Chess: Wesley So Wins $350,000 Sinquefield Cup As World Champion Gukesh Fails Again

The $350,000 Sinquefield Cup is 1 of nan astir iconic yearly events successful nan chess calendar. Part of nan Grand Chess Tour and named aft nan St Louis billionaire Rex Sinquefield, who has been nan astir generous individual sponsor successful each chess history, it will beryllium remembered for Fabiano Caruana’s 7/7 commencement successful 2014 and his grounds 3098 tourney performance, for Ding Liren’s triumph up of Magnus Carlsen successful 2019, and, astir of all, for nan arguable 2022 Carlsen-Hans Niemann alleged cheating scandal.

For 2025, nan organisers introduced a four-player Tour Final astatine São Paulo adjacent month, and nan jockeying for position for that dominated nan action. At nan end, Caruana and Wesley So (US) and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (India) tied pinch 5.5/9, up of Levon Aronian (US) 5, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland) and Sam Sevian (US) 4.5, nan world champion Gukesh Dommaraju (India) 4, Alireza Firouzja (France) 3.5, Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan) 2.5. The first 3 positive Vachier-Lagrave sewage nan last qualification spots, but So missed retired owed to sub-par performances earlier successful nan Tour, while Gukesh again disappointed.

The velocity playoff, which took spot aft nan arbiter rejected a petition from nan players that nan title beryllium shared, ended So 1.5, Caruana 1, Praggnanandhaa 0.5.

3987: White to move and triumph (an endgame by Henri Rinck, 1905).

So had antecedently won nan Sinquefield Cup successful 2016, but nan erstwhile Filipino plays less events nowadays, though his occurrence successful St Louis has raised him to world No 7 successful nan unrecorded ratings. He will miss adjacent week’s Fide Grand Swiss successful Samarkand, and joked: “Now they person a tough, meatgrinder tourney successful Uzbekistan while I get to rest!”

The cardinal crippled of nan arena was So’s final information victory against nan tailender Abdusattorov, which brought him into a necktie pinch Caruana and Praggnanandhaa. After winning it, So gave acknowledgment to God, his mother, and … England’s Gawain Maroroa Jones, whose book Coffeehouse Repertoire 1 e4 recommends nan opening statement which So chose against Abdusattorov.

“It’s really a very risky line,” he said. “If Black plays perfectly, White is moreover a spot worse, but I thought I had to consequence it.”

The item of nan crippled is White’s marathon king march from g1 to b3 earlier launching nan decisive push of his king’s broadside pawns. It is simply a subtle and awesome strategy, characteristic of So astatine his best.

The tourney regulations forbade agreed draws, yet each 1 of nan 21 games among nan apical 7 was halved. How come? GMs person go adept astatine tacit agreements to hoover everything barroom bare kings disconnected nan board, arsenic a little provocative replacement to early threefold repetitions for illustration nan Berlin Wall. It whitethorn beryllium amended for 2026 if nan Sinquefield Cup was restored to its spot arsenic nan climax of nan Grand Chess Tour and arsenic a tribute to a legendary chess sponsor.

Gukesh grounded again, but will person a chance to revive his profession successful precocious October, erstwhile nan St Louis Chess Club celebrates its reopening aft a refurbishment pinch a typical version of its yearly Champions Showdown, featuring Carlsen, Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Gukesh successful a double information accelerated tournament. This $400,000 arena will beryllium nan highest rated tourney of nan year, and will beryllium Carlsen’s first quality successful St Louis since nan notorious 2022 Sinquefield Cup and his crippled pinch Hans Niemann, which created 1 of biggest scandals successful chess history.

Before that, nan 116-player Fide Grand Swiss starting successful Samarkand, Uzbekistan connected 3 September will suffice 2 much world title Candidates, and nan 72-player Women’s Grand Swiss will do likewise. GM Nikita Vitiugov is England’s only contender aft Michael Adams, Maroroa Jones, Luke McShane and David Howell each declined invites aliases were excessively inactive to meet nan regulations.

On existent form, Praggnanandhaa and Vincent Keymer will beryllium nan favourites successful Samarkand, but nan Swiss System format makes for an unfastened event.

Adams’s British Championship triumph was followed by a meagre 3/9 astatine nan Rubinstein Memorial successful Polanica-Zdroj, Poland. The tie was unkind to Adams, who had 3 Blacks successful his first 4 games successful a beardown all-play-all, and aft a mates of tactical oversights he was often nether pressure. He fought backmost astatine nan end, and his superb 28…Qg5!! in information eight, pinch nan main thought of 29…Qd2! induced his opponent’s contiguous resignation.

Whose accomplishment was/is best, nine-time British champion Henry Atkins, 10-time victor Jonathan Penrose, aliases nine-time champion Adams? I deliberation Adams has it connected respective counts.

Atkins’s titles came erstwhile British chess was astatine a debased ebb, erstwhile Fred Yates and Sir George Thomas were his awesome rivals, while Joseph Blackburne was successful diminution and Sultan Khan had not yet arrived. Similarly, Penrose won each his championships successful a 10-year play from 1958 to 1969 erstwhile Hugh Alexander and Harry Golombek were ageing while nan Raymond Keene – William Hartston procreation had not yet emerged. For his part, Adams has seen disconnected 3 beardown GM generations, from Nigel Short and Tony Miles done Matthew Sadler and McShane to Howell and Maroroa Jones.

In position of winning percentages, Atkins and Adams (both 9 title wins successful 11 starts) are ahead. In position of avoiding individual defeats, Adams is supreme, pinch conscionable 1 nonaccomplishment successful 127 games, and that was successful a accelerated playoff to McShane successful 2018.

In contrast, Penrose mislaid successful 3 successive years (1959, 60, 61) to nan aforesaid opponent, and it should person been 4 had that subordinate not cravenly offered a tie successful 1958 erstwhile 2 pawns up.

3987: 1 Ba6+! If 1…Kb8 2 Kb6! h1=Q 3 Nd7+ Ka8 4 Bb7 mate. If 1…Kd8 2 Ne6+ Ke8 3 Be2! h1=Q 4 Bh5+! Qxh5 5 Ng7+ and 6 Nxh5 wins.