Levon Aronian showed a bit of his old form in St. Louis, scoring three wins without any losses in order to win the 2015 Sinquefield Cup. The tournament was the second of three stops on the Grand Chess Tour, and took place at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis.

This year’s version of the Sinquefield Cup, which has quickly become one of the premier events on the chess calendar, featured ten top players: the nine “full” members of the Grand Chess Tour, as well as Welsey So, who was included as the organizing committee’s wild card entry.


While such strong tournaments often feature relatively few decisive games, the opening round featured a treat for spectators, as all five games were decisive.

Anish Giri, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian, Veselin Topalov and Hikaru Nakamura all scored first round wins. Perhaps the most noteworthy of these was Topalov’s victory, which came with the black pieces against Carlsen, the reigning World Champion. Topalov followed his first victory with another over Nakamura in the second round, quickly allowing the Bulgarian to jump out to a 2/2 score and the early tournament lead.

As the tournament wore on, there were plenty of exciting (and sometimes even spectacular) games played, but no clear leader emerged. After six rounds, Carlsen and Aronian shared the lead with fairly modest scores of 4/6, with three more players sitting just a half-point behind.

But in the seventh round, Aronian pulled away. A win over Nakamura coupled with a second loss by Carlsen suddenly gave the Armenian a full-point lead over the field with just two rounds to play.

Fairly safe draws for Aronian against Viswanathan Anand and Topalov in the final two rounds were enough to hold off the rest of the field, as he finished with a 6/9 score, a full point ahead of Carlsen, Giri, Nakamura and Vachier-Lagrave.

The victory was a great result for Aronian, as the man who many thought was a legitimate threat to win a World Chess Championship just a couple of years ago had fallen on relatively tough times, even falling outside of the top ten in the world for the first time in recent memory. Before the win in St. Louis, Aronian’s last major triumph came in early 2014, when he won the Tata Steel Chess Tournament in Wijk aan Zee. Based on the unofficial live chess ratings, Aronian is in 7^th position in the world rankings following the Sinquefield Cup.

Final Results and Prize Money

1. Levon Aronian (6.0/9) - $75,000
2. Magnus Carlsen (5.0) - $36,250
3. Hikaru Nakamura (5.0) - $36,250
4. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (5.0) - $36,250
5. Anish Giri (5.0) - $36,250
6. Alexander Grischuk (4.5) - $17,500
7. Veselin Topalov (4.5) - $17,500
8. Fabiano Caruana (3.5) - $15,000
9. Viswanathan Anand (3.5) - $15,000
10. Wesley So (3.0) - $15,000

Grand Chess Tour

The results of this tournament shook up the standings of the Grand Chess Tour in an unusual way, as many of the players who performed poorly in Norway were near the top of the table in St. Louis. As a result, every player who has participated in both Grand Chess Tour could still potentially emerge as the series champion heading into the final event, the London Chess Classic.

The road to an overall title will be easier for some players than others. For Veselin Topalov and Hikaru Nakamura, winning in London would be enough to clinch an overall championship; an outright win (without tiebreakers) would also be enough for Levon Aronian, who would also clinch a share of first with a win after tiebreaks. Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen can clinch at least a tie for the overall title with an outright win in London. All other players will need at least some results to go their way, and the leaders can also potentially finish first overall even if they do not win the final event.

As a reminder, the top three players in overall points at the end of the Grand Chess Tour will win additional prize money ($75,000 for first, $50,000 for second, and $25,000 for third). Here are the current standings heading into the final event:

1. Veselin Topalov – 17 points
2. Hikaru Nakamura – 16
3. Levon Aronian – 15
4. Magnus Carlsen – 14
5. Anish Giri – 13
6. Viswanathan Anand – 12
7. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave – 12
8. Fabiano Caruana – 9
9. Alexander Grischuk – 8
10. Jon Ludvig Hammer – 1
11. Wesley So – 1