2016 Sinquefield Cup Pictures

The Kingside Diner is next to the chess club. You can see that they take chess seriously there. Also, there is grandmaster commentary in one of the rooms. The GMs even take questions from the audience.

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Anish Giri hard at work, trying to squeeze out a win against Wesley So. But the American's defenses held.

Wesley So checks out Liren - Anand

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Nakamura sacrificed his queen against Topalov. The game was very imbalanced, but eventually it ended in a draw.

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Former World Champion Vishy Anand contemplates his next move against Ding Liren

GM Ding Liren

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Peter Svidler got the upper hand against MVL, but the Frenchman managed to hold.

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After the game, Chess.com interviewed Peter Svidler

You can watch the interview here.

A game from the US Open

[Date "????.??.??"] [White "Wilson, Matthew"] [Black "Watson, IM John"] [Result "0-1"] [FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1"] 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 Be7 { This unusual move order threw me off. Almost everyone plays 5...c5 here. } 6.Nf3 O-O 7.Ne2 c5 8.c3 Nc6 9.g3 cxd4 10.cxd4 f6 11.Bg2 Qb6 12.Qb3 Bb4+ { Something has gone wrong for White. At the very least, I lose castling privileges after 13...Bxd2+, since 14.Nxd2 drops the d4-pawn. } 13.Bd2 fxe5 14.fxe5 Rxf3 15.Bxf3 Nxd4 16.Nxd4 Bxd2+ 17.Kxd2 Qxd4+ 18.Kc2 Qf2+ 19.Kd1 { At first glance, it seems like Black is dominating. But after... } 19...Nxe5 20.Be2 Bd7 21.Rf1 Qxh2 22.Rc1 { ...White is suddenly coordinated! } 22...Bc6 23.Qe3 Ng6 24.Qxe6+ Kh8 25.Bd3 { Over the next several moves, a key tactic is 25...Re8? 26.Rxc6! Rxe6 27.Rc8+ with mate to follow. } 25...Qh5+ 26.g4 Qh3 27.Kd2 Qh2+ 28.Qe2 { Is 28.Kd1 better? } 28...Qd6 29.Rce1 { After the game, John suggested 29.Bxg6 as an improvement, since it stops ...Nf4 } 29...Qb4+ 30.Kc2 Nf4 31.Qe7 { A blunder. I was counting on 31...Qxe7 32.Rxe7 Nxd3. Now 33.Kxd3? Bb5+ is bad, but my plan was 33.Rff7! and the doubled rooks on the 7th should provide enough counterplay. But John finds a better reply. After the game, we agreed that 31.Qd2 was superior. } 31...Nxd3 32.Qxb4 Nxb4+ 33.Kc3 a5 34.Re7 Nxa2+ 35.Kb3 Nb4 36.Rff7 Rg8 { It's over } 37.g5 d4 38.Rf2 Nd5 39.Re5 Rd8 40.Rh2 Be8 41.Rf2 Kg8 42.Ref5 Bg6 43.Re5 Bf7 44.Ka3 b5 45.b3 Nc3 46.b4 d3 *

2016 Sinquefield Cup

The 2016 Sinquefield Cup starts in a few days. Even though Kramnik and Carlsen will be missing, the field is still extremely strong. I'll be able to see some of the games in person - pictures will be posted. The forecast below is based on 1000 simulations rather than the usual 20,000. This is because I'm on a slow laptop (I'm out of town for the US Open).