Ian Nepomniachtchi and Anish Giri win anew in Round 3 of Tal Memorial 2016, this time against Vladimir Kramnik and Evgeny Tomashevsky, respectively.
Ranking after Round 3 follows:
[csvtable file=”http://chesshive.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/tal-memorial-2016-ranking-after-round-3.csv”]
Replay all games: 10th Mikhail Tal Memorial 2016 (Moscow RUS)
In Round 1, we saw Ian Nepomniachtchi winning against Evgeny Tomashevsky, while in Round 2, Viswanathan Anand won against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Anish Giri toppled Boris Gelfand.
Thus, ranking after Round 2 follows:
Another strong tournament is happening beginning this weekend. It is still strong, with an average rating of 2760, despite the absence of the World Champion, Magnus Carlsen, and the Americans (you know who).
See line up in the press release below:
It’s the beginning of the month, and thus a new ratings update. A lot of rearrangements happen in the Top 20, but the composition is basically still the same.
Fabiano Caruana gained 1 ELO rating point to catch up with Vladimir Kramnik at 2808. Wesley So gained 11 ELO rating points (2782) from his stellar performance in Sinquefield Cup, but that was not enough to catch up with Hikaru Nakamura at number 6 (2789). Anish Giri shaved off some 14 points, from 2769 to 2755, and slid down from number 9 to number 12 in September.
Below is the Top 20 table, but you may check out the full Top 100 here.
| Rk | Name | Ti. | Fed | Rtg | Gms | B-Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Carlsen, Magnus | g | NOR | 2857 | 0 | 1990 |
| 2 | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | g | FRA | 2813 | 9 | 1990 |
| 3 | Caruana, Fabiano | g | USA | 2808 | 9 | 1992 |
| 4 | Kramnik, Vladimir | g | RUS | 2808 | 0 | 1975 |
| 5 | Aronian, Levon | g | ARM | 2795 | 9 | 1982 |
| 6 | Nakamura, Hikaru | g | USA | 2789 | 9 | 1987 |
| 7 | So, Wesley | g | USA | 2782 | 9 | 1993 |
| 8 | Anand, Viswanathan | g | IND | 2776 | 9 | 1969 |
| 9 | Karjakin, Sergey | g | RUS | 2769 | 0 | 1990 |
| 10 | Topalov, Veselin | g | BUL | 2768 | 9 | 1975 |
| 11 | Mamedyarov, Shakhriyar | g | AZE | 2761 | 7 | 1985 |
| 12 | Giri, Anish | g | NED | 2755 | 9 | 1994 |
| 13 | Grischuk, Alexander | g | RUS | 2754 | 0 | 1983 |
| 14 | Ding, Liren | g | CHN | 2753 | 9 | 1992 |
| 15 | Harikrishna, P. | g | IND | 2752 | 0 | 1986 |
| 16 | Rapport, Richard | g | HUN | 2752 | 0 | 1996 |
| 17 | Li, Chao b | g | CHN | 2746 | 9 | 1989 |
| 18 | Svidler, Peter | g | RUS | 2745 | 9 | 1976 |
| 19 | Gelfand, Boris | g | ISR | 2743 | 0 | 1968 |
| 20 | Navara, David | g | CZE | 2742 | 0 | 1985 |
As we have mentioned before, Wesley So now leads the Grand Chess Tour 2016 race with 30 GCT points:
Many congratulations to America's #3 player Wesley So for winning the 2016 Sinquefield Cup!!! #SinquefieldCup pic.twitter.com/OChiv4qFlD
— Grand Chess Tour (@GrandChessTour) August 15, 2016
But let’s find out how did the rest of the players fared so far:
| Player | Paris | Leuven | St Louis | Total | Prize Money |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wesley So | 7.00 | 10.00 | 13.00 | 30.00 | $120,000 |
| Magnus Carlsen* | 10.00 | 13.00 | - | 23.00 | $67,500 |
| Levon Aronian | 6.00 | 8.00 | 7.75 | 21.75 | $66,250 |
| Hikaru Nakamura | 13.00 | 4.00 | 4.50 | 21.50 | $62,500 |
| Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 8.00 | 5.00 | 4.50 | 17.50 | $40,000 |
| Fabiano Caruana | 3.00 | 6.00 | 7.75 | 16.75 | $58,750 |
| Viswanathan Anand | - | 7.00 | 7.75 | 14.75 | $51,250 |
| Veselin Topalov | 2.00 | 1.00 | 7.75 | 10.75 | $51,250 |
| Anish Giri | 5.00 | 2.50 | 1.00 | 8.50 | $30,000 |
| Vladimir Kramnik | 4.00 | 2.50 | - | 6.50 | $15,000 |
| Ding Liren* | - | - | 3.00 | 3.00 | $15,000 |
| Peter Svidler* | - | - | 2.00 | 2.00 | $15,000 |
| Laurent Fressinet* | 1.00 | - | - | 1.00 | $7,500 |
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.
Topalov-Aronian's ending is mate in 38 for White. With accurate play Topalov will play a tiebreak with So tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/PObMa4YNIa
— Lennart Ootes (@LennartOotes) August 14, 2016
But in the end, Levon Aronian was able to hold off Topalov to a draw.[replay]
Results of the Round 9 games follow:
Although Levon Aronian lost to MVL in Round 6, he regained composure after Round 8 of Sinquefield Cup 2016, as he defeated the American Hikaru Nakamura, to be back in contention for the title. Also, in Round 8, Peter Svidler had his first win in the tournament, this time against Anish Giri.
Levon Aronian in Sinquefield Cup 2016. Photo credit: Grand Chess Tour.
More draws happened in Round 7 of Sinquefield Cup 2016. In fact, all 5 games were drawn. [replay]
What have we discerned from this round? Apparently, Wesley So has yet to beat Peter Svidler in his lifetime.
Round 7 Key Matchup. Photo credit: Grand Chess Tour
And Levon Aronian has a sense of humor:
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:
| Name | Rtg | Res. | Name | Rtg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Viswanathan Anand | 2770 | -- | Levon Aronian | 2792 |
| Veselin Topalov | 2761 | -- | Anish Giri | 2769 |
| Peter Svidler | 2751 | -- | Wesley So | 2771 |
| Fabiano Caruana | 2807 | -- | Ding Liren | 2755 |
| M. Vachier-Lagrave | 2819 | -- | Hikaru Nakamura | 2791 |
Stay tuned for more updates from 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:
| Name | Rtg | Res. | Name | Rtg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Levon Aronian | 2771 | 0-1 | M. Vachier-Lagrave | 2819 |
| Hikaru Nakamura | 2731 | 1/2-1/2 | Fabiano Caruana | 2807 |
| Ding Liren | 2793 | 1-0 | Peter Svidler | 2751 |
| Wesley So | 2779 | 1-0 | Veselin Topalov | 2761 |
| Anish Giri | 2765 | 1/2-1/2 | Viswanathan Anand | 2770 |
Replay the games of the round. [replay]
Thus, after the action-packed Round 6, the ranking is as follows: