Ding Liren and Levon Aronian off to Finals – FIDE World Cup 2017

We saw four draws in four classical games in the two semi-final matches (replay). Thus both match-ups headed to the playoffs.

In the match-up between Wesley So and Ding Liren, the first pair of rapid games (25mins + 10sec) ended in further draws, but in the second pair of rapid games (10mins + 10sec), Ding Liren drew first blood in the first game and in the second game he was happy enough for the draw. Replay games here.

Wesley So vs. Ding Liren match-up results – FIDE World Cup 2017 Semifinals

FIDE World Cup 2017 Semi Finals

From 128 players, now we’re down to just 4: Levon Aronian, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Wesley So and Ding Liren.

Big names that were not able to make it to the Final Four include Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana, Vladimir Kramnik, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Hikaru Nakamura, Alexander Grischuk, Viswanathan Anand, Sergey Karjakin and Anish Giri.

Remember, the winners (2) of the Semi-Final round are secured a spot in next year’s Candidates tournament.

Wesley So lost anew in Round 6 Sinquefield Cup 2017

With six rounds down and 3 to go, the defending champion of the Sinquefield Cup 2017 as well as the Grand Chess Tour 2017, Wesley So, finds himself solely at the bottom of the standings as he lost his 6th round game against Levon Aronian. [replay]

The rest of the Round 6 games were draws.

Sinquefield Cup 2017 Round 6 Results

[csvtable file=”http://chesshive.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/sinqcup17-results-r6.csv”]

Sinquefield Cup 2017 Ranking after Round 6

[csvtable file=”http://chesshive.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/sinqcup17-ranking-r6.csv”]

Replay all Sinquefield Cup 2017 games.

Photo credit: Grand Chess Tour Flickr

Carlsen defeats Wesley So in Round 5 Sinquefield Cup 2017

Magnus Carlsen defeated Wesley So in the fifth round of Sinquefield Cup 2017 to remain within striking distance of the leader, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. [replay]

Sinquefield Cup 2017 Round 5 Results

[csvtable file=”http://chesshive.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/sinqcup17-results-r5.csv”]

Sinquefield Cup 2017 Ranking after Round 5

[csvtable file=”http://chesshive.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/sinqcup17-ranking-r5.csv”]

Replay all games here.

Photo credit: Grand Chess Tour Flickr

Carlsen, Caruana and So win in Round 2 Sinquefield Cup 2017

Another action-packed Round 2 in Sinquefield Cup 2017 as 60% of the games are once again decisive. The top 3 players in the world in terms of FIDE ratings won their games in this round.

Wesley So bounced back from his Round 1 loss by defeating Ian Nepomniachtchi in Round 2. Magnus Carlsen displayed his dominance against his former challenger Sergey Karjakin in the world chess crown. Fabiano Caruana delivered a fine win against Levon Aronian after a rook+bishop vs. rook ending.[replay]

Sinquefield Cup 2017 Round 2 Results

[csvtable file=”http://chesshive.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/sinqcup17-results-r2.csv”]

Thus at the end of Round 2, Carlsen, Caruana and MVL lead the tournament with 1.5 points apiece.

Sinquefield Cup 2017 Round 1 Results

The third leg of the Grand Chess Tour 2017, the Sinquefield Cup 2017, kicked off with a bang as 3 out of 5 games in Round 1 were decisive.

The defending champion of the tournament, Wesley So, suffered a setback right at the opening Round 1 at the hands of MVL. See the rest of the results below:

Sinquefield Cup 2017 Round 1 Results

[csvtable file=”http://chesshive.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/sinqcup17-results-r1.csv”]

Replay all the games in Round 1 here: Sinquefield Cup 2017 (All Games Replay).