Sinquefield Cup Round 3 Recap

Round 3 of the 2015 Sinquefield Cup saw the tournament developing in a completely different style than last year’s Caruana blowout. After 3 rounds in Saint Louis, Veselin Topalov remains in the lead with 2.5/3 points, but Magnus Carlsen is on a close trail with 2/3 points going into round 4. Topalov played a Canal-Sokolsky attack, which is a Nimzovich-Rossolimo variation.

[pgn]
[Event “3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015”]
[Site “Saint Louis USA”]
[Date “2015.08.25”]
[Round “3.1”]
[White “Anand, Viswanathan”]
[Black “Topalov, Veselin”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[WhiteElo “2816”]
[BlackElo “2816”]
[ECO “B51”]
[Opening “Sicilian”]
[Variation “Canal-Sokolsky (Nimzovich-Rossolimo, Moscow) attack”]
[WhiteFideId “5000017”]
[BlackFideId “2900084”]
[EventDate “2015.08.23”]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nd7 4. d4 cxd4 5. Qxd4 a6 6. Bxd7+ Bxd7 7. O-O Nf6 8.
Nc3 e5 9. Qd3 h6 10. Nd2 b5 11. a4 Rb8 12. Rd1 Be7 13. axb5 axb5 14. Nf1 b4 15.
Nd5 Nxd5 16. Qxd5 O-O 17. Ne3 Be6 18. Qd3 Qc7 19. Bd2 Rfc8 20. c3 bxc3 21. Bxc3
Qb7 22. Nd5 Bg5 23. h3 Ra8 24. Ne3 Bxe3 25. Qxe3 Rxa1 26. Rxa1 Ra8 27. Rxa8+
Qxa8 28. f3 Qc6 29. Kf2 f6 30. Kg1 Qc5 31. Qxc5 dxc5 1/2-1/2
[/pgn]

The variation worked out well for Topalov, who has proven a force to be reckoned with in this year’s tournament. 2nd place is a 3-way tie between Carlsen, Giri, and Aronian each with 2 points. Carlsen played the English against Vachier-Lagrave and managed to edge out the French Grandmaster to continue his exceptional performance rebounding from a tragic time control mixup earlier this year in Norway Chess 2015.

[pgn]
[Event “3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015”]
[Site “Saint Louis USA”]
[Date “2015.08.25”]
[Round “3.2”]
[White “Aronian, Levon”]
[Black “Giri, Anish”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[WhiteElo “2765”]
[BlackElo “2793”]
[ECO “A29”]
[Opening “English”]
[Variation “four knights, kingside fianchetto”]
[WhiteFideId “13300474”]
[BlackFideId “24116068”]
[EventDate “2015.08.23”]

1. c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. g3 d5 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Nb6 7. O-O Be7 8. d3
O-O 9. Be3 Re8 10. Qd2 Bf8 11. Rfc1 h6 12. a3 Bg4 13. Ne4 Nd4 14. Bxd4 exd4 15.
Qf4 Bxf3 16. exf3 Nd5 17. Qg4 c6 18. f4 a5 19. Nd2 a4 20. Qd1 Nb6 21. h4 Ra5 22.
Rc2 Nd7 23. Ne4 Nc5 24. Nxc5 Bxc5 25. Qd2 Bf8 26. Re1 Rxe1+ 27. Qxe1 Ra8 28. Qe4
Qb6 29. Re2 Qc5 30. Bf3 Rd8 31. Kg2 Bd6 32. f5 Bf8 33. f6 gxf6 34. Qf4 Qd6 35.
Qf5 Ra8 36. Rc2 Bg7 37. Rc4 Qe6 38. Qf4 Qe5 39. Rb4 Qxf4 40. gxf4 Ra7 41. f5 Bf8
42. Rxd4 Ra5 1/2-1/2
[/pgn]

Standings After Round 4

Rank Name Score Rating
1 Topalov 3.0/4 2816
2 Aronian 3.0/4 2765
3 Giri 2.5/4 2793
4 Carlsen 2.5/4 2853
5 Vachier-Lagrave 2.0/4 2731
6 Nakamura 2.0/4 2814
7 So 1.5/4 2779
8 Grischuk 1.5/4 2771
9 Anand 1.0/4 2816
10 Caruana 1.0/4 2808

2015 Sinquefield Cup Round 3 Games Collection

[pgn]
[Event “3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015”]
[Site “Saint Louis USA”]
[Date “2015.08.26”]
[Round “4.1”]
[White “Grischuk, Alexander”]
[Black “Topalov, Veselin”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[WhiteElo “2771”]
[BlackElo “2816”]
[ECO “B90”]
[Opening “Sicilian”]
[Variation “Najdorf”]
[WhiteFideId “4126025”]
[BlackFideId “2900084”]
[EventDate “2015.08.23”]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 Ng4 7. Bc1 Nf6 8. f3
e5 9. Nb3 Be6 10. Be3 h5 11. Nd5 Bxd5 12. exd5 Nbd7 13. Qd2 g6 14. O-O-O Nb6 15.
Kb1 Nbxd5 16. Bg5 Be7 17. Na5 Rb8 18. Bc4 Nb6 19. Bxf6 Bxf6 20. Qxd6 Qxd6 21.
Rxd6 Bd8 22. Rd3 Bc7 23. Bb3 Ke7 24. Rhd1 Rhd8 25. Rxd8 Bxd8 26. Nc4 Nxc4 27.
Bxc4 Bb6 28. c3 Rd8 29. Rxd8 Bxd8 30. Kc2 Bc7 31. Bd5 1/2-1/2

