How Wesley won
Final Standings (GM all)
1. Wesley So USA 2771, 5.5/9 2-5. Viswanathan Anand IND 2770, Levon Aronian ARM 2792, Fabiano Caruana USA 2807, Veselin Topalov BUL 2761, 5.0/9
6-7. Maxime VachierLagrave FRA 2819, Hikaru Nakamura USA 2791, 4.5/9 8. Ding Liren CHN 2755, 4.0/9 9. Peter Svidler RUS 2751, 3.5/9 10. Anish Giri NED 2769, 3.0/9 Avg. Rating 2778 Category 22 Time Control: 120 minutes for the first 40 moves, then 60 minutes playto-finish with an additional 30 seconds added per move starting from move 41.
Wesley and former world champion Veselin Topalov won in the first round of the Sinquefield Cup against Hikaru Nakamura and Peter Svidler, respectively. They were tied for first place up to round 4. Topalov then took sole possession in round 5 with a nice win against the toprated Chinese GM Ding Liren.
*** Topalov,Veselin (2761) - Ding,Liren (2755) [C93] 4th Sinquefield Cup 2016 St Louis (5), 09.08.2016 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0–0 9.h3 Re8
The Zaitsev Variation. This was used several times by Anatoly Karpov (with good reason Igor Zaitsev, the developer of the line, is one of his seconds) against Kasparov in their world championship duels. 10.d4 Bb7 11.Nbd2 Bf8 12.a3
The main battle field in the Kasparov vs Karpov matches was 12.a4 h6 13.Bc2 exd4 14.cxd4 Nb4 15.Bb1 c5 16.d5 Nd7 17.Ra3 f5 . Kasparov with White won the debate with 4 wins 4 draws and 1 loss. 12... h6 13. Bc2 Nb8 14. b3 Nbd7 15.Bb2 Rc8
Played with a specific idea in mind. More common is 15...g6 16.a4 c6 17.Bd3 Bg7 18.Qc2 Nh5 19.g3 Rc8 it is already the 19th move and not a single pawn or piece has been exchanged yet. We are in for an intense strategical, positional and oftentimes tactical battle. 16.a4 b4?!
A new move, but not a particularly successful one. It results in a pawn minus for Black and pressure against e4 which however White can weather. 17.cxb4 exd4 18.Bxd4 c5 19.bxc5 Nxc5 20.Qb1 a5 21.b4 axb4 22.Qxb4 Ba8 23.a5 d5 24.Bxf6 Qxf6 25.e5 Qa6 26.Qg4 Ne6 27.Bf5 Rc5 28.Bxe6 Rxe6 29.Nb3 Rc4 30.Nfd4 Bb7 31.Qf5 Re7 32.e6 Bc8 33.exf7+ Rxf7 34.Qxd5 Bb7 35.Qe6 Rb4 36.Re3?!
It is understandable that Topalov wanted to continue his offensive and thus kept queens on, but since later on Black forces the exchange anyway and under more favorable circumstances, with the benefit of hindsight I’d say that he should have exchanged queens now: 36.Qxa6 Bxa6 37.Re8 Rf6 38.Rae1 once White’s two knights get untangled he would be winning, although it is true that untangling is easier said than done. 36...Qa8 37.Rc1 Bd5
[37...Bxg2? 38.Rc8 Qb7 39.Rxf8+! Kxf8 40.Qe8#]
38.Rc8 Bxe6 39.Rxa8 Bc4 40.Rc8 Kh7 41.Rc3 Ba6 42.Rd8 Ra4 43.Ne6 Bb4 44.Rc6 Bb5 45.Rc1 Ra2
It is not yet time for 45... Bxa5? as 46.Rd5 Bc4 (46...Rb7? 47.Nec5) 47.Rxc4 Rxc4 48.Rxa5 White has two knights and a pawn for the rook — much more than enough. 46. f3 Ba4 47. Nbd4 Bxa5 48. Ra8 Bb6 49.Kh1 Bb3 50.Rb8 Bxe6 51.Rxb6
The dangerous passed pawn has been eliminated and Ding must have been counting on a draw already. Topalov is not yet done though, he has the idea to take advantage of the back rank and maybe mate the black king from behind.
51... Bf5 52. Rd6 Bg6 53. Rd8 Bf5 54.Rd6 Bg6 55.Rc8 Rb7 56.Rdd8 Bd3 57.Ne6 Bf1?
