Interesting games from the Sinquefield Cup 2016

Today, we analyze the most interesting games from the recent Sinquefield Cup 2016. This tournament took place in St Louis, and the most interesting point about it is that we could see ten of the strongest chess players in the world in action.

(photo from the official site)

They were fighting for $300,000 in prize money over the nine-round competition. Of course, the winner would also be the Sinquefield Cup Champion for 2016.

Seven of these players were:

• Peter Svidler (2751)

• Ding Liren (2755)

• Veselin Topalov (2761)

• Anish Giri (2769)

• Viswanathan Anand (2770)

• Levon Aronian (2784)

• Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (2819)

By the way, Maxime (or MVL as he is known) is the second-highest rated player in the world after World Champion Magnus Carlsen. Nearly all the brightest and extremely powerful grandmasters were competing in this tournament, so we can see a lot of interesting, entertaining and incredible games.

Another very interesting element is that we also had three of the best American chess players, Hikaru Nakamura (2791), Fabiano Caruana (2807) and Wesley So (2771), present.

Let’s discuss it!

Who do you think the best American player is? Who do you think is the strongest or the best player, or who do you like most? You can add your thoughts in the comments below this article. 
Wesley So is an incredibly prepared and tactical player (and he won this tournament), Caruana an extremely talented player with a great imagination and, of course, Nakamura is just exciting to watch because he is original!

Now let’s head to the lesson and check out some interesting games and positions.

Topalov, Veselin (2761) – Svidler, Peter (2751) [C88]

White to play

Here is the first question for you. In this diagram, Svidler with the Black pieces played 25…Rb4. What do you think of this move? It seems that Black is attacking the d4-pawn but the knight on c6 is shaky and not protected very well. Hence, is it a good move or does Black have any tactical problems?

Suggestion: learn about the strategy behind an open file, how to obtain an open file OR how to use it effectively from our lesson here.

Anand, Viswanathan (2770) – Caruana, Fabiano (2807) [C15]

Black to play

This was an exciting game between young Caruana and Anand, who seemed to be in great shape in this tournament. White didn’t get any opening advantage. He gave up the bishop pair in order to make the position unbalanced and try for the win; but a little later he gave up his activity by exchanging some of his active pieces, in order to win a pawn.

Right now, White is a pawn up and would like to exchange the queens. What should Black do? If he doesn’t find a precise plan, then White can invade his position or exchange the queens. If the queens are exchanged, then White will have seriouswinning chances. So what do you think – what is the best chance for Black?

Caruana, Fabiano (2807) – Topalov, Veselin (2761) [C84]

Black to play

White didn’t play too precisely or go back and forward with his pieces, so Black got a very good opportunity for a strong blow. Can you see it? What is the best move for Black?

Suggestion: you can watch recent chess battles between Candidate players 2016 (Anand, Karjakin, Aronian, Nakamura, Caruana, Giri and so on) here.

Vachier Lagrave, Maxime (2819) – Anand, Viswanathan (2770)

White to play

This final example is absolutely brilliant. I have to tell you that this is one of the best games and is highly instructive. The problem with delay in development is that it has long-term effects on your position.

Move 30, as we can see in the diagram, is really interesting because White has a lot of options. This is the critical moment for White. Can you work out what to do? 

Please be careful because “whatever shines is not gold”, as the Greeks used to say. White’s most obvious move here is not the best one. For that reason, please take a really close look at this position. It is White’s turn.

I must admit that not all of these positions are really hard but some are. From these games, you can learn and practice your calculation skills.

To analyze these interesting games, IM Valery Lilov has prepared a very nice video for RCA (and for you) and we thank him for that. You can watch the video below:

WATCH THE YOUTUBE VIDEO LESSON NOW!!

Note: you may like to check the solutions and complete games here.

Finally, I’d like to inform you that we’ve decided to provide you with more such “entertaining” lessons/content. I hope you really like this “new strategy”, and you are very welcome to leave your comments below – that would be very helpful for us. 

If you enjoy watching the best moments of the TOP chess tournaments and would like to continue to watch similar videos, then you are very welcome to express your opinion with a comment.

P.S. As we mentioned at the beginning of this article, it is very useful to observe three of the best American players in play – Nakamura, Caruana and So. What do you think of them? Who is the best?

Recommended

How do Grandmasters actually think during a chess game? Get “Unlocking the Grandmaster’s Mind” now HERE.

This course summarizes how Grandmasters actually think while playing the game of chess and you will get the extraordinary skills a Grandmaster possesses!

Carlsen wins World Rapid Championship and triple crown!

Final round top board results:

1 13 AZE Radjabov Teimour 9½ ½ - ½ 10½ Carlsen Magnus NOR 4
2 9 IND Anand Viswanathan 10 ½ - ½ 10 Levon Aronian ARM 7
3 8 RUS Karjakin Sergey 10 0 - 1 9½ Alexander Morozevich RUS 15
4 18 VIE Le Quang Liem 9 0 - 1 9½ Caruana Fabiano ITA 2
5 3 RUS Alexander Grischuk 9 1 - 0 9 Eljanov Pavel UKR 19
6 28 ARM Movsesian Sergei 9 0 - 1 9 Svidler Peter RUS 6
7 20 CHN Hao Wang 9 0 - 1 9 Tomashevsky Evgeny RUS 31
8 23 ESP Vallejo Pons Francisco 8½ 0 - 1 9 Etienne Bacrot FRA 32
9 25 AZE Mamedov Rauf 8½ 1 - 0 8½ Yudin Sergei RUS 68
10 45 CHN Yangyi Yu 8½ 1 - 0 8½ Meier Georg GER 41

http://dubai2014wrb.com/en/result/rapid

Top finishers:

Rank Country Full Name Fide Rating Points

1 NOR Carlsen Magnus 2881 11.0

2 ITA Caruana Fabiano 2791 10.5
3 IND Anand Viswanathan 2785 10.5
4 ARM Levon Aronian 2815 10.5
5 RUS Alexander Morozevich 2731 10.5

6 RUS Tomashevsky Evgeny 2695 10.0
7 RUS Karjakin Sergey 2771 10.0
8 RUS Alexander Grischuk 2792 10.0
9 AZE Radjabov Teimour 2724 10.0
10 RUS Svidler Peter 2753 10.0
11 FRA Etienne Bacrot 2720 10.0

12 CHN Yangyi Yu 2675 9.5
13 AZE Mamedov Rauf 2659 9.5

14 GEO Jobava Baadur 2713 9.0
15 VIE Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son 2621 9.0
16 VEN Iturrizaga Bonelli Eduardo 2653 9.0
17 ARM Movsesian Sergei 2672 9.0
18 AZE Guseinov Gadir 2613 9.0
19 VIE Le Quang Liem 2712 9.0
20 UKR Efimenko Zahar 2648 9.0
21 CHN Hao Wang 2729 9.0
22 UKR Eljanov Pavel 2723 9.0
23 RUS Antipov Mikhail Al. 2502 9.0

24 RUS Nepomniachtchi Ian 2730 8.5
25 FRA Laurent Fressinet 2717 8.5
26 RUS Yudin Sergei 2546 8.5
27 ESP Salgado Lopez Ivan 2622 8.5
28 RUS Riazantsev Alexander 2692 8.5
29 USA Hikaru Nakamura 2775 8.5
30 POL Bartel Mateusz 2641 8.5
31 GER Arkadij Naiditsch 2705 8.5
32 GER Meier Georg 2632 8.5
33 ESP Vallejo Pons Francisco 2698 8.5
34 RUS Matlakov Maxim 2689 8.5
35 UKR Moiseenko Alexander 2707 8.5
36 RUS Nikita Vitiugov 2742 8.5
37 RUS Fedoseev Vladimir 2662 8.5
38 BLR Zhigalko Sergei 2678 8.5
39 BUL Ivan Cheparinov 2682 8.5

Congratulations to Magnus for winning the chess triple crown. He won the World Blitz title a few years ago!

5 share Grand Prix lead after 2 rounds

Official website: http://thessaloniki2013.fide.com

Thessaloniki Grand Prix round 2

Official website: http://thessaloniki2013.fide.com

FIDE Grand Prix in Thessaloniki 2013

FIDE is pleased to announce the fourth stage of the FIDE Grand Prix Series will be held in Thessaloniki (Greece) between the 21st of May and 4th of June 2013. The 5-star Makedonia Palace Hotel and its owner, international business investor and philanthropist Ivan Savvidi, are FIDE's sponsors for the 12-player Grand Prix Chess Tournament.

"This event could happen thanks to the active support of the well known philanthropist Ivan Savvidi. According to the wish of Mr Savvidi, an elite chess event is coming to Greece. As FIDE has its principal secretariat in Athens, we are quite happy to have such an elite event in Greece. Additionally, the Greek Chess Federation is one of the most experienced and organized chess Federations in the world and their involvement in the organization of the event will be critical to its success," said FIDE President Kirsan Iljumzhinov.

The opening ceremony will take place at the Makedonia Palace Hotel at Thessaloniki at 6.30 p.m. on 21st of May. The games start at 14:00h local time except the last round. The prize fund to be shared by the players in Thessaloniki is 170,000 EUR, while the organizer provides further 70,000 EUR to the accumulated prize fund for the overal Grand Prix series standings.

Participants include three former World Champions Ruslan Ponomariov (Ukraine), Veselin Topalov (Bulgaria), Rustam Kasimdzhanov (Uzbekistan). GM Teimur Radjabov has withdrawn from the Thessaloniki Grand Prix for personal reasons and has been replaced by GM Etienne Bacrot from France.

There will be a systematic renewal of images, reports, as well as live commenting (English, Greek) and press-conferences with the players. Official commentators are GM Ioannis Papaioannou and GM Stelios Halkias.

Time control: 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, 60 minutes for the next 20 moves and then each player will be allotted 15 minutes after the second time control and an increment of 30 seconds per move will be allowed from move 61 onwards.

The Grand Prix Series consists of six tournaments to be held over two years (2012-2013). 18 top players participate in 4 of these 6 tournaments. The winner and second placed player overall of the Grand Prix Series will qualify for the Candidates Tournament to be held in March 2014.

Players

Name FED Title Rating
 
Bacrot, Etienne FRA GM 2725
Caruana, Fabiano ITA GM 2774
Dominguez Perez, Leinier CUB GM 2723
Grischuk, Alexander RUS GM 2779
Ivanchuk, Vassily UKR GM 2755
Kamsky, Gata USA GM 2741
Kasimdzhanov, Rustam UZB GM 2699
Morozevich, Alexander RUS GM 2760
Nakamura, Hikaru USA GM 2775
Ponomariov, Ruslan UKR GM 2742
Svidler, Peter RUS GM 2769
Topalov, Veselin BUL GM 2793

Average: 2753

Official webpage thessaloniki2013.fide.com 

Norway Chess Update

http://norwaychess.com

The second half of the Alekhine Memorial in St. Petersburg

 
April 28th, 2013
The second half of the Alekhine Memorial began in St. Petersburg

The 6th round games of the Alekhine Memorial were played on April 28th in St. Petersburg. The official opening of the Russian half of the competition took place on April 26th in the Mikhailovsky Castle of the Russian Museum. Participants and guests of the tournament were welcomed by Vladimir Gusev, director of the Russian museum, FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, Russian Chess Federation Chairman Ilya Levitov, and the sponsors of the event Gennady Timchenko and Andrey Filatov.

April 27th was the only day off at the tournament. The participants of the Alekhine Memorial, representing seven countries, enjoyed an excursion in the Russian Museum. Junior chess events and many excursions were organized in the Mikhailovsky Castle. On the next day the St. George Hall of the Mikhailovsky Castle hosted games of the Round 6.

Like in Paris, the hall was tightly packed with chess enthusiasts. The games were quite entertaining but all ended in draws, so the tournament situation remained the same – the French grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is in the lead. Today he had White against Boris Gelfand, but their game was quite equal all the way.

Michael Adams, who had Black against Levon Aronian, missed a real chance to catch up with the leader. The Armenian grandmaster fought very hard for a win, even sacrificed a piece, but the sacrifice turned unsound, and Aronian was on the verge of defeat. However, his English opponent returned the favor, missing a win in a mutual time trouble, and allowed Aronian to save the game. Both players are just half a point behind the leader and have decent chances to win the tournament.

With three more rounds to go, a good half of the participants have chances to succeed. The winner of the Alekhine Memorial 2013 will be determined on May 1st.

Round 6 results: Vachier-Lagrave – Gelfand, Aronian – Adams, Fressinet – Vitiugov, Kramnik – Anand, Ding Liren – Svidler – all draws.

The standings after six rounds: 1. Vachier-Lagrave – 4; 2-5. Adams, Aronian, Fressinet, and Gelfand – all 3.5; 6. Anand – 3; 7-9. Kramnik, Vitiugov, and Ding Liren – all 2.5; 10. Svidler – 1.5.

The 7th round games: Adams – Vachier-Lagrave, Anand – Fressinet, Gelfand – Ding Liren, Vitiugov – Aronian, Svidler – Kramnik.

