Sports

Nakamura wins Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz Tournament

Monday, August 16, 2021

HIKARU Nakamura resoundingly won the Grand Chess Tour’s Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz Tournament, which ended on Sunday, August 15, in St. Louis, Missouri. Nakamura captured both the rapid and blitz phases of the tournament – undefeated solo first in the rapids and blitz winner by virtue of a better tiebreak score against Quang Liem Le, who tied him for first.

The final standings: 1. Hikaru Nakamura, 18; 2. Fabiano Caruana, 15½; 3. Richard Rapport, 14½;

4. Wesley So, 14; 5. Peter Svidler, 13½; 6. Jeffery Xiong, 12½; 7-8 Quang Liem Le, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, 12; 9-10. Sam Shankland, Leinier Dominguez Perez, 11½.

The scoring system for the rapid phase was two points for a win and one point for a draw, while the blitz scoring system was one point for a win and a half-point for a draw.

The fifth and final leg of the Grand Chess Tour will be the Sinquefield Cup which starts tomorrow, August 16, in St. Louis and will have a prize fund of $350,000.

Svidler, P (2714)-

Caruana, F (2806) [C54]

St. Louis (1) 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 h6 5.c3 Bc5 6.0-0 d6 7.b4 Bb6 8.Nbd2 0-0 9.Re1 Ne7 10.Bb3 Ng6 11.a4 c6 12.a5 Bc7 13.d4 Re8 14.dxe5 Nxe5 15.Nxe5 Rxe5 16.Bb2 d5 17.c4 Bg4 18.f3 Be6 19.cxd5 cxd5 20.f4 Bg4 21.Qc2 Re8 22.e5 Nh5 23.Rf1 g6 24.Qd3 Ng7 25.Bxd5 Be6 26.Ne4 Nh5 27.Rad1 Qh4 28.Bxe6 Rxe6 29.g3 Qe7 30.f5 gxf5 31.Nc5 Rg6 32.Rxf5 Ng7 33.Rf6 Rd8 34.Qf3 Rxd1+ 35.Qxd1 Bxe5 36.Rxg6 Bxb2 37.Rd6 Nf5 38.Rd7 Qe5 39.Qg4+ Kf8 40.Qf4 Bd4+ 41.Kf1 Ne3+ 42.Ke2 Qh5+ 43.g4 Nxg4 44.Rd8+ Ke7 45.Qd6# 1-0

So, Wesley (2772)-

Mamedyarov, S (2782) [C54]

St. Louis (2) 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.e5 d5 7.Bb5 Ne4 8.cxd4 Bb6 9.Nc3 0-0 10.Be3 Bd7 11.Bd3 Ba5 12.Rc1 f6 13.Qb3 Nxc3 14.bxc3 fxe5 15.Qxd5+ Kh8 16.Nxe5 Bf5 17.Qxd8 Raxd8 18.Nxc6 bxc6 19.Bxf5 Rxf5 20.Ke2 Kg8 21.c4 c5 22.dxc5 Re8 23.Rhd1 Rxc5 24.Rd5 Bb6 25.Kd3 Rc6 26.c5 Ba5 27.Rc4 Rf6 28.Rd7 Be1 29.f3 Rf7 30.Rxf7 Kxf7 31.Ra4 a5 32.Rf4+ Kg6 33.Rg4+ Kf7 34.Rd4 Bb4 35.Rd7+ Re7 36.Rxe7+ Kxe7 37.Bd4 g6 38.Bc3 Bxc5 39.Bxa5 Kd6 40.Kc4 Bg1 41.h3 h5 42.Bc3 Kc6 43.Bd4 Bh2 44.a4 Bd6 45.Bc3 Bg3 46.Bd2 h4 47.Bg5 Kb6 48.Kd5 Ka5 49.Ke6 Kxa4 50.Kf7 c5 51.Kxg6 c4 52.f4 c3 53.f5 c2 1-0

Caruana, F (2806)-

So, Wesley (2772) [C90]

