The first round of the 2015 Sinquefield Cup is finished with each game concluding decisively. Magnus Carlsen and Veselin Topalov played a rather snoozy game that the World Champion later referred to as chicken chess. It seemed at times like Carlsen was playing as though he was not familiar with the opening. In the end Carlsen was unable to obtain sufficient compensation for his play and fell in the first round to Topalov.
[pgn]
[Event “3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015”]
[Site “Saint Louis USA”]
[Date “2015.08.23”]
[Round “1.1”]
[White “Carlsen, Magnus”]
[Black “Topalov, Veselin”]
[Result “0-1”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[WhiteElo “2853”]
[BlackElo “2816”]
[ECO “B51”]
[Opening “Sicilian”]
[Variation “Canal-Sokolsky (Nimzovich-Rossolimo, Moscow) attack”]
[WhiteFideId “1503014”]
[BlackFideId “2900084”]
[EventDate “2015.08.23”]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. O-O Nf6 5. Re1 a6 6. Bd3 b5 7. c4 g5 8. Nxg5
Ne5 9. Be2 bxc4 10. Na3 Rg8 11. Nxc4 Nxc4 12. d4 Nb6 13. Bh5 Nxh5 14. Qxh5 Rg7
15. Nxh7 Qd7 16. dxc5 dxc5 17. e5 Qc6 18. f3 Qg6 19. Nf6+ Kd8 20. Qxg6 Rxg6 21.
Ne4 Bb7 22. h4 Rc8 23. h5 Rg8 24. Bd2 Nc4 25. Bc3 Bh6 26. Rad1+ Ke8 27. Rd3 Bf4
28. Nf2 Bc6 29. Nh3 Bg3 30. Re2 Bb5 31. Rd1 Bc6 32. Nf2 Bxe5 33. Ng4 Bxc3 34.
bxc3 Kf8 35. Kf2 Rh8 36. Ne5 Nxe5 37. Rxe5 Be8 38. g4 f6 39. Re6 Bb5 40. Rde1
Rc7 0-1
[/pgn]
Fabiano Caruana, who was last year’s tournament champion, was among the first players to fall in the first round. Caruana was unable to solve an exciting game against Levon Aronian. This was the game that I spent most of the day watching because I was curious to see how Caruana was going to approach this year’s tournament play. When it became apparent that he would be unable to convert a win against Aronian, WGM Jennifer Shahade remarked that Caruana, although lost, was poised to go out in a blaze of glory.
[pgn]
[Event “3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015”]
[Site “Saint Louis USA”]
[Date “2015.08.23”]
[Round “1.3”]
[White “Aronian, Levon”]
[Black “Caruana, Fabiano”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[WhiteElo “2765”]
[BlackElo “2808”]
[ECO “D37”]
[Opening “QGD”]
[Variation “classical variation (5.Bf4)”]
[WhiteFideId “13300474”]
[BlackFideId “2020009”]
[EventDate “2015.08.23”]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. c5 Ne4 8. Rc1
Nxc3 9. Rxc3 b6 10. c6 Nf6 11. a3 a5 12. Bd3 Ne4 13. Rc2 f6 14. Qe2 Bd6 15. O-O
g5 16. Bxd6 Nxd6 17. Re1 a4 18. Nd2 e5 19. e4 f5 20. f3 dxe4 21. fxe4 Ra5 22.
exf5 Nxf5 23. Bc4+ Kg7 24. d5 Re8 25. Ne4 Nd4 26. Qh5 Nxc2 27. Nxg5 Bf5 28. Rf1
Qf6 29. Ne6+ Rxe6 30. Rxf5 Qg6 31. dxe6 Qxh5 32. Rxh5 Nd4 33. e7 Ra8 34. Rxe5
Re8 35. Re4 Nf5 36. Be6 Nd6 37. Bd7 Nxe4 38. Bxe8 Kf6 39. Bg6 1-0
[/pgn]
Fighting Spirit Throughout
While the Carlsen-Topalov game was a nice sleeper, it was clear that the participants came to Saint Louis this year with a strong will to fight in their hearts. Round 02 starts tomorrow at 1300 EST at the Saint Louis Chess Club and will be broadcast on multiple mediums across the web.
