2017 Sinquefield Cup (St. Louis, USA)

Blazing trails lead to St. Louis, the self-proclaimed “capital of chess” to host to 2017 Sinquefield Cup. As part of the third of five events of the Grand Chess Tour, it is a chance for players to ground on tour leader and World Champion Magnus Carlsen. According to tournament organizers…

The 2017 Sinquefield Cup is an elite international event, featuring ten of the strongest chess players in the world. Over the course of nine rounds, these competitors will battle for $300,000 in prize money, points toward the Grand Chess Tour, and the coveted title of 2017 Sinquefield Cup Champion. Join GMs Yasser Seirawan, Maurice Ashley, and WGM Jennifer Shahade for the move-by-move.

Watch the world's top #chess players at the #SinquefieldCup on the #GrandChessTour, LIVE, Aug 2-12. https://t.co/GNEMHnqu6q pic.twitter.com/rfAdr812aa

— Grand Chess Tour (@GrandChessTour) August 2, 2017

Magnus Carlsen is back in the Grand Chess Tour after successfully defending his World Championship title against Sergey Karjakin. Although he has not had a good string of tournaments in the past year, he still leads the GCT with 25 points ahead of Frenchman Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (17 points) and Wesley So (14 points). While So is the defending champion of the Sinquefield Cup, Carlsen finished 1st in the Paris, France and 1st in Leuven, Belgium.

The field is slightly different from last year with Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi replacing Ding Liren and Anish Giri, respectively. Veselin Topalov, Alexander Grischuk and Vladimir Kramnik are also missing. Wesley So now leads the American triad switching positions with Fabiano Caruana as the top-rated U.S. player. Hikaru Nakamura will anchor the attack against an able field. The three Russians are considered “underdogs” in this field.

Siga la #SinquefieldCup vía #GrandChessTour en vivo, con comentarios en español, del 2 al 12 de agosto. https://t.co/1PlMiSze6P pic.twitter.com/v0pZQNksYm

— SaintLouis ChessClub (@CCSCSL) August 4, 2017

This is the 5th edition of the Sinquefield Cup and since it’s start as a four-player tournament has blossomed into a format that includes 10 players. Last year, MVL was sitting on 2819, but has stabilized at 2789 while Wesley So and Fabiano Caruana have been threatening Carlsen in the 2800 stratosphere. The same core of players are participating this year with the return of Carlsen, but in a somewhat vulnerable state. The World Champion has not won a major classical event in nearly a year and other players will be jostling for position to vie for the crown next year.

After the Sinquefield Cup there will be a blitz/rapid event featuring former World Champion Garry Kasparov. He will be combined with six players from the Sinquefield and three wildcard selections Leinier Dominguez (Cuba), Le Quang Liem (Vietnam) and David Navara (Czech Republic). This will be the official unretirement of Kasparov who has created quite of a stir with his pending battle.

“It’s a thrill to officially be returning to the game, and certainly not something I would have anticipated more than a decade after my retirement. Coming back to the board in St. Louis is truly an honor – I wouldn’t want to commemorate this moment anywhere else.”

Looks like I'm going to raise the average age of the field and lower the average rating! https://t.co/NIA2k74JuI

— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) July 5, 2017

The venue is the Chess Club and Scholastic Center at 4657 Maryland Avenue, Saint Louis, MO 63108. Tickets cost $10 per round or $80 for all ten rounds. Full information available at the official web site. Live commentary will be given by an eminent line-up of Maurice Ashley, Jennifer Shahade, Yasser Seirawan with roaming commentating by Alejandro Ramirez. For more information, visit www.grandchesstour.com or follow along at @CCSCSL.

2017 Sinquefield Cup August 2nd – August 12th, 2017 (St. Louis, USA) Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (4657 Maryland Ave.)
Players
Rank	Name	Rating	Country	Flag	Age
No. 1	GM Magnus Carlsen	2822	Norway		26
No. 2	GM Wesley So	2810	USA		23
No. 3	GM Fabiano Caruana	2808	USA		24
No. 5	GM Levon Aronian	2799	Armenia		36
No. 7	GM Hikaru Nakamura	2792	USA		29
No. 8	GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	2789	France		26
No. 10	GM Viswanathan Anand	2783	India		47
No. 12	GM Sergey Karjakin	2773	Russia		26
No. 15	GM Ian Nepomniachtchi	2751	Russia		26
No. 16	GM Peter Svidler	2751	Russia		40
Official Site

The Sinquefield Cup is a 10-player all-play-all tournament played at a classical time control: 100 minutes for 40 moves, then 60 minutes to the end of the game, with a 30-second delay (not increment) from move 1. It takes place from 2-11 August in the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis, with games starting at 13:00 local time (14:00 New York, 19:00 London, 20:00 Paris, 21:00 Moscow, 01:00 Mumbai). There’s going to be live commentary in English from an array of star names: Yasser Seirawan, Jennifer Shahade, Cristian Chirila, Maurice Ashley, Varuzhan Akobian and Eric Hansen. Ivette Garcia and Alejandro Ramirez will commentate in Spanish, with Jan Gustafsson adding commentary in German for the last two rounds.