2017 Sinquefield Cup
Saint Louis, USA
July 31-Aug. 12, 2017
Final Standings
1. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave FRA 2789, 6.0/9
2-3. Magnus Carlsen NOR 2822, Viswanathan Anand IND 2783, 5.5/9
4-5. Levon Aronian ARM 2799, Sergey Karjakin RUS 2773, 5.0/9
6. Peter Svidler RUS 2751, 4.5/9
7. Fabiano Caruana USA 2807, 4.0/9
8. Hikaru Nakamura USA 2792, 3.5/9
9-10. Wesley So USA 2810, Ian Nepomniachtchi RUS 2751, 3.0/9
Average ELO 2787 Category 22
Time Control: 100 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 60 minutes play-to-finish with a 30-second time delay before every move.
The Tbilisi World Cup which will take place Sept. 2-27 in the Republic of Georgia is really working out to be a great event. Out of the world Top 30 only Topalov (no. 17) and Lenier Dominguez (no. 24) are not playing. In an unprecedented move even the reigning world champion, Magnus Carlsen, will be suiting up.
Not only that — a lot of the top rated players are rounding up to top form. Sergey Karjakin has recovered from his loss to Carlsen in their world championship match — his 8/9 in the first half of the Saint Louis Blitz should be a good gauge that he is raring to go. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of course just won the Sinquefield Cup and will be the new World no. 2 when the FIDE September 2017 Rating list is published. Shakhriyar Mamedyarov will be fighting for top honors in Tbilisi as well.
Former world champion Viswanathan Anand and resurging Levon Aronian tied for 2nd behind Vachier-Lagrave in the 2017 Sinquefield Cup but they played some great chess there. Here is something for our readers to digest.
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Anand, Viswanathan (2783) — Caruana, Fabiano (2807) [A29]
5th Sinquefield Cup 2017 Saint Louis USA (5), 06.08.2017
1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Nf3 Nc6 4.g3 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Bg2 Bc5
Quite a rate move, almost automatic here is 6…Nb6 7.0-0 Be7. GM Helmut Pfleger, Germany’s no. 2 many years ago, tried this out once against GM Bogdan Lalic in Bad Mergentheim 1989, and he is probably the highest rated player to ever do so. Apart from watching out for the possibility of 7.Nxe5, the bishop really has nothing to do on c5 and later on had to retreat back to e7. It was not a success. Anyway, having said that, an elite player like Caruana wouldn’t play it without first determining for himself that it is worth a punt, so let us reserve judgement and take a look at his idea.
7.0-0
From here up to move 10, White had to keep calculating the possibility of 7.Nxe5 and perhaps Fabiano was hoping to gain on time. It turns out that the move is not playable all throughout. For example here 7.Nxe5 Nxc3 8.Bxc6+ bxc6 9.bxc3 Qd5 wins a pawn for White but looks very risky given White’s pawn weaknesses and lack of development. The game could continue 10.f3 (10.Nf3 Bh3) 10…Qxe5 11.d4 Qh5 12.dxc5 0-0. I think winning chances are on Black’s side.
7…0-0 8.d3 Bb6 9.Bd2 Bg4 10.Rc1 Nxc3 11.Bxc3 Re8 12.b4 Qd6 13.Nd2 Qh6 14.Nc4 Qh5 15.Rc2
Anand plays this rook instead of Re1 because he saw some ideas involving …Bxf2+ and wanted to nip them in the bud.
15…Rad8
With the threat of …e4.
16.Nxb6 cxb6 17.f3 Be6 18.Qd2 b5
Both players after the game pointed to this move as a mistake as White wasn’t intending to play b4-b5 anyway as it will weaken his own pawn. Caruana thought that 18…h6 would have been better — it is a waiting move and gets rid of the back rank threats that come up later.
19.f4! Bg4
According to various sources 19…Bh3 will be met by 20.Bxh3 Qxh3 21.fxe5 Nxe5 22.Bxe5 Rxe5 23.Rc7! looks problematic for Black. If he had played 18…h6 instead of 18…b5 he can reply to the 7th rank incursion with 23…Rd7 but this is not possible now because of his weak back rank.
20.Bxc6 bxc6 21.fxe5 f6
At the post-game interview Caruana revealed that he had purposely steered for this line and thought that he was better, but it turns out he missed something here.
22.exf6 Rxe2 23.f7+ Kf8 24.Bxg7+! Kxg7 25.Qc3+ <D>
POSITION AFTER 25.QC3+
This is the critical position. Caruana can block on e5 with either the rook or the queen. If he blocks with the queen then 25.Qc3+ Qe5 26.Rxe2! Qxc3 27.Re8 Qd4+ 28.Rf2 Qxb4 29.f8Q+ Qxf8 30.Rfxf8 Rxd3 31.Rg8+ Kf7 32.Ref8+ Ke7 33.Ra8 White is winning although he still faces quite a lot of technical problems.
After 25…Re5 Caruana thought that White’s best is 26.h3 after which he intended 26…Bd1, also probably loses but there are some swindling chances. So he decides to give 25…Re5 a try.
25…Re5 26.Qd4!!
Completely unexpected. It turns out that the queen is immune to capture as after 26…Rxd4 it is mate in 2 starting 27.f8Q+.
26…Qg5 27.Rc5 Rxd4
[27…Qe3+ 28.Qxe3 Rxe3 29.Rg5+ Kf8 30.Rg8+ Ke7 31.Rxd8 Kxd8 32.f8Q+ the end]
28.f8Q+ Kg6 29.Qf7+ 1-0
Aronian will be getting married soon to Filipina-Australian WIM Arianne Caoili. I guess that accounts for his inspired form.
