With two rounds left, GM Wesley So continues to steer the 2026 Sinquefield Cup on 4.5/7 after making an nearly on the spot draw with GM Anish Giri in spherical seven on Monday. He is trailed by GMs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Fabiano Caruana, and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, who’re half some extent behind. GM Javokhir Sindarov gained the one decisive sport, towards GM Vincent Keymer, and each gamers be part of a bunch of 4 gamers on 3.5 factors that features GMs Sam Sevian and Levon Aronian.
GM Tan Zhongyi continues to steer the 2026 Cairns Cup on 5.5/7, although she was in big hassle towards GM Divya Deshmukh. She gained from a a lot worse place to increase her result in a full level over GM Bibisara Assaubayeva and IM Alice Lee. Assaubayeva gained the one different decisive sport of the day, towards IM Stavroula Tsolakidou, whereas Lee did not handle to transform a successful, pawn-up rook endgame towards GM Anna Muzychuk.
Spherical eight is on Tuesday, August 18, beginning at 1 p.m. ET / 19:00 CEST / 10:30 p.m. IST.
So continues to coast in first place with a fourth consecutive draw. Sindarov is one in every of seven gamers inside some extent of the chief.
Sinquefield Cup | Spherical 7 Standings
Tan continues to steer the Cairns Cup, regardless of a scare in spherical seven. Simply two gamers are some extent behind her, and he or she performs one in every of them, Assaubayeva, in spherical eight.
Cairns Cup | Spherical 7 Standings
Sinquefield Cup Spherical 7: Sindarov Retains Hope Alive
So stored the lead with a fast draw towards Giri, ending by transfer 32 with 12 extra minutes than he began with.
For Sindarov, a win with the black items was mandatory to remain in rivalry for the Grand Chess Tour Finals. He thought concerning the King’s Indian Protection, however in the end landed on the Benko Gambit, saying, “If I’ll lose, I’ll be taught one thing, however possibly if I win I’ll get some probabilities.” Keymer declined the pawn sacrifice and spent 13 minutes to resolve on a double fianchetto setup.
Keymer performed solidly, however stored management of the place, and ultimately Sindarov erred with 20…Be4?. After having gained the benefit, Keymer determined to bail out to an opposite-color bishop endgame, however one the place he’d be the one groveling for a draw. Although White might objectively maintain, Keymer did not handle to do it, making the ultimate mistake with two minutes left towards an hour and two minutes.
Surprisingly, it’s the world championship challenger’s first win within the occasion.
The opposite three video games had been all attracts, with probably the most promise mendacity in GM Jorden van Foreest vs. Sevian. There, the American gained a pawn and had nice probabilities to ship Van Foreest’s fifth loss, however time hassle grew to become an element. He let go of the benefit with three minutes towards nearly 13, and Van Foreest prevented a second loss in a row. Had Sevian gained this sport, he (quantity 30 on the earth) would have additionally jumped over Van Foreest (quantity 29) on the dwell ranking listing.
Aronian performed 3.b3 towards Vachier-Lagrave’s Sicilian Protection, however the sport was nonetheless a 99 accuracy draw. The final sport to finish was Caruana vs. Praggnanandhaa, with the American having an trade for 2 pawns within the endgame. On this case, Praggnanandhaa had three linked handed pawns, however it nonetheless wasn’t sufficient to vary the analysis.
So could have Black towards Sevian in spherical eight, after which White towards Sindarov in spherical 9. One other essential conflict in spherical eight will likely be Vachier-Lagrave vs. Praggnanandhaa, each gamers a half-point behind the chief.
Spherical 8 Pairings
Cairns Cup Spherical 7: Tan Pulls Victory From Jaws Of Defeat
There have been almost three decisive video games, and sooner or later in spherical seven it appeared potential that Tan would lose and 16-year-old Lee, the lowest-rated participant within the discipline, would overtake her. Lee gained a clear pawn, however did not handle to transform the ensuing 5 vs. 4 endgame. It resulted in a draw.
Divya, then again, outplayed the event chief in a Vienna Recreation. In an advantageous place—with two further pawns—the Indian grandmaster needed to discover a tough transfer, 25.Ba7!!, to trade queens and consolidate. Lacking that, she allowed a pawn storm towards her king, with queens nonetheless on the board.
It was the white king that was hunted, and though Tan allowed an goal draw on transfer 31, Divya had simply two minutes by that time. GM Rafael Leitao analyzes our Recreation of the Day beneath.
Within the different decisive sport, Assaubayeva vs. Tsolakidou, each gamers had a case of mutual blindness; 19.axb4 would have gained a bit for Assaubayeva. About 10 strikes later, nonetheless, the Kazakh grandmaster outplayed her opponent but once more, as they each dropped underneath 10 minutes, and when she gained a pawn, it turned out Black had nothing to point out for it. 30.Rxc4!! might have been a hyper-accurate manner of placing away the sport, however she gained with an additional pawn within the heavy-piece endgame anyway, the human manner.
GM Alexandra Kosteniuk vs. GM Humpy Koneru was an correct truce between two gamers not having an excellent event, whereas GM Vaishali Rameshbabu vs. IM Carissa Yip was one other nearly flawless draw within the Scotch Gambit.
Within the penultimate spherical, Assaubayeva could have her solely probability to take down the event chief herself, however she’ll have the black items. Lee, then again, may even have Black towards Vaishali—with a matchup towards her good buddy Yip within the final spherical.
Spherical 8 Pairings
The 2026 Sinquefield Cup is the fifth and closing leg of the 2026 Grand Chess Tour. Ten gamers compete in a classical round-robin event with a $475,000 prize fund and factors counting for qualification into the Grand Chess Tour Finals. It runs alongside the 2026 Cairns Cup, which can also be a 10-player round-robin that includes a number of the strongest ladies on the earth, with a prize fund of $250,000.
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