Contact information for journalists:
press-officer of the Alekhine Memorial
Mark Glukhovsky
Official website of the event www.alekhine-memorial.com

MVL maintains Alekhine Memorial lead after 6 rounds

Standings after 6 rounds

1.	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	g	FRA	2722	*	½	½	.	.	½	.	1	½	1	4
2-5.	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	2739	½	*	½	1	½	.	½	.	.	½	3½
2-5.	Fressinet, Laurent	g	FRA	2706	½	½	*	½	.	.	½	½	1	.	3½
2-5.	Adams, Michael	g	ENG	2727	.	0	½	*	½	1	½	.	.	1	3½
2-5.	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2809	.	½	.	½	*	½	.	0	1	1	3½
6.	Anand, Vishy	g	IND	2783	½	.	.	0	½	*	½	1	½	.	3
7-9.	Vitiugov, Nikita	g	RUS	2712	.	½	½	½	.	½	*	.	0	½	2½
7-9.	Ding, Liren	g	CHN	2707	0	.	½	.	1	0	.	*	½	½	2½
7-9.	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2801	½	.	0	.	0	½	1	½	*	.	2½
10.	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2747	0	½	.	0	0	.	½	½	.	*	1½

Vachier Lagrave leads Alekhine Memorial

Standings after round 5

1.	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	g	FRA	2722	*	½	.	.	.	½	1	½	.	1	3½
2-5.	Fressinet, Laurent	g	FRA	2706	½	*	½	½	.	.	½	1	.	.	3
2-5.	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	2739	.	½	*	1	½	.	.	.	½	½	3
2-5.	Adams, Michael	g	ENG	2727	.	½	0	*	.	1	.	.	½	1	3
2-5.	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2809	.	.	½	.	*	½	0	1	.	1	3
6.	Anand, Vishy	g	IND	2783	½	.	.	0	½	*	1	.	½	.	2½
7-9.	Ding, Liren	g	CHN	2707	0	½	.	.	1	0	*	½	.	.	2
7-9.	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2801	½	0	.	.	0	.	½	*	1	.	2
7-9.	Vitiugov, Nikita	g	RUS	2712	.	.	½	½	.	½	.	0	*	½	2
10.	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2747	0	.	½	0	0	.	.	.	½	*	1

Official website: http://www.alekhine-memorial.com

Gelfand, MVL, Aronian, and Adams lead Alekhine Memorial

Standings after 4 rounds
 

1-4.	Gelfand, Boris	g	ISR	2739	*	.	.	1	½	.	.	.	½	½	2½
1-4.	Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime	g	FRA	2722	.	*	.	.	½	1	½	½	.	.	2½
1-4.	Aronian, Levon	g	ARM	2809	.	.	*	.	.	0	1	½	.	1	2½
1-4.	Adams, Michael	g	ENG	2727	0	.	.	*	½	.	.	1	.	1	2½
5-7.	Fressinet, Laurent	g	FRA	2706	½	½	.	½	*	½	.	.	.	.	2
5-7.	Ding, Liren	g	CHN	2707	.	0	1	.	½	*	½	.	.	.	2
5-7.	Kramnik, Vladimir	g	RUS	2801	.	½	0	.	.	½	*	.	1	.	2
8-9.	Anand, Viswanathan	g	IND	2783	.	½	½	0	.	.	.	*	½	.	1½
8-9.	Vitiugov, Nikita	g	RUS	2712	½	.	.	.	.	.	0	½	*	½	1½
10.	Svidler, Peter	g	RUS	2747	½	.	0	0	.	.	.	.	½	*	1

Alekhine Memorial - Round 1 Anand, Aronian lose

 
Round 1 results

Anand, Viswanathan - Adams, Michael 0-1  
Ding, Liren - Aronian, Levon 1-0 
Kramnik, Vladimir - Vitiugov, Nikita 1-0 
Svidler, Peter - Gelfand, Boris ½-½ 
Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime - Fressinet, Laurent ½-½ 

Official website: http://www.alekhine-memorial.com

Final Standings

Official website: http://london2013.fide.com

The FINAL challenge

 
Final round pairings 

GM Carlsen Magnus 2872 - GM Svidler Peter 2747 
GM Ivanchuk Vassily 2757 - GM Kramnik Vladimir 2810 
GM Gelfand Boris 2740 - GM Grischuk Alexander 2764 
GM Aronian Levon 2809 - GM Radjabov Teimour 2793 

Official website: http://london2013.fide.com