Brian Jerauld
Communications Specialist
Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis
SAINT LOUIS (September 4, 2014) — Never has winning $100,000 come as such a letdown.
Clinching first place of the 2014 Sinquefield Cup is GM Fabiano Caruana, who claimed the lion’s share of the U.S. super tournament’s $315,000 prize fund with two rounds remaining. What was left behind, however, was a monumental streak of seven-consecutive wins against the highest-rated field in history — versus five of the world’s current top-ten International Grandmasters.
In Thursday’s round 8, World Champion GM Magnus Carlsen held Caruana to his first half-point of the tournament, an effort that simultaneously knocked Caruana down to a less-than-perfect 7.5/8 and also mathematically ended Carlsen’s chances to catch the leader from behind.
The half-point maintains the World Champion’s place in clear second with 4.5/8, though GM Veselin Topalov (4/8) lurks just a half-point behind after defeating GM Hikaru Nakamura (2/8) on Thursday. GMs Levon Aronian and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave settled with a draw to remain tied in fourth, with 3/8.
ROUND 8 RESULTS
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Hikaru is the strongest by far.
The weakest I believed. Two more rounds to go and Nakamura will get zero points and he’ll be in the 15th rank. Better for him tp play the 2600 rated players so he can climb back to top ten.
Stronger in terms of defeat. This guy deceived Rex and he owes him an apology.
The greatest and best player in the universe is winless. What happened. I can’t take this to the bank.
Naka to go back playing in the weak tournaments to prod his rating or else hi is doomed.
Naka will demolished this kid in 30 moves. He can’t let Caruana get away easily with his wishy washy playing technique. He is more smarter than this toddler.
Hikaru is the strongest by fart.
Aller Maxime !! 🙂
Very nice tournament. Looking forward to seeing a Caruana-Carlsen match.
Nakamura sucks – he doesn’t deserve to be at the strongest tournament. He’s only there because of his rating – which is quickly dropping.