St. Louis (8) 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 0-0 8.a4 b4 9.a5 d6 10.c3 Rb8 11.Bc4 Bg4 12.h3 Bh5 13.d3 bxc3 14.bxc3 Nxa5 15.Rxa5 Rxb1 16.g4 Bg6 17.Qc2 Rb8 18.Rxa6 Qc8 19.Kh2 Kh8 20.Qe2 c6 21.Ra7 Bd8 22.Ba6 Qe6 23.Be3 Nxg4+ 24.hxg4 Qxg4 25.Nd2 Qh4+ 26.Kg2 f5 27.Rh1 Qf6 28.exf5 Bxf5 29.Qh5 Bb6 30.Bxb6 Rxb6 31.Nf3 Bg6 32.Qg4 d5 33.Qg3 Rb2 34.Rf1 e4 35.Ne5 Bh5 36.dxe4 dxe4 37.Bc4 e3 38.Qxe3 h6 39.Qg3 Rd2 40.Rd7 Bf3+ 41.Kg1 Bd5 1-0

Dominguez Perez, L (2758)-

Xiong, J (2710) [B12]

St. Louis (8) 2021

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bf5 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2 Ne7 6.c3 Ng6 7.0-0 Be7 8.Be3 Nd7 9.Nbd2 f6 10.Ne1 h5 11.f4 Qb6 12.Qb3 Rc8 13.Bd3 Nh4 14.Bf2 Bxd3 15.Nxd3 Nf5 16.Qc2 fxe5 17.fxe5 g5 18.Kh1 h4 19.Rae1 Kd8 20.c4 Qa6 21.b3 Nb6 22.c5 Nd7 23.b4 b6 24.a4 bxc5 25.dxc5 Qb7 26.Rb1 a6 27.Nb3 Qc7 28.Nd4 Nxd4 29.Bxd4 Rf8 30.Rxf8+ Nxf8 31.Qf2 Qd7 32.Rf1 Qe8 33.Qe2 Rb8 34.Bc3 Qg6 35.Nc1 h3 36.gxh3 Nd7 37.Nd3 a5 38.bxa5 Rb3 39.a6 Kc7 40.Rc1 Qe4+ 41.Qxe4 dxe4 42.Nf2 Nxc5 43.Bd4 Nxa6 44.a5 c5 45.Nxe4 Rb4 46.Bxc5 Rxe4 47.Bxe7+ Kd7 48.Bd6 Re2 49.Rg1 Re3 50.Rxg5 Rxh3 51.Kg2 Rd3 52.h4 1-0

So, Wesley (2772)-

Svidler, P (2714) [C54]

St. Louis (9) 2021

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.0-0 a5 7.Bg5 h6 8.Bh4 Qe7 9.Nbd2 Bb6 10.Bb5 Bd7 11.Nc4 Ba7 12.Bxc6 Bxc6 13.Nxa5 Bxf2+ 14.Rxf2 Rxa5 15.Nd2 g5 16.Bg3 d5 17.b4 Ra8 18.Qf3 1-0

Nakamura, H (2736)-

Le, Quang Liem (2709) [E35]

St. Louis (9), 14.08.2021

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 d5 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 Nc6 8.e3 g5 9.Bg3 h5 10.f3 Qe7 11.Kd2 h4 12.Bf2 a6 13.h3 Be6 14.Bd3 Bd6 15.a3 Nh5 16.Nge2 0-0 17.Rae1 f5 18.Kc1 Rae8 19.Rhf1 Qg7 20.Kb1 Ne7 21.e4 fxe4 22.fxe4 dxe4 23.Nxe4 Nd5 24.N4c3 Nxc3+ 25.Nxc3 Nf4 26.d5 Nxd3 27.Rxe6 Rxe6 28.dxe6 Qh7 29.Ka1 Qf5 30.Qb3 Re8 31.e7+ Kh7 32.Ne4 Rxe7 33.Nxg5+ Kh6 34.Nf3 Re2 35.Bd4 Rxg2 36.Nd2 Bf4 37.Nb1 Qe4 38.Bc3 Nc5 39.Qf7 Be5 40.Qf8+ Rg7 41.Qxc5 Bxc3 42.Qxc3 1-0

*******

PUZZLERS