White | Result | Black | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | GM Carlsen M. (0) 2853 | 0-1 | GM Topalov V. (0) 2816 |
2 | GM Nakamura H. (0) 2814 | 1-0 | GM Anand V. (0) 2816 |
3 | GM Aronian L. (0) 2765 | 1-0 | GM Caruana F. (0) 2808 |
4 | GM Giri Anish (0) 2793 | 1-0 | GM Grischuk A. (0) 2771 |
5 | GM So Wesley (0) 2779 | 0-1 | GM Vachier-Lagr (0) 2731 |
2015 Sinquefield Cup – Round 02 Pairings
White | Result | Black | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | GM Grischuk A. (0) 2771 | — — | GM Anand V. (0) 2816 |
2 | GM Topalov V. (1) 2816 | — — | GM Nakamura H. (1) 2814 |
3 | GM Caruana F. (0) 2808 | — — | GM Carlsen M. (0) 2853 |
4 | GM Vachier-Lagr. (1) 2731 | — — | GM Aronian L. (1) 2765 |
5 | GM Giri A. (1) 2793 | — — | GM So Wesley (0) 2779 |
2015 Sinquefield Cup – Round 01 Games Collection
[pgn]
[Event “3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015”]
[Site “Saint Louis USA”]
[Date “2015.08.23”]
[Round “1.1”]
[White “Carlsen, Magnus”]
[Black “Topalov, Veselin”]
[Result “0-1”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[WhiteElo “2853”]
[BlackElo “2816”]
[ECO “B51”]
[Opening “Sicilian”]
[Variation “Canal-Sokolsky (Nimzovich-Rossolimo, Moscow) attack”]
[WhiteFideId “1503014”]
[BlackFideId “2900084”]
[EventDate “2015.08.23”]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. O-O Nf6 5. Re1 a6 6. Bd3 b5 7. c4 g5 8. Nxg5
Ne5 9. Be2 bxc4 10. Na3 Rg8 11. Nxc4 Nxc4 12. d4 Nb6 13. Bh5 Nxh5 14. Qxh5 Rg7
15. Nxh7 Qd7 16. dxc5 dxc5 17. e5 Qc6 18. f3 Qg6 19. Nf6+ Kd8 20. Qxg6 Rxg6 21.
Ne4 Bb7 22. h4 Rc8 23. h5 Rg8 24. Bd2 Nc4 25. Bc3 Bh6 26. Rad1+ Ke8 27. Rd3 Bf4
28. Nf2 Bc6 29. Nh3 Bg3 30. Re2 Bb5 31. Rd1 Bc6 32. Nf2 Bxe5 33. Ng4 Bxc3 34.
bxc3 Kf8 35. Kf2 Rh8 36. Ne5 Nxe5 37. Rxe5 Be8 38. g4 f6 39. Re6 Bb5 40. Rde1
Rc7 0-1
[Event “3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015”]
[Site “Saint Louis USA”]
[Date “2015.08.23”]
[Round “1.2”]
[White “Nakamura, Hikaru”]
[Black “Anand, Viswanathan”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[WhiteElo “2814”]
[BlackElo “2816”]
[ECO “E06”]
[Opening “Catalan”]
[Variation “closed, 5.Nf3”]
[WhiteFideId “2016192”]
[BlackFideId “5000017”]
[EventDate “2015.08.23”]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. g3 Be7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O dxc4 7. Qc2 a6 8. a4
Bd7 9. Qxc4 Bc6 10. Bg5 Bd5 11. Qc2 Be4 12. Qd1 c5 13. dxc5 Bxc5 14. Qxd8 Rxd8
15. Nbd2 Bc6 16. Nb3 Be7 17. Na5 h6 18. Be3 Nd5 19. Bd2 Nb6 20. Bf4 Nd5 21. Ne5
g5 22. Bd2 Bf6 23. Nd3 b6 24. Nc4 b5 25. Bxd5 bxc4 26. Bxc4 Bxb2 27. Ra2 Bg7 28.