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Aronian, Levon (2799) — Nepomniachtchi, Ian (2751) [A34]
5th Sinquefield Cup 2017 Saint Louis USA (1.3), 02.08.2017
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e3 Nxc3 6.bxc3 g6
The main lines here are 7.d4 (by far), 7.Bb5+, 7.Qa4+ and 7.h4. Which one do you think Aronian will play?
7.h4!? Bg7 8.h5 Nc6 9.Ba3
A novelty, and quite a surprising one. Can’t Black simply play 9…Qa5 which defends the c5-pawn and at the same time attacks the a3-bishop? At the same time with the black queen on a5 White will have trouble pushing his d2-pawn?
9…Qa5 10.Rh4!
This is the real idea — Black cannot take the bishop because 10…Qxa3? 11.Ra4 Qb2 12.Rb1 the queen is trapped.
10…Bd7
Now this is the funny thing. Apparently Nepom had also prepared this same line for when he is White. For the Black player he remembered that 10…Bd7 is the correct reply.
11.Qb3 0-0?!
Daring Aronian to take the b7-pawn. He does just that.
12.hxg6 hxg6 13.Qxb7 Rfd8
Played after long thought.
13…Bxc3 14.Bb2! Bxb2 15.Qxb2 f6 16.Ng5 Ne5 (otherwise Bc4+) 17.Qb3+ e6 18.Nxe6 White has a very strong attack;
13…Qxa3 14.Qxd7 Nb4 15.Bc4! Nc2+ 16.Ke2 Nxa1 17.Ng5 (threat is Qh3) 17…Bf6 18.Rh8+! Bxh8 (18…Kxh8? 19.Qh3+ Kg7 20.Qh7#) 19.Qh3 Kg7 20.Qh7+ Kf6 21.Ne4+ Kf5 (21…Ke5 22.Qh2+ Kxe4 23.Qf4#) 22.Qh3+ Kxe4 23.Qf3+ Ke5 24.Qf4#
14.Qa6 Bxc3 15.Qxa5 Bxa5 16.Bxc5
White emerges from the complications a pawn up, but even more than that his pieces are superior to their counterparts and he wraps the game up quickly.
16…Be6 17.Bb5 Ne5 18.Nd4 Rd5 19.Bxe7 Kg7 20.f4 Nd7 21.f5! Bxf5 22.Bc6 Re5 23.Nxf5+ gxf5 24.Bg5 Kg6 25.Bf4 Rd8 26.Bxd7 Rc5 27.Rh6+ Kg7 28.Rd6 Bc7 29.Rc6 1-0
Now White is a pawn and a piece up. Time for Black to resign.
Wesley So did not do very well in the tournament. He won only one game and lost four. You can’t win all the time and perhaps it is good that his failure occurred here and not in the World Cup which will start two weeks from now — it is an essential step to the world championship match that he is aspiring for. His lone win was not a lucky break but a well-earned point, once again his high-level accuracy was in evidence.
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Nepomniachtchi, Ian (2751) — So, Wesley (2810) [A34]
5th Sinquefield Cup 2017 Saint Louis USA (2), 03.08.2017
1.c4 g6 2.Nc3 c5 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nf6 5.Bf4 Nc6 6.Qd2 d6 7.e4 Bg7 8.Bd3 Ne5 9.Nge2 Nh5 10.Be3 Ng4 11.Bg5 h6 12.Bh4 g5 13.Bg3 Be6 14.h3 Ne5 15.Bxe5 Bxe5 16.g3 Qa5 17.f4?
Correct was 17.Rb1 in order to push the queen back with b2-b4 and follow-up with Nd5. Nepom is so eager to prove that Black’s setup is faulty that he overlooks a simple tactical flaw.
17…Bxc3! 18.bxc3
This is the problem — he can’t play 18.Nxc3 because of 18…Nxg3 19.Rg1 gxf4 20.Qxf4 Nh5 leaves Black a pawn up.
18…Qc7!
White’s pawn formation is compromised and from here up to the end Wesley does not let up and reels in the point.
19.fxg5 hxg5 20.Qxg5 Bxc4 21.Bxc4 Qxc4 22.Qd5
Maybe White will have more chances by jettisoning a pawn: 22.Rb1 Qxe4 23.0-0 is a gamble which works after 23…Nf6! (23…Qxe2?? 24.Rfe1 winning the black queen because of the threatened mate on e7) 24.Qb5+ Kf8 25.Rb4 well at least the position is more complicated than what happens in the actual game.
22…Qxd5 23.exd5 Rc8 24.Rb1 b6 25.Rb3 Nf6 26.Ra3 a5 27.Nf4 Rg8 28.c4
White is going to lose a pawn no matter what. For example 28.Rg1 Rg5 29.h4 Rg4 30.Ke2 Ne4 31.Kf3 f5.
28…Rxc4 29.Ke2 Ne4 30.g4 f5 31.Rg1 fxg4 32.hxg4 Nc3+ 33.Kd3 Rxf4 34.Rxc3 Rgxg4 35.Rc8+ Kf7 36.Rb1 Rd4+ 37.Ke3 Rxd5 38.Rxb6 Rg2 39.a4 Rg4 0-1
I can’t wait for the World Cup to start.
Bobby Ang is a founding member of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and its first Executive Director. A Certified Public Accountant (CPA), he taught accounting in the University of Santo Tomas (UST) for 25 years and is currently Chief Audit Executive of the Equicom Group of Companies.
