2015 Sinquefield Cup (St. Louis, USA)
It will be steaming hot in St. Louis over the next couple of weeks. Actually the weather is quite pleasant, but the world best chess players will set the boards ablaze in one of the strongest tournaments on American soil. The third Sinquefield Cup will commence on August 23rd with the Opening Ceremonies and drawing of colors.
This third iteration will be hosted by the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (CCSCSL), dubbed the “capital of American chess”. This will be the second event of the Grand Chess Tour and will expand to feature ten of the world’s top players. Veselin Topalov won the inaugural event in Norway two months ago. The last event will be the London Classic in December.
According to the official press release:
The total prize fund for 2015 Grand Chess Tour is $1,050,000. Each leg of the tour will award individual prize funds of $300,000. Competitors also are tallying points from each leg of the circuit towards a prize fund of $150,000; the overall tour champion will receive an additional $75,000.
The angle of the story centers around the excitement of the three marquee players representing the U.S. in Hikaru Nakamura, Fabiano Caruana and tournament wild card Wesley So. While Caruana won last year’s Sinquefield Cup, this is his first home tournament representing the U.S. flag. There will certainly be a lot of excitement and press coverage as the momentum continues to blossom in American chess.
Fabiano Caruana started with a blistering 7/7 last year enroute to an impression win, but the star-studded field will certainly be ready to wrest away his champion’s reign. Photo by uschesschamps.com.
While World Champion Magnus Carlsen and Levon Aronian are returnees, there are a number of newcomers to the Sinquefield Cup. Joining last year’s six players from last year will be former World Champion Viswanathan Anand, Anish Giri, wild card nominee Wesley So and Russian superstar Alexander Grischuk.
The autograph session was held today and the first round will start at 1:00pm Central Time USA. Games will start at 1:00pm St. Louis (11:00am Los Angeles, 2:00pm New York, 7:00pm London, 9:00pm Moscow). Live commentary will be given by an eminent line-up of Maurice Ashley, Jennifer Shahade, Yasser Seirawan, Ben Finegold, Robert Hess, Alejandro Ramirez and Ian Rogers. For more information, visit www.grandchesstour.com or follow along at @CCSCSL.
August 22nd – September 3rd, 2015 (St. Louis, USA) Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis (4657 Maryland Ave.) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | Name | Rating | Country | Flag | Age |
| No. 1 | GM Magnus Carlsen | 2853 | Norway |
 |
24 |
| No. 2 | GM Viswanathan Anand | 2816 | India |
 |
45 |
| No. 3 | GM Veselin Topalov | 2816 | Bulgaria |
 |
40 |
| No. 4 | GM Hikaru Nakamura | 2814 | USA |
 |
27 |
| No. 5 | GM Fabiano Caruana | 2808 | USA |
|
23 |
| No. 6 | GM Anish Giri | 2793 | Netherlands |
 |
21 |
| No. 7 | GM Wesley So | 2779 | USA |
|
21 |
| No. 9 | GM Alexander Grischuk | 2771 | Russia |
 |
31 |
| No. 11 | GM Levon Aronian | 2765 | Armenia |
 |
32 |
| No. 24 | GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 2731 | France |
 |
24 |
| Official Site | |||||