Rc1 Be8 29. Nc5 Bf8 30. Bd3 Nc6 31. Be4 Rdc8 32. Kf1 Ra7 33. Nb3 Rac7 34. Rac2
Bd6 35. f4 f5 36. Bd3 Nb8 37. Rxc7 Rxc7 38. Rxc7 Bxc7 39. fxg5 hxg5 40. Nc5 Bd6
41. Nxe6 Bxa4 42. Nxg5 Bd7 43. Bc3 1-0
[Event “3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015”]
[Site “Saint Louis USA”]
[Date “2015.08.23”]
[Round “1.3”]
[White “Aronian, Levon”]
[Black “Caruana, Fabiano”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[WhiteElo “2765”]
[BlackElo “2808”]
[ECO “D37”]
[Opening “QGD”]
[Variation “classical variation (5.Bf4)”]
[WhiteFideId “13300474”]
[BlackFideId “2020009”]
[EventDate “2015.08.23”]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 d5 4. Nc3 Be7 5. Bf4 O-O 6. e3 Nbd7 7. c5 Ne4 8. Rc1
Nxc3 9. Rxc3 b6 10. c6 Nf6 11. a3 a5 12. Bd3 Ne4 13. Rc2 f6 14. Qe2 Bd6 15. O-O
g5 16. Bxd6 Nxd6 17. Re1 a4 18. Nd2 e5 19. e4 f5 20. f3 dxe4 21. fxe4 Ra5 22.
exf5 Nxf5 23. Bc4+ Kg7 24. d5 Re8 25. Ne4 Nd4 26. Qh5 Nxc2 27. Nxg5 Bf5 28. Rf1
Qf6 29. Ne6+ Rxe6 30. Rxf5 Qg6 31. dxe6 Qxh5 32. Rxh5 Nd4 33. e7 Ra8 34. Rxe5
Re8 35. Re4 Nf5 36. Be6 Nd6 37. Bd7 Nxe4 38. Bxe8 Kf6 39. Bg6 1-0
[Event “3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015”]
[Site “Saint Louis USA”]
[Date “2015.08.23”]
[Round “1.4”]
[White “Giri, Anish”]
[Black “Grischuk, Alexander”]
[Result “1-0”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[WhiteElo “2793”]
[BlackElo “2771”]
[ECO “D02”]
[Opening “Queen’s pawn game”]
[WhiteFideId “24116068”]
[BlackFideId “4126025”]
[EventDate “2015.08.23”]
1. Nf3 d5 2. d4 Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Be7 6. Bg2 O-O 7. O-O Nbd7 8. Qc2
c6 9. Rd1 b6 10. Bf4 Ba6 11. b3 Rc8 12. Nc3 dxc4 13. e4 Nh5 14. Be3 Nhf6 15. h3
b5 16. bxc4 bxc4 17. Rab1 Qa5 18. Bd2 Qa3 19. Re1 Nb6 20. Re3 Rb8 21. Rxb6 Rxb6
22. Na4 Rb1+ 23. Kh2 c3 24. Rxc3 Qb4 25. Rxc6 Qb5 26. Ne5 Ra1 27. Bc3 Rf1 28.
Nb2 Qb7 29. Rxa6 Qxa6 30. Nbc4 Nxe4 31. Bxe4 Rb8 32. Bxh7+ Kf8 33. Qe2 Rc1 34.
Qh5 1-0
[Event “3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015”]
[Site “Saint Louis USA”]
[Date “2015.08.23”]
[Round “1.5”]
[White “So, Wesley”]
[Black “Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime”]
[Result “0-1”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[WhiteElo “2779”]
[BlackElo “2731”]
[ECO “A15”]
[Opening “English opening”]
[WhiteFideId “5202213”]
[BlackFideId “623539”]
[EventDate “2015.08.23”]
1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. g3 Bg7 6. Bg2 c5 7. Qa4+ Nc6 8.
Ng5 e6 9. Nge4 Nb6 10. Qb5 c4 11. Na4 O-O 12. Nxb6 axb6 13. Qxc4 e5 14. Qc2 Be6
15. Nc3 b5 16. Bxc6 bxc6 17. b3 Bf5 18. d3 e4 19. dxe4 Bxe4 20. Nxe4 Bxa1 21.
O-O Re8 22. f3 Bd4+ 23. e3 Bg7 24. Rd1 Qc7 25. Rd6 c5 26. Rd5 Re5 27. Rd1 c4 28.
a3 Re7 29. bxc4 Qxc4 30. Qd2 Qb3 31. Qd6 Rc8 32. Nf2 Rec7 33. Bd2 Bf8 34. Qd4
Bxa3 35. Kg2 Bb2 0-1
[/pgn]