Fabiano Caruana vs. Hikaru Nakamura. Photo: Lennart Ootes
Five players (half the field) are currently tied for the lead at the Sinquefield Cup, Fabiano Caruana, Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Alex Grischuk, and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov.
Despite the high drawing percentage thus far (80%), many hard-fought, fascinating games have been played.
Test your tactical, positional, and endgame skills with puzzles from key moments from the first half of the tournament.
Puzzle #1
Fabiano Caruana vs. Hikaru Nakamura
White to move.
[pgn][Event "Sinquefield Cup 2018"] [Site "?"] [Date "2018.08.21"] [Round "?"] [White "Caruana, Fabiano"] [Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Result "1-0"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "2r5/R7/4k3/p5rb/2p1p3/2N1K3/PP2P3/7R w - - 0 1"] [PlyCount "13"]1. Nxe4 Rf5 (1... Re5 2. Rf1 Kd5 3. Rxa5+ Ke6 4. Rf6+ Kd7 5. Rxe5) (1... Rb5 2. Rf1 Rf5 (2... c3 3. Rf6+ Kd5 4. Rd7+ Ke5 5. Re7+ Kd5 6. Rd6+ Kc4 7. Rd4#)) ( 1... Rd5 2. Rf1 Rd7 3. Rxa5 Be8 4. Nc5+) 2. Ra6+ Ke7 3. Nd6 Re5+ 4. Kd4 {and Nakamura resigned. If} Rcc5 5. e4 Rg5 (5... Be8 6. Ra7+ Kxd6 7. Rh6+ Re6 8. Rxe6+ Kxe6 9. Kxc5) (5... a4 6. Nf5+) 6. Nf5+ Rgxf5 7. exf5 1-0[/pgn]
Alex Grischuk. Photo: Lennart Ootes
Puzzle #2
Hikaru Nakamura vs. Alex Grischuk
How did Grischuk expand his minor advantage into a winning one?Black to move.
[pgn] [Event "Sinquefield Cup 2018"] [Site "?"] [Date "2018.08.20"] [Round "?"] [White "Grischuk, Alexander"] [Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Result "0-1"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "8/6bk/2p1b1qp/2p1p3/2P1Np2/2B2P1P/7K/5Q2 b - - 0 1"] [PlyCount "47"]1... Bf5 2. Qe2 Qh5 3. Nf2 Qh4 4. Ne4 Qxh3+ 5. Kg1 Qh5 6. Be1 Bxe4 7. Qxe4+ Qg6+ 8. Kh2 Qxe4 9. fxe4 Kg6 $19 {The game finished with:} 10. Kh3 Kh5 11. Bh4 f3 12. Bf2 Bf6 13. Be1 Bg5 14. Bf2 Be7 15. Be1 Bd8 16. Bg3 Kg5 17. Bxe5 Bf6 18. Bd6 f2 19. Kg2 Bd4 20. Kf1 Kg4 21. Ke2 h5 22. Kf1 h4 23. Bh2 h3 24. Ke2 Be3 0-1[/pgn]
Magnus Carlsen. Photo: Spectrum Studios
Puzzle #3
Magnus Carlsen vs. Sergey Karjakin
How did Carlsen squeeze out a victory in this long endgame against his 2016 Challenger?White to move.
[pgn][Event "Sinquefield Cup 2018"] [Site "?"] [Date "2018.08.19"] [Round "?"] [White "Carlsen, Magnus"] [Black "Karjakin, Sergey"] [Result "1-0"] [SetUp "1"] [FEN "4r3/8/p6R/PkB1P3/1P2K3/8/8/5r2 w - - 0 1"] [PlyCount "19"]1. Rb6+ Kc4 2. e6 Re1+ 3. Kf5 Rf1+ 4. Ke5 Re1+ 5. Kf6 Rf1+ 6. Kg7 Ra8 7. e7 Re1 8. Kf7 Re4 9. Rd6 Rh8 10. Rxa6 {and Black resigned.} 1-0[/pgn]
Watch the games live and enjoy engaging commentary by Yasser Seirawan, Jennifer Shahade, and Maurice Ashley on the Official Grand Chess Tour Website. Find updates, photos, and more on the US Chess Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. The Sinquefield Cup runs from August 18-28 with rounds everyday at 1 P.M. CST.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Vanessa West is a regular writer and digital assistant for US Chess News. She won the 2017 Chess Journalist of the Year award. You can follow her on Twitter: @Vanessa__WestCategories
Archives
- December 2024 (16)
- November 2024 (18)
- October 2024 (35)
- September 2024 (23)
- August 2024 (27)
- July 2024 (44)
- June 2024 (27)
- May 2024 (32)
- April 2024 (51)
- March 2024 (34)
- February 2024 (25)
- January 2024 (26)
- December 2023 (29)
- November 2023 (26)
- October 2023 (37)
- September 2023 (27)
- August 2023 (37)
- July 2023 (47)
- June 2023 (33)
- May 2023 (37)
- April 2023 (45)
- March 2023 (37)
- February 2023 (28)
- January 2023 (31)
- December 2022 (23)
- November 2022 (32)
- October 2022 (31)
- September 2022 (19)
- August 2022 (39)
- July 2022 (32)
- June 2022 (35)
- May 2022 (21)
- April 2022 (31)
- March 2022 (33)
- February 2022 (21)
- January 2022 (27)
- December 2021 (36)
- November 2021 (34)
- October 2021 (25)
- September 2021 (25)
- August 2021 (41)
- July 2021 (36)
- June 2021 (29)
- May 2021 (29)
- April 2021 (31)
- March 2021 (33)
- February 2021 (28)
- January 2021 (29)
- December 2020 (38)
- November 2020 (40)
- October 2020 (41)
- September 2020 (35)
- August 2020 (38)
- July 2020 (36)
- June 2020 (46)
- May 2020 (42)
- April 2020 (37)
- March 2020 (60)
- February 2020 (38)
- January 2020 (45)
- December 2019 (35)
- November 2019 (35)
- October 2019 (42)
- September 2019 (45)
- August 2019 (56)
- July 2019 (44)
- June 2019 (35)
- May 2019 (40)
- April 2019 (48)
- March 2019 (61)
- February 2019 (39)
- January 2019 (30)
- December 2018 (29)
- November 2018 (51)
- October 2018 (45)
- September 2018 (29)
- August 2018 (49)
- July 2018 (35)
- June 2018 (31)
- May 2018 (39)
- April 2018 (31)
- March 2018 (26)
- February 2018 (33)
- January 2018 (30)
- December 2017 (26)
- November 2017 (24)
- October 2017 (30)
- September 2017 (30)
- August 2017 (31)
- July 2017 (28)
- June 2017 (32)
- May 2017 (26)
- April 2017 (37)
- March 2017 (28)
- February 2017 (30)
- January 2017 (27)
- December 2016 (29)
- November 2016 (24)
- October 2016 (32)
- September 2016 (31)
- August 2016 (27)
- July 2016 (24)
- June 2016 (26)
- May 2016 (19)
- April 2016 (30)
- March 2016 (36)
- February 2016 (28)
- January 2016 (32)
- December 2015 (26)
- November 2015 (23)
- October 2015 (16)
- September 2015 (28)
- August 2015 (28)
- July 2015 (6)
- June 2015 (1)
- May 2015 (2)
- April 2015 (1)
- February 2015 (3)
- January 2015 (1)
- December 2014 (1)
- July 2010 (1)
- October 1991 (1)
- August 1989 (1)
- January 1988 (1)
- December 1983 (1)