Sinquefield Cup

The Sinquefield Cup is an annual, closed chess tournament hosted by the Saint Louis Chess Club in St. Louis, Missouri, United States.

It was first held in 2012 as a four-player round-robin tournament. In 2015, it became part of the Grand Chess Tour. In 2016, it was the Tour's third leg and the first slow time control event of the tour.

The tournament was started by billionaire Rex Sinquefield as part of his efforts to boost U.S. chess and turn St. Louis into an international chess center.

Winners

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2013

The first edition, in double round-robin format, (working title: 2013 Saint Louis International) was held from 9 to 15 September 2013 at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. The four grandmasters played the classic time control: 40 moves in 90 minutes with a 30-second increment as of move one, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game. The total prize fund was $170,000, with $70,000 going to the winner, $50,000 to runner-up, $30,000 to third place and $20,000 to fourth place. The average FIDE rating for the field was 2797, the highest-rated tournament at the time. The opening ceremony took place on 8 September 2013, and round 1 was held the next day. This was the last tournament for Magnus Carlsen before he became world champion at the World Chess Championship 2013.

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2014

The second edition was held from August 27 to September 7, at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis. It is by rating the strongest tournament in the history of chess, as measured by the six participants' average Elo rating of 2802. All were in the top ten of FIDE's Elo rating list: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 and 9 in the world.

The double round-robin tournament again used the time control of 40 moves in 90 minutes with a 30-second increment for every move, followed by an additional 30 minutes plus the per-move-increment for the rest of the game.

The total prize fund was increased to $315,000, with $100,000 going to the winner.

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After round 7, Caruana had a score of 7/7, which Levon Aronian called a "historical achievement". Caruana drew his remaining games to finish with 8½/10 and a performance rating of 3098, the highest performance rating in a single tournament, besting Carlsen's performance in the 2009 Nanjing Pearl Spring tournament and Anatoly Karpov in the 1994 Linares chess tournament. It was compared to Bobby Fischer's 20-game winning streak in 1970–1971.

Vachier-Lagrave finished fourth, ahead of Aronian on tie-break (direct encounter).

2015

The third edition was held from August 22 to September 3, at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis as the second leg in the 2015 Grand Chess Tour. The tournament featured the seven top players in the world, a feat only surpassed by the AVRO 1938 chess tournament. The Sinquefield Cup was also the strongest tournament featured in the 2015 Grand Chess Tour with an average FIDE Rating of 2795.

The 2015 Sinquefield Cup was a single round-robin event held with a time control of 40 moves in 2 hours, followed by the rest of the game in 1 hour with a 30-second increment from move 41. Wesley So was selected as the tournament invite and joined the nine other players already participating in the Grand Chess Tour.

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2016

The 4th Sinquefield Cup was played between August 4 and 16, 2016. It was rescheduled due to a clash with the 2016 Baku Chess Olympiad. This Sinquefield Cup is one of the tournaments of the 2nd Grand Chess Tour. Ding Liren was selected as the Wild Card for the Sinquefield Cup. Vladimir Kramnik withdrew from Sinquefield Cup for health reasons. Fellow Russian player Peter Svidler replaced him.

The prize fund was US$300,000, with $75,000 for 1st place, and points toward the overall 2016 Grand Chess Tour. Players received 120 minutes for 40 moves then 60 minutes for the rest of the game with an additional 30 seconds added per move starting from move 41. In case of a 2-way tie, a 2-game Rapid Match (10 minutes + 5 seconds increment starting from Move #1) followed by a 2-game Blitz Match (5 minutes + 2 seconds increment starting from Move #1) if tied again was to be played. If a tie after the Blitz match, an Armageddon game would decide the winner. All ratings listed below are from the August 2016 rating list.

On August 14, 2016, Wesley So won the tournament, with 5½ points out of 9 (+2−0=7), ahead of former World Champions Veselin Topalov and Viswanathan Anand, and former winners Levon Aronian and Fabiano Caruana.

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2017

The 5th Sinquefield Cup was played from August 2 to August 11, 2017, and was the third leg of the 2017 Grand Chess Tour. It was won by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, with 6 points out of 9 (+3−0=6).

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2018

The 6th Sinquefield Cup was the fourth leg on the Grand Chess Tour 2018; Carlsen, Caruana and Aronian tied for first, all with 5½ points out of 9 (+2−0=7). The deciding tiebreaker involved the drawing of lots to decide which two players would participate in the playoff for the title. Carlsen objected to this random chance tiebreaker and proposed a three-way playoff. Caruana did not agree to the three-way playoff as he had a playoff with Wesley So for a place at the 2018 London Chess Classic scheduled on the same day (Caruana would qualify to London after beating So in a playoff 1.5–0.5). The trio reached a compromise and agreed to share the title.

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2019

The 7th Sinquefield Cup was played from August 17 to August 29, 2019, and was the fifth leg of the 2019 Grand Chess Tour. It was won by Ding Liren on tiebreaks, 3–1. Ding Liren and Magnus Carlsen were tied with 6½ points out of 11 (+2−0=9). The prize fund was US$325,000, with $82,500 for 1st place.

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2021

The 8th Sinquefield Cup was played from August 16 to August 28, 2021, after a break in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tournament was the fifth leg of Grand Chess Tour 2021. It was won by Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, with 6 points out of 9 (+4−1=4).
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2022

The 9th Sinquefield Cup was played from September 1 to September 13, 2022, and was the fifth leg of the Grand Chess Tour 2022. Before the start of the fourth round, Magnus Carlsen withdrew from the tournament during the Carlsen-Niemann controversy. Subsequently, the three games he had already played were annulled for the standings of the Sinquefield Cup, but they were still included for rating points. Alireza Firouzja won the tournament after beating Ian Nepomniachtchi in a two game playoff.

In the table, games with Magnus Carlsen are not counted towards the total of each player's points or wins.
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2023

The 10th Sinquefield Cup was played from 21 November to 30 November, 2023, and was the fifth and final leg of the Grand Chess Tour 2023. Jan-Krzysztof Duda withdrew from the event prior to the second round for health reasons. As a result, all players other than Anish Giri (who played Duda in the first round) played eight games with one bye round. Fabiano Caruana won the tournament, scoring 5.5 out of a possible 8 points.

In the table, games with Jan-Krzysztof Duda are not counted towards the total of each player's points or wins.

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2024

The 11th Sinquefield Cup was played from 19 August to 29 August, 2024, and was the fifth and final leg of the Grand Chess Tour 2024. 2022 Champion Alireza Firouzja won the event for a second time with an undefeated score (+3-0=6). Firouzja opened the event with a win as Black over eventual second place finisher Fabiano Caruana, and was in the sole lead from the 5th round onward.

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References

External links

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Pictured is 2022 winner Alireza Firouzja, flanked by Jeanne and Rex Sinquefield.
{{Chess tournaments

Invitational chess tournaments
Chess in the United States
Sports in St. Louis
International sports competitions hosted by the United States
2013 establishments in the United States
Recurring sporting events established in 2013