Grand Chess Tour Finale Sinquefield Cup Begins Tuesday

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The 2021 Sinquefield Cup begins Tuesday afternoon, wrapping up the 2021 Grand Chess Tour as the international tournament circuit’s fifth and final event. 

A signature event since before the GCT’s inception in 2015, the Sinquefield Cup maintains as one of the longest running international super-tournaments held in the U.S., annually bringing in the very best Grandmasters from around the world. 

Held in the Saint Louis Chess Club, this year’s Sinquefield Cup is the Grand Chess Tour’s second classical event of the summer and features five of the GCT’s full-tour participants, who will have played in both classical events and two of three rapid and blitz events over the course of the 2021 tour. The Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz, the Grand Chess Tour’s final speed event, wrapped up on Sunday and features many of the same players. 

The Sinquefield Cup boasts its own $325,000 purse, but perhaps more importantly will deal out the last of GCT’s overall tour points and determine the 2021 tour champion, who will take home an additional $100,000 prize. Those overall tour standings are hotly contested entering the final event, with US Chess Champion GM Wesley So taking the lead after his fourth-place finish in last week’s Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz event. 

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US Chess Champion GM Wesley So leads the overall 2021 Grand Chess Tour entering the tour-ending Sinquefield Cup. // photo Lennart Ootes, Grand Chess Tour

So won the Paris Rapid & Blitz event earlier this summer and also took second in the GCT’s first classical event, the Superbet Classic held in Bucharest, Romania in June, earning him the current lead of the tour with 28.3 points. Chasing him is Azerbaijani GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, winner of the Superbet Classic, and French GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, winner of the Croatia Rapid & Blitz. 

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The Sinquefield Cup is a 10-player round robin, with games using a classic time control of 90 minutes for 40 moves, then an additional 30 minutes for the rest of the game, as well as a 30-second per-move increment. Starting Tuesday, games will begin at 3:00 p.m. St. Louis time each day except for a rest day on Sunday, August 22. The ninth and final round is scheduled for Thursday, August 26, with any necessary playoff to be played on Friday, August 27 at 3:00 p.m. 

Pairings may be found here.

Due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, live spectators are not allowed inside the Saint Louis Chess Club, but fans may watch the full Sinquefield Cup broadcast online featuring the commentary team including GMs Yasser Seirawan and Maurice Ashley. 

For more information, visit the official website of the Grand Chess Tour. 

Quick Links:

Grand Chess Tour website

Sinquefield Cup Live Games

Twitch Commentary

Pairings and Results