ALL the final round games of the 8th Sinquefield Cup ended in draws, enabling Maxime Vachier-Lagrave to capture the Category 20 (average Elo: 2742) event by the skin of his teeth. Although the French Grandmaster (GM) won the tournament, Wesley So emerged the overall winner of the Grand Chess Tour.
The 30-year old Vachier-Lagrave had a short 25-move draw with Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and had to wait out the result of an interesting battle between Fabiano Caruana and Richard Rapoort. A win by Caruana would’ave tied him for first with the French GM, but Rapport defended well and the game was drawn in 62 moves of a Sicilian Paulsen.
Wesley and Leinier Dominguez Perez drew in 35 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Accepted and both ended in a tie for second to fourth places with Caruana. The Filipino-born Wesley took the overall Grand Chess Tour Championship, garnering a total of 36.6 Tour points to Vachier-Lagrave’s 35 points. Mamedyarov was a far third with 26.5 points. The total earnings of Wesley for playing in four events of the Tour was $242,500, while Vachier-Lagrave pocketed a total of $206,250. The 2022 Grand Chess Tour will start in February.
The final standings (8th Sinquefiel Cup): 1. Vachier-Lagrave, 6; 2-4. So, Dominguez-Perez, Caruana, 5½; 5. Rapport, 4½; 6-8. Mamedyarov, Xiong, Shankland, 4; 9. Svidler, 3½; 10. Swiercz, 2½.
Shankland, S (2709)-
Swiercz, D (2655) [A07]
Saint Louis USA (9) 2021
1.Nf3 d5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 c6 4.c4 dxc4 5.0-0 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Nb6 7.a4 a5 8.Na3 Be6 9.Ng5 Qd7 10.e4 Bg4 11.Nxc4 Nxc4 12.Qxc4 e5 13.b3 Bb4 14.Bb2 h6 15.Nf3 Bxf3 16.Bxf3 Qe7 17.Rad1 0-0 18.d4 exd4 19.Rxd4 Nd7 20.Be2 Rad8 21.Rfd1 Nc5 22.Qc2 Rxd4 23.Rxd4 Rd8 24.e5 Rxd4 25.Bxd4 Ne6 26.Bb2 Qc5 27.Qc4 Qxc4 28.Bxc4 Nc5 29.Kf1 b5 30.axb5 cxb5 31.Bxb5 Nxb3 32.Ke2 Nc5 33.Bd4 a4 34.Bxc5 Bxc5 35.Bxa4 Kf8 36.Bb3 Ke7 37.f4 f6 38.e6 f5 39.Kf3 h5 40.Kg2 Kf6 41.Kf3 Ke7 42.Kg2 Kf6 43.Kf3 Ke7 ½-½
Mamedyarov, S (2782)-
Vachier Lagrave, M (2751) [D85]
Saint Louis USA (9) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 Bg7 7.Nf3 c5 8.Rb1 0-0 9.Be2 cxd4 10.cxd4 Qa5+ 11.Bd2 Qxa2 12.0-0 Bg4 13.Rxb7 Bxf3 14.Bxf3 Bxd4 15.e5 Na6 16.Rxe7 Rad8 17.e6 fxe6 18.Qe1 Nc5 19.Bc3 Nd3 20.Bxd4 Nxe1 21.Rg7+ Kh8 22.Rd7+ Kg8 23.Rg7+ Kh8 24.Rd7+ Kg8 25.Rg7+ ½-½
So, Wesley (2772)-
Dominguez Perez, L (2758) [D27]
Saint Louis USA (9) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 a6 6.0-0 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Qxd8+ Kxd8 9.Be2 Ke7 10.Nc3 b5 11.Nd2 Bb7 12.Nb3 Nbd7 13.Na5 Rab8 14.Bd2 Ne4 15.Nxe4 Bxe4 16.Rfc1 Rhc8 17.a4 bxa4 18.Bxa6 Rc7 19.Bc3 Bd6 20.Rxa4 Nc5 21.Bb4 Bd5 22.Bf1 Rcc8 23.Bxc5 Rxc5 24.Rxc5 Bxc5 25.Nc4 Bxc4 26.Rxc4 Bd6 27.Rc2 Be5 28.g3 Rxb2 29.Rxb2 Bxb2 30.h4 h6 31.Bd3 Bc3 32.Bc2 Bb2 33.Bd3 Bc3 34.Bc2 Bb2 35.Bd3 ½-½
Svidler, P (2714)-
Xiong, J (2710) [C55]
Saint Louis USA (9) 2021
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 h6 5.a4 d6 6.Nc3 g5 7.Be3 Bg7 8.h4 g4 9.Nh2 Ne7 10.Qe2 c6 11.d4 exd4 12.Bxd4 Ng6 13.0-0-0 Qe7 14.Bxf6 Bxf6 15.Nxg4 Bxh4 16.Ne3 Bf6 17.Qd2 h5 18.Kb1 h4 19.Rhe1 Bg5 20.Qxd6 Qxd6 21.Rxd6 Ne5 22.Bb3 h3 23.gxh3 Bxh3 24.Nf5 Rd8 25.Ka2 Rxd6 26.Nxd6+ Ke7 27.Nxb7 Bc8 28.Nc5 Rh2 29.Rg1 f6 30.f4 Bxf4 31.Rg8 Be3 32.Nd3 Nxd3 33.cxd3 Ba6 34.Rg7+ Kd6 35.Bc4 Bxc4+ 36.dxc4 a5 37.Rf7 Bd4 38.Kb3 Rh4 39.Rf8 Kc5 40.Ra8 Kb6 41.Rb8+ Kc5 42.Ra8 Kb6 43.Rb8+ Kc5 44.Ra8 ½-½
Rapport, R (2763)-
Caruana, F (2806) [B44]
Saint Louis (9) 2021
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6 5.Bf4 d6 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.c4 Rb8 8.Qc2 e5 9.Be3 Nf6 10.Nc3 Qc7 11.Be2 Be7 12.0-0 0-0 13.Rac1 Be6 14.b3 h6 15.h3 a5 16.Rfd1 Rfd8 17.Bf3 Nh7 18.Qe2 Bg5 19.Rd3 Qe7 20.Rcd1 Rd7 21.Bd2 Bxd2 22.Qxd2 Ng5 23.Be2 Rbd8 24.Qe3 f5 25.c5 d5 26.exd5 Bxd5 27.f4 Ne4 28.Nxd5 cxd5 29.c6 d4 30.Qc1 Rc7 31.fxe5 Qxe5 32.Qc4+ Kh7 33.Bf3 Ng5 34.h4 Nxf3+ 35.Rxf3 Rd5 36.h5 Qe4 37.Rdf1 d3 38.Rf4 Qe6 39.Rxf5 Qe3+ 40.Kh2 Rd4 41.Re1 Rxc4 42.Rxe3 Rd4 43.Rf1 d2 44.Rd1 Rxc6 45.Re2 Rc2 46.a3 Rd5 47.Kg3 Rc3+ 48.Kh4 Rd4+ 49.g4 Rdd3 50.Rh2 Rc2 51.b4 a4 52.b5 Rb2 53.Rh3 Rd6 54.Rh2 Ra2 55.Rg2 Kg8 56.Rh2 Kf7 57.Re2 Rb2 58.Rf1+ Rf6 59.Rd1 Rd6 60.Rf1+ Rf6 61.Rd1 Rd6 62.Rf1+ ½-½
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.d6!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…c6 2.Qxb7#; 1…c5 2.Rf5#; 1…Kxg7 2.Re7#./PN
