Shame Carlsen had to stink the place out with his "woe is me" nonsense. I see he still hasn't grown up. His attitude when things don't go his way and he loses is repulsive. You win some, you lose some. Get over it! Aug-30-15    keypusher: Goddammit. Oh, and congratulations to Grischuk. Aug-30-15    bobthebob: <stunning reversal by Grischuk.> The game wasn't really a reversal - unless you meant his standing in the tourney is a reversal. He got a very slight (engine) advantage on move 32 and just ground and ground Magnus down. I thought it was amusing to see that he actually had a time advantage at the time control given his history of not being the best on time management. Great win. Aug-30-15    keypusher: <Shams> Yes, it's from some Soviet event in the 40s I think. Very funny, because the master was getting totally exasperated with the spectators. Can't find the game though. Aug-30-15    bobthebob: <his "woe is me" nonsense> Have you seen this? Especially around the 1 minute mark. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rl... Someone should follow that up with the video of him after he resigned this game. Aug-30-15    ChemMac: So may be bottom at the moment, but he is only a half point less than Caruana and Anand, neither of whom anyone is saying shouldn't have been invited! Some comments here are ridiculous, but if you really want to read some posted idiocy, some on Chessbomb far outdo us. Come on our champions! Aug-30-15    Edeltalent: <Shams> <keypusher> I think it is this game: A Ebralidze vs Ragozin, 1937 Aug-30-15    Sally Simpson: The Mini Match, USA v The Rest of World is actually not the USA v The Rest of the World. It's the USA v Aronian and Aronian won it 3-0. All his wins have come v the American players. He might not win any more games........No more Americans left to feed him. :) (A ploy in the next round might be to swap Anand's Indian flag with the Stars and Stripes. It seems to inspire him.) Carlsen can join Aronian on 3-0 v the Americans if he beats Nakamura. Aug-30-15    bobthebob: <But long before the games started I was already posting that So should not have gotten the wild card entry, that a Chinese (Ding Liren or Wei Yi)> Wasn't So rated higher that both of them and significantly higher than Wei Yi at the time of the invites? Also, organizers of events usually give an entry to a home team person who may not be higher rated than other players. See: Norway chess tourney - London Chess Classic - Candidates - etc, etc. Jump to page #    (enter # from 1 to 56) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 43 OF 56 ·  Later Kibitzing> NOTE: Create an account today to post replies and access other powerful features which are available only to registered users. Becoming a member is free, anonymous, and takes less than 1 minute! If you already have a username, then simply login login under your username now to join the discussion. 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