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The Grand Chess Tour (GCT) is a circuit of chess tournaments where players compete for multiple prize pools. Major tournaments that have been featured in the Grand Chess Tour include Norway Chess, the Sinquefield Cup, and the London Chess Classic.

Action Continues with the London Chess Classic 2016

The Grand Chess Tour of 2016 continues with the London Chess Classic. It can be recalled that so far in the tour, Wesley So with 30 points leads by a big margin, and the only player who could possibly catch up with him is Hikaru Nakamura. As such, they were pitted against each other in the very first round.

London Chess Classic 2016 List of Participants

No.NameCountryRatingWorld Rank
1Fabiano CaruanaUnited States28232
2Vladimir KramnikRussia28093
3Maxime Vachier-LagraveFrance28044
4Wesley SoUnited States27945
5Levon AronianArmenia27857
6Viswanathan AnandIndia27798-9
7Hikaru NakamuraUnited States27798-9
8Anish GiriNetherlands277110
9Veselin TopalovBulgaria276015
10Michael AdamsEngland274819
Updated ratings and rankings as of December 2016 FIDE Ratings list.

Catch the games live

Follow the game live: LIVE: London Chess Classic 2016 Round 1.

Michael Adams Named Wildcard in London Chess Classic 2016

Michael Adams (Photo: Ray Morris-Hill)

Michael Adams (Photo: Ray Morris-Hill)

London Chess Classic:

The 10th and last player to join the line-up of the 8th London Chess Classic is none other than England’s number one, Michael Adams. The Cornishman has been the country’s leading player since 1999 and was once ranked number 4 in the world.

Thus, Magnus Carlsen is officially out of the race for the Grand Chess Tour 2016 top prize. That leaves Hikaru Nakamura alone in contention, who still has a lot of catching up to do with the tour leader, Wesley So.

Final list of participants for the London Chess Classic 2016 follows:

Sinquefield Cup 2016 Awarding Ceremony Pictures

Check out the pictures taken during the Sinquefield Cup 2016 awarding (closing) ceremony:

Photos credit: Lennart Ootes: Website | Twitter

Grand Chess Tour 2016 Standings (After Paris, Leuven, and St. Louis)

As we have mentioned before, Wesley So now leads the Grand Chess Tour 2016 race with 30 GCT points:

But let’s find out how did the rest of the players fared so far:

Grand Chess Tour 2016 Ranking After Paris, Leuven, and St. Louis

PlayerParisLeuvenSt LouisTotalPrize Money
Wesley So7.0010.0013.0030.00$120,000
Magnus Carlsen*10.0013.00-23.00$67,500
Levon Aronian6.008.007.7521.75$66,250
Hikaru Nakamura13.004.004.5021.50$62,500
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave8.005.004.5017.50$40,000
Fabiano Caruana3.006.007.7516.75$58,750
Viswanathan Anand-7.007.7514.75$51,250
Veselin Topalov 2.001.007.7510.75$51,250
Anish Giri5.002.501.008.50$30,000
Vladimir Kramnik4.002.50-6.50$15,000
Ding Liren*--3.003.00$15,000
Peter Svidler*--2.002.00$15,000
Laurent Fressinet*1.00--1.00$7,500
These are GCT (Grand Chess Tour) points earned by each player from the last three legs and the total GCT points. Prize money is the total prize earned so far from the tour.

* Considered as wildcards for the tour.

Wesley So Wins Sinquefield Cup 2016

With a score of 5.5 out of 9 games, with draws in the last three games, Wesley So emerged as the victor in this year’s Sinquefield Cup, the third leg of Grand Chess Tour 2016. That, despite of in the last round, Veselin Topalov had a winning position, which would have guaranteed him playoff games against So to determine the ultimate champion.

But in the end, Levon Aronian was able to hold off Topalov to a draw.[replay]

Results of the Round 9 games follow:

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