Luke McShane

Sinquefield Cup

issue 09 December 2023

The Sinquefield Cup in St Louis ended last week in victory for Fabiano Caruana, who thereby took first place in the 2023 Grand Chess Tour, extending his impressive run of form this year. Caruana’s victory pushes his rating back over the 2800 mark, securing his place just behind Carlsen in the rating list.

   The event saw an early disappointment as Jan-Krzysztof Duda withdrew due to illness after drawing his first round game against Anish Giri. As is the custom, that result was removed from the standings, and in the first four rounds of the tournament just one decisive game was played. Three cheers for the internet wordsmith who coined the ingenious palindrome ‘Duda’s draw not in. It onwards a dud!’ Despite its brevity, that game ended with a pretty flourish.

Anish Giri-Jan-Krzysztof Duda

Sinquefield Cup, November 2023

Despite the choice of discovered checks, White must be careful, since the Rd1 is attacked and Rh8xh3-h1 mate is in the air, e.g.

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