Wesley So Wins Sinquefield Cup

Congratulations to 22-year-old Grandmaster Wesley So, winner of the 2016 Sinquefield Cup in Saint Louis. Wesley won the tournament with a 5.5/9 score, after drawing Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on the black side of a Berlin variation of the Ruy Lopez. His two wins from the event came in rounds one and six, vs. Hikaru Nakamura and Veselin Topalov respectively. His victory over Nakamura was his first classical win against the #6 player in the World and his Olympic team-mate.

[pgn] [Event "4th Sinquefield Cup 2016"] [Site "Saint Louis"] [Date "2016.08.05"] [Round "1"] [White "So, Wesley"] [Black "Nakamura, Hikaru"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "E06"] [WhiteElo "2771"] [BlackElo "2791"] [PlyCount "75"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] [EventCountry "USA"] 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Ne5 Nc6 8. Nxc6 bxc6 9. Na3 Bxa3 10. bxa3 Ba6 11. Qd2 Rb8 12. Qa5 Qc8 13. a4 Rd8 14. Ba3 Rxd4 15. Rfb1 Rb6 16. Bc5 Rd7 17. Rd1 h6 18. Rxd7 Nxd7 19. Bxb6 cxb6 20. Qd2 c5 21. Rd1 Nf6 22. Kf1 Kh7 23. Qc2+ Kg8 24. Qd2 Kh7 25. Qd8 Qxd8 26. Rxd8 c3 27. Ke1 Bc4 28. Kd1 Bxa2 29. Kc2 Bc4 30. e3 b5 31. Kxc3 a6 32. Ra8 Nd5+ 33. Bxd5 exd5 34. a5 b4+ 35. Kd2 Bf1 36. Rc8 c4 37. Rb8 b3 38. Kc3 1-0 [/pgn]

[pgn] [Event "4th Sinquefield Cup 2016"] [Site "Saint Louis"] [Date "2016.08.11"] [Round "6"] [White "So, Wesley"] [Black "Topalov, Veselin"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A20"] [WhiteElo "2771"] [BlackElo "2761"] [PlyCount "81"] [EventDate "2016.??.??"] [EventCountry "USA"] 1. c4 e5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nc3 Nb6 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. O-O Be7 8. d3 O-O 9. a3 Be6 10. Be3 Nd5 11. Nxd5 Bxd5 12. Qa4 Re8 13. Rac1 a6 14. Nd2 Bxg2 15. Kxg2 Nd4 16. Bxd4 exd4 17. Qb3 Rb8 18. e4 dxe3 19. fxe3 Rf8 20. Ne4 Qd7 21. Rf3 Rbd8 22. d4 c6 23. Rcf1 Qd5 24. Qc2 g6 25. g4 Rde8 26. h3 Bd8 27. Nc3 Qe6 28. Na4 b6 29. Rc1 c5 30. dxc5 b5 31. Nc3 Qc6 32. Qd2 Re5 33. b4 Bg5 34. Rd1 Bxe3 35. Qd7 Qa8 36. Nd5 Bg5 37. c6 Bh4 38. Rd2 Re1 39. Rc2 Kg7 40. Nb6 Qb8 41. Qd4+ 1-0 [/pgn]

The tournament seemed headed toward a likely playoff as Veselin Topalov, just half a point behind, found himself in a winning endgame vs. Levon Aronian. Levon saved the game to give So the clear victory. American GMs Fabiano Caruana and Nakamura both won in round nine today. Caruana broke his streak of eight draws versus Anish Giri, while Nakamura saved his tournament with one of the most exciting attacking games of the event against Ding Liren.

[pgn] [Event "4th Sinquefield Cup 2016"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2016.08.14"] [Round "9"] [White "Nakamura, Hi"] [Black "Ding Liren"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2791"] [BlackElo "2755"] [ECO "D43"] [Eventdate "2016.08.04"] 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4 dxc4 7.e4 g5 8.Bg3 b5 9.Be2 Bb7 10.h4 g4 11.Ne5 Nbd7 12.Nxd7 Qxd7 13.Be5 Qe7 14.b3 cxb3 15.axb3 a6 16.Qc1 Rg8 17.O-O Nh5 18.d5 Qxh4 19.g3 Qg5 20.dxc6 Qxe5 21.cxb7 Rb8 22.Nd5 exd5 23.Qc8+ Ke7 24.Rxa6 Nxg3 25.Bxb5 Ne2+ 26.Bxe2 f6 27.Re6+ Qxe6 28.Qxb8 1-0 [/pgn]

[pgn] [Event "4th Sinquefield Cup 2016"] [Site "Saint Louis USA"] [Date "2016.08.14"] [Round "9"] [White "Caruana, F"] [Black "Giri, A"] [Result "1-0"] [WhiteElo "2807"] [BlackElo "2769"] [ECO "C81"] [Eventdate "2016.08.04"] 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.O-O Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.Qe2 Nc5 10.Rd1 Nxb3 11.cxb3 Be7 12.Nc3 O-O 13.Be3 Qd7 14.h3 Rad8 15.Rd2 f6 16.Rad1 Nxe5 17.Nxe5 fxe5 18.Nxd5 Bxd5 19.Rxd5 Qxd5 20.Rxd5 Rxd5 21.Qc2 c5 22.g3 Kh8 23.h4 Rfd8 24.Qe4 h6 25.Kg2 Bf6 26.Kh3 h5 27.a4 Rd3 28.axb5 axb5 29.Qg6 e4 30.Qxh5+ Kg8 31.Qf5 Bxb2 32.Qxe4 c4 33.bxc4 bxc4 34.Qxc4+ R3d5 35.g4 Kh8 36.g5 Bd4 37.Bxd4 Rxd4 38.Qf7 R8d7 39.Qe8+ Kh7 40.Qh5+ Kg8 41.g6 Re4 42.Qh7+ Kf8 43.Qh8+ Ke7 44.Qxg7+ Ke6 45.Qh8 Rd3+ 46.Kh2 1-0 [/pgn]

Both will join Wesley So as a powerful 1-2-3 punch for the Olympiad coming up in Baku (along with Shankland and Robson). Join Garry Kasparov in supporting the team for any amount here. 

Next up in Saint Louis: Ultimate Moves on Tuesday, 8/16/2016, featuring Kasparov, the players of the Sinquefield Cup, Chess Club founder Rex Sinquefield and Randy Sinquefield, founder of Spectrum Studios. Watch live at http://grandchesstour.org/ starting at 1 CST, 2 EST.