Watch: Sinquefield Cup 2016 Round 6 Recap

The gladiators of chess cross swords once again, right now.

That’s how GM Maurice Asheley describes what happens in Round 7, which is coming up soon!

In Round 7, Wesley So will play black against Peter Svidler. Here’s the complete match-ups:

Sinquefield Cup 2016 Round 7 Matchups

NameRtgRes.NameRtg
Viswanathan Anand2770--Levon Aronian2792
Veselin Topalov2761--Anish Giri2769
Peter Svidler2751--Wesley So2771
Fabiano Caruana2807--Ding Liren2755
M. Vachier-Lagrave2819--Hikaru Nakamura2791

Stay tuned for more updates from Sinquefield Cup 2016.

Replay all the games in Sinquefield Cup 2016.

Wesley So Beats Topalov in Round 6 and Takes the Sole Lead in Sinquefield Cup 2016

After we’ve seen 14 draws out of 15 games in the last three rounds, we finally saw real action in Round 6 of Sinquefield Cup 2016. 3 out of 5 games were decided, the biggest of which was where Wesley So beat the tournament leader at the start of this round, Veselin Topalov, and reclaim the solo lead, and with a clear half point lead this time.

The other winners of the round were Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (over Levon Aronian) and Ding Liren (against Peter Svidler). Summary of the results follows:

Sinquefield Cup 2016 Round 6 Results

NameRtgRes.NameRtg
Levon Aronian27710-1M. Vachier-Lagrave2819
Hikaru Nakamura27311/2-1/2Fabiano Caruana2807
Ding Liren27931-0Peter Svidler2751
Wesley So27791-0Veselin Topalov2761
Anish Giri27651/2-1/2Viswanathan Anand2770

Replay the games of the round. [replay]

Thus, after the action-packed Round 6, the ranking is as follows:

Sinquefield Cup 2016 Round 5 Video Recap

It’s rest day today for the Sinquefield Cup 2016, so we just let GM Maurice Ashley do the recap and show us what happened in Round 5.

Round 6 is coming up soon. Wesley So will be up against the tournament leader, Veselin Topalov. The rest of the pairings are the following:

Sinquefield Cup 2016 Round 6 Match-Ups

NameRtgRes.NameRtg
Levon Aronian2792--M. Vachier-Lagrave2819
Hikaru Nakamura2791--Fabiano Caruana2807
Ding Liren2755--Peter Svidler2751
Wesley So2771--Veselin Topalov2761
Anish Giri2769--Viswanathan Anand2770
Pairings for Round 6

Veselin Topalov Takes the Lead after Round 5 in Sinquefield Cup 2016

Former FIDE World Champion Veselin Topalov beat China’s No. 1 Ding Liren in Round 5 of Sinquefield Cup 2016 to take the lead from the rest of the pack.

Veselin Topalov leads the pack after Round 5. Photo credit: Grand Chess Tour

Veselin Topalov leads the pack after Round 5. Photo credit: Grand Chess Tour

Sinquefield Cup 2016 Round 5 Results

NameRtgRes.NameRtg
Anish Giri27691/2-1/2Levon Aronian2784
Viswanathan Anand27701/2-1/2Wesley So2771
Veselin Topalov27611-0Ding Liren2755
Peter Svidler27511/2-1/2Hikaru Nakamura2791
Fabiano Caruana28071/2-1/2M. Vachier-Lagrave2819

Replay all the Round 5 games [replay]

Sinquefield Cup 2016 Round 4 Highlights

GM Maurice Ashley covers the highlights from yesterday’s Round 4 of the 2016 Sinquefield Cup, third leg of the Grand Chess Tour.

Round 5 coming up later in just a few hours.

Sinquefield Cup 2016 Round 5 Matchups

NameRtgRes.NameRtg
Anish Giri2769--Levon Aronian2792
Viswanathan Anand2770--Wesley So2771
Veselin Topalov2761--Ding Liren2755
Peter Svidler2751--Hikaru Nakamura2791
Fabiano Caruana2807--M. Vachier-Lagrave2819

More Draws Abound Round 4 of Sinquefield Cup 2016

Another uneventful day in Saint Louis as 5 more draws happened among the ten of the top grandmasters in the world. The match ups of the Round 4 follow:

Sinquefield Cup 2016 Round 4 Results

NameRtgRes.NameRtg
Levon Aronian27921/2-1/2Fabiano Caruana2807
M. Vachier-Lagrave28191/2-1/2Peter Svidler2751
Hikaru Nakamura27911/2-1/2Veselin Topalov2761
Ding Liren27551/2-1/2Viswanathan Anand2770
Wesley So27711/2-1/2Anish Giri2769

That brings to a total of 10 draws in the last 2 rounds. How did this happen? Peter Svidler teased that it was because he stopped losing:

All Games Drawn in Round 3 of Sinquefield Cup 2016

At the end of Round 2 of Sinquefield Cup 2016, 5 out of 10 games (50%) were decided. But in Round 3, all games were drawn.

They were not necessarily uncontested draws at all. The game between Wesley So and Levon Aronian is one example where Aronian traded his two minor pieces for a rook and a pawn early on, but just as the game started, the game ended even.[replay]

Wesley So still leads the tournament so far, after applying the tiebreak. See standings below:

Sinquefield Cup 2016 Ranking after Round 3

#NamePtsSB
1So, Wesley2.03.25
Anand, Viswanathan2.02.50
Aronian, Levon2.02.25
Topalov, Veselin2.01.75
5Ding, Liren1.52.50
Caruana, Fabiano1.52.25
Nakamura, Hikaru1.52.00
8Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime1.01.50
Giri, Anish1.01.25
10Svidler, Peter0.50.75

Sinquefield Cup 2016 Round 2 Results

The Sinquefield Cup is the third leg of Grand Chess Tour 2016. Two former world champions, Viswanathan Anand and Veselin Topalov, are participants in this event, although we’re missing the skill sets of another former world champion, Vladimir Kramnik, and the current world champion and number 1 player, Magnus Carlsen, whose currently busy preparing for defending his title come November.

In round 2 of the tournament, we saw some action — so much so, that 3 out of the 5 games were actually decisive:

Sinquefield Cup 2016 Round 2 Results

NameRtgRes.NameRtg
Levon Aronian27841-0Peter Svidler2751
Fabiano Caruana28071/2-1/2Veselin Topalov2761
Hikaru Nakamura27911-0Anish Giri2769
Ding Liren27551/2-1/2Wesley So2771
M. Vachier-Lagrave28190-1Viswanathan Anand2770