Correct is 57... Bf5 58. Rh8+ Kg6 59. Nf4+ Kg5 60. Rc4 Rc2! the mating threats are over. 58.Nf8+
[ 58. Nf4 does not work: 58... Bxg2+ 59.Kh2 g5] 58...Kg8 59.Ng6+ Kh7?!
The wrong square. 59... Kf7 would have allowed the Black king to escape. 60.Nf8+ Kg8 61.Ne6+ Kh7?
Perhaps hoping for a draw through repetition. 61... Kf7! is still the correct way. 62. Rh8+! Kg6 63. Nf4+ Kg5 64.Rhf8! Rbb2
[ 64... Bxg2+ 65. Kh2! Bxf3+ 66. Kg3 Black is toast]
65.Rc7 g6 66.g3 1–0
After 5 rounds Veselin Topalov was half a point ahead of Wesley. By winning the following crucial encounter the pride of the Philippines took over the lead which he held through to the end.
*** So,Wesley (2771) - Topalov,Veselin (2761) [A29] 4th Sinquefield Cup 2016 St. Louis (6), 11.08.2016 1.c4 e5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5. Nc3 Nb6 6. Nf3 Nc6 7.0– 0 Be7 8.d3 0–0 9.a3 Be6 10.Be3 Nd5 11.Nxd5 Bxd5 12.Qa4 Re8 13.Rac1 a6 14. Nd2 Bxg2 15. Kxg2 Nd4 16. Bxd4 exd4 17.Qb3! Rb8 18.e4 Wesley was still blitzing out his moves, and since we left the opening books a few moves ago then I guess this was preparation. Indeed, White starts giving Black small problems here and there. 18...dxe3
Topalov’s first 5- minute pause. He didn’t want to allow White his great kingside pawn formation but neither did he want to liquidate his center pawns. 19. fxe3 Rf8 20. Ne4 Qd7 21. Rf3! Rbd8 22.d4 c6 23.Rcf1 Qd5 24.Qc2
Wesley doesn’t want a draw, but perhaps exchanging queens was the correct
continuation. With some accurate moves Topalov turns the tide and gets the upper hand. 24...g6!
With the intention of ... f7– f5 and Black is looking good. 25.g4 Rde8 26.h3 Bd8!
It is Black who has all the chances now. 27.Nc3 Qe6?!
GM Hess has a very perceptive comment here — he recognizes that after defending well Topalov starts to play it safe and things go wrong. He should have continued his active play with Qc4 and Bc7. 28.Na4
Intending Nc5 followed by b2–b4. 28...b6 29.Rc1!
Does White win a pawn? Well, temporarily maybe. 29...c5!? 30.dxc5 b5
The point — White has to give it back. 31.Nc3 Qc6! 32.Qd2 Not 32.b4? Rxe3. 32...Re5?!
Too optimistic. Black prevents Qd5, but shouldn’t he just have taken the c5– pawn? In the post-game press conference Topalov laments that he basically gave away the pawn for nothing. Was Wesley surprised at this move? “I wasn’t surprised. Veselin is a fighter. That’s been his style for many years... He plays for a win every game.” 33.b4 Bg5 <D>
34.Rd1! Very accurate defense — he is not afraid of the pin down the long diagonal. 34...Bxe3?
After the text move the game is over quickly. He should at least have tried 34...Rxe3 35.Qd5 Qe8 36.Rxe3 (36.Qxg5 Rxc3 37.Rxc3 Qe2+ 38.Kg3 Qxd1 39.Qe3 looks scary — the white king is too exposed) 36...Qxe3 37.Qf3 material is equal but the passed c5–pawn is a cause for worry. This continuation is better than what happens in the game though. 35.Qd7 Qa8 36.Nd5!
Simply threatening to advance the c-pawn. White is already winning. 36...Bg5 37.c6 Bh4 38.Rd2 Re1
Aiming for Rc1.
39.Rc2 Kg7 40.Nb6 Qb8 41.Qd4+ 1–0
The Sinquefield Cup is one of four tournaments that make up the Grand Chess Tour: Paris (June 2016), Leuven ( also June), Sinquefield ( August) and London (December). This is similar to the four majors which make up golf’s circuit.
Wesley has so far won $ 120,000 in prizes ( combined) for his 3rd place in Paris, 2nd place in Belgium and 1st here in St. Louis. There is a grand prize of $100,000 for the overall winner of the Tour and for Wesley to reap this cash bonanza he “only” needs to avoid a disastrous showing in the final tournament in London.
A few years from now we will remember the 4th Sinquefield Cup as the coming-out tournament for Wesley So. It is here where people start taking him seriously as a potential candidate for the world title.