The $350,000 (£250,000) Sinquefield Cup is one of the most iconic annual events in the chess calendar. Part of the Grand Chess Tour and named after the St Louis billionaire Rex Sinquefield, who has been the most generous individual sponsor in all chess history, it will be remembered for Fabiano Caruana’s 7/7 start in 2014 and his record 3098 tournament performance, for Ding Liren’s victory ahead of Magnus Carlsen in 2019, and, most of all, for the controversial 2022 Carlsen-Hans Niemann alleged cheating scandal.
For 2025, the organisers introduced a four-player Tour Final at São Paulo next month, and the jockeying for position for that dominated the action. At the end, Caruana and Wesley So (US) and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu (India) tied with 5.5/9, ahead of Levon Aronian (US) 5, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (France), Jan-Krzysztof Duda (Poland) and Sam Sevian (US) 4.5, the world champion Gukesh Dommaraju (India) 4, Alireza Firouzja (France) 3.5, Nodirbek Abdusattorov (Uzbekistan) 2.5. The first three plus Vachier-Lagrave got the final qualification spots, but So missed out due to sub-par performances earlier in the Tour, while Gukesh again disappointed.
The speed playoff, which took place after the arbiter rejected a request from the players that the title be shared, ended So 1.5, Praggnanandhaa 1, Caruana 0.5.
So had previously won the Sinquefield Cup in 2016, but the former Filipino plays fewer events nowadays, although his success in St Louis has raised him to world No 7 in the live ratings. He will miss next week’s Fide Grand Swiss in Samarkand, and joked: “Now they have a tough, meatgrinder tournament in Uzbekistan while I get to rest!”
The key game of the event was So’s final round victory against the tailender Abdusattorov, which brought him into a tie with Caruana and Praggnanandhaa. After winning it, So gave thanks to God, his mother, and … England’s Gawain Maroroa Jones, whose book Coffeehouse Repertoire 1 e4 recommends the opening line which So chose against Abdusattorov.
“It’s actually a very risky line,” he said. “If Black plays perfectly, White is even a bit worse, but I thought I had to risk it.”
The highlight of the game is White’s marathon king march from g1 to b3 before launching the decisive push of his king’s side pawns. It is a subtle and impressive strategy, characteristic of So at his best.
The tournament regulations forbade agreed draws, yet every one of the 21 games among the top seven was halved. How come? GMs have become adept at tacit agreements to hoover everything bar bare kings off the board, as a less provocative alternative to early threefold repetitions like the Berlin Wall. It may be better for 2026 if the Sinquefield Cup was restored to its place as the climax of the Grand Chess Tour and as a tribute to a legendary chess sponsor.
Gukesh failed again, but will have a chance to revive his career in late October, when the St Louis Chess Club celebrates its reopening after a refurbishment with a special edition of its annual Champions Showdown, featuring Carlsen, Caruana, Hikaru Nakamura and Gukesh in a double round rapid tournament. This $400,000 event will be the highest rated tournament of the year, and will be Carlsen’s first appearance in St Louis since the notorious 2022 Sinquefield Cup and his game with Hans Niemann, which created one of the biggest scandals in chess history.
Before that, the 116-player Fide Grand Swiss starting in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on 3 September will qualify two more world title Candidates, and the 72-player Women’s Grand Swiss will do likewise. GM Nikita Vitiugov is England’s only contender after Michael Adams, Maroroa Jones, Luke McShane and David Howell all declined invites or were too inactive to meet the regulations.
On current form, Praggnanandhaa and Vincent Keymer will be the favourites in Samarkand, but the Swiss System format makes for an open event.
Adams’s British Championship win was followed by a meagre 3/9 at the Rubinstein Memorial in Polanica-Zdroj, Poland. The draw was unkind to Adams, who had three Blacks in his first four games in a strong all-play-all, and after a couple of tactical oversights he was often under pressure. He fought back at the end, and his brilliant 28…Qg5!! in round eight, with the main idea of 29…Qd2! induced his opponent’s immediate resignation.
Whose achievement was/is best, nine-time British champion Henry Atkins, 10-time winner Jonathan Penrose, or nine-time champion Adams? I think Adams has it on several counts.
Atkins’s titles came when British chess was at a low ebb, when Fred Yates and Sir George Thomas were his major rivals, while Joseph Blackburne was in decline and Sultan Khan had not yet arrived. Similarly, Penrose won all his championships in a 10-year period from 1958 to 1969 when Hugh Alexander and Harry Golombek were ageing while the Raymond Keene – William Hartston generation had not yet emerged. For his part, Adams has seen off three strong GM generations, from Nigel Short and Tony Miles through Matthew Sadler and McShane to Howell and Maroroa Jones.
In terms of winning percentages, Atkins and Adams (both nine title wins in 11 starts) are ahead. In terms of avoiding individual defeats, Adams is supreme, with just one loss in 127 games, and that was in a rapid playoff to McShane in 2018.
In contrast, Penrose lost in three successive years (1959, 60, 61) to the same opponent, and it should have been four had that player not cravenly offered a draw in 1958 when two pawns up.
3987: 1 Ba6+! If 1…Kb8 2 Kb6! h1=Q 3 Nd7+ Ka8 4 Bb7 mate. If 1…Kd8 2 Ne6+ Ke8 3 Be2! h1=Q 4 Bh5+! Qxh5 5 Ng7+ and 6 Nxh5 wins.