[Event “3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015”]
[Site “Saint Louis USA”]
[Date “2015.08.26”]
[Round “4.2”]
[White “Giri, Anish”]
[Black “Carlsen, Magnus”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[WhiteElo “2793”]
[BlackElo “2853”]
[ECO “B33”]
[Opening “Sicilian”]
[Variation “Pelikan, Chelyabinsk variation”]
[WhiteFideId “24116068”]
[BlackFideId “1503014”]
[EventDate “2015.08.23”]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3
b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 Ne7 12. Nc2 Nxd5 13. Qxd5 Rb8 14. Nb4 Bb7 15.
Qd3 O-O 16. Be2 a5 17. Nd5 b4 18. O-O bxc3 19. bxc3 Bg5 20. Rab1 Qd7 21. Rb3 Bc6
22. Rfb1 Rxb3 23. Rxb3 g6 24. Rb6 Rc8 25. h3 Bxd5 26. Qxd5 Rxc3 27. Rxd6 Qe7 28.
Bd1 Rc7 29. g3 Kg7 30. Ba4 Bc1 31. Rc6 1/2-1/2

[Event “3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015”]
[Site “Saint Louis USA”]
[Date “2015.08.26”]
[Round “4.3”]
[White “So, Wesley”]
[Black “Aronian, Levon”]
[Result “0-1”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[WhiteElo “2779”]
[BlackElo “2765”]
[ECO “E20”]
[Opening “Nimzo-Indian”]
[Variation “Kmoch variation”]
[WhiteFideId “5202213”]
[BlackFideId “13300474”]
[EventDate “2015.08.23”]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 c5 5. d5 O-O 6. e4 d6 7. Ne2 a6 8. a4 Ba5 9.
Bd2 exd5 10. cxd5 Nh5 11. g3 Nd7 12. Bg2 b5 13. g4 b4 14. Nb1 Qh4+ 15. Kf1 Ne5
16. Be1 Qf6 17. gxh5 Nxf3 18. Bf2 Bg4 19. Qc1 Nd4 20. Nxd4 cxd4 21. e5 dxe5 22.
Nd2 Rac8 23. Qb1 b3 24. Nxb3 Bb6 25. a5 Ba7 26. Kg1 Bf5 27. Be4 Qg5+ 28. Kf1 Qf4 0-1

[Event “3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015”]
[Site “Saint Louis USA”]
[Date “2015.08.26”]
[Round “4.4”]
[White “Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime”]
[Black “Nakamura, Hikaru”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[WhiteElo “2731”]
[BlackElo “2814”]
[ECO “E81”]
[Opening “King’s Indian”]
[Variation “Saemisch, 5…O-O”]
[WhiteFideId “623539”]
[BlackFideId “2016192”]
[EventDate “2015.08.23”]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Nge2 c5 7. d5 e6 8. Ng3 exd5
9. cxd5 a6 10. a4 h5 11. Be2 Nbd7 12. O-O h4 13. Nh1 Nh5 14. Be3 f5 15. f4 Qe8
16. Bxh5 gxh5 17. e5 dxe5 18. d6 exf4 19. Bxf4 Nf6 20. Nf2 Bd7 21. Nd3 h3 22.
Ne5 hxg2 23. Re1 Be6 24. Qf3 Ne4 25. Rad1 Bxe5 26. Bxe5 Qg6 27. Qxg2 Qxg2+ 28.
Kxg2 Bd7 29. Rg1 Kf7 30. Kf3 Rg8 31. Nxe4 fxe4+ 32. Kxe4 Ke6 33. Bf4 Bxa4 34.
Rde1 h4 35. Rxg8 Rxg8 36. Kf3+ Kf6 37. Re5 Bc6+ 38. Ke3 Re8 39. Rxe8 Bxe8 40. d7
Bxd7 41. Bd6 c4 42. Kd4 b5 43. Kc3 Ke6 44. Bc7 Kd5 45. Bd8 h3 46. b4 cxb3 47.
Kxb3 Kc5 48. Be7+ Kb6 49. Bd8+ Kc5 50. Be7+ Kb6 51. Bd8+ 1/2-1/2

[Event “3rd Sinquefield Cup 2015”]
[Site “Saint Louis USA”]
[Date “2015.08.26”]
[Round “4.5”]
[White “Caruana, Fabiano”]
[Black “Anand, Viswanathan”]
[Result “1/2-1/2”]
[WhiteTitle “GM”]
[BlackTitle “GM”]
[WhiteElo “2808”]
[BlackElo “2816”]
[ECO “D43”]
[Opening “QGD semi-Slav”]
[WhiteFideId “2020009”]
[BlackFideId “5000017”]
[EventDate “2015.08.23”]

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. e3 g6 8. Bd3
Bg7 9. O-O O-O 10. e4 Qd8 11. Re1 c5 12. exd5 cxd4 13. dxe6 Bxe6 14. Ne2 Qd6 15.
Qd2 Nc6 16. Nf4 Bg4 17. Be4 Bxf3 18. Bxf3 Ne5 19. Bd5 Rac8 20. b3 b5 21. Rac1
bxc4 22. bxc4 Rc7 23. Nd3 Nxd3 24. Qxd3 Kh7 25. g3 Bf6 26. Rb1 Kg7 27. Rb5 Rfc8
28. Reb1 Rc5 29. a4 Rxb5 30. axb5 Rc7 31. Qb3 Qe5 32. Qf3 Bg5 33. c5 Rd7 34. b6
axb6 35. cxb6 Rxd5 36. Qxd5 Qxd5 37. b7 d3 38. b8=Q d2 39. Rd1 Qf3 40. Qb2+ Kh7
41. Qc2 Be3 42. fxe3 Qxe3+ 1/2-1/2
[/pgn]