GM Wesley So broke out to the only lead of the 2026 Sinquefield Cup with a win, with the black items, over GM Fabiano Caruana. There have been two extra decisive video games: GM Vincent Keymer bounced again from yesterday’s loss with a win towards GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and GM Sam Sevian pulled water from stone towards GM Anish Giri in an opposite-color bishop endgame to win after 110 strikes. GMs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Levon Aronian are a half-point behind So, after making attracts with GMs Javokhir Sindarov and Jorden van Foreest.
Spherical three was the quietest up to now on the 2026 Cairns Cup. GM Divya Deshmukh jumped to 3rd place after a second win towards GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, a 3rd loss for the latter. GM Tan Zhongyi and IM Alice Lee keep within the lead after making attracts with GM Anna Muzychuk and GM Bibisara Assaubayeva. There have been two extra attracts in GM Humpy Koneru vs. IM Carissa Yip and GM Vaishali Rameshbabu vs. IM Stavroula Tsolakidou.
Spherical 4 of each tournaments is on Thursday, August 13, beginning at 1 p.m. ET / 19:00 CEST / 10:30 p.m. IST.
So jumps to the only lead, whereas Keymer is some extent behind. Eight out of 15 video games, within the first three rounds up to now, have been decisive.
Sinquefield Cup | Spherical 3 Standings
Divya received the one decisive recreation to achieve sole third, whereas Kosteniuk continues with zero factors after three rounds.
Cairns Cup | Spherical 3 Standings
Sinquefield Cup Spherical 3: So Takes Sole Lead
So’s victory towards Caruana was the primary recreation to finish. It was a gap catastrophe for the world number-two, who had ready one thing within the sharp Samisch Variation of the Nimzo-Indian Protection. What he had ready wasn’t clear, nevertheless, as he sank right into a 30-minute suppose on transfer 14, along with his pawn hanging on c4 and White needing to assault. Curiously, So mentioned he studied the identical line earlier this 12 months, for White, in preparation for the U.S. Championship.
White’s greatest continuation was the crude 14.Rf4, adopted by Rh6 and dangling the coffeehouse risk of Bxh6 over Black’s head. However Caruana as an alternative performed 14.e5, the bailout, transitioning right into a pawn-down endgame. On this transfer, So mentioned, “I am not getting checkmated no extra.”
As his podcast co-host GM Cristian Chirila recognized, “The gods of chess merely punished Fabi on this one as a result of he went towards his nature. Rf4 was his nature, his combating spirit… he tried to bailout, and it wasn’t a clear bailout.”
The second decisive consequence was Keymer vs. Praggnanandhaa, a gap catastrophe for the Indian grandmaster. Keymer misplaced a profitable place towards Aronian the day before today and mentioned, “I suppose it was about essentially the most painful and pointless loss in a very long time.” Now he is again on 50 p.c.
One thing went incorrect for Praggnanandhaa early on, and by transfer 11 within the Catalan Opening, GM Peter Svidler quipped, “There’s risk-taking after which there’s this.”
Praggnanandhaa nonetheless put up an important battle and bought again into the sport—that’s, till 37…Na3?, an immediately shedding transfer. Keymer launched his queen onto the kingside and received with a novel checkmate, with two knights. GM Rafael Leitao goes over the Recreation of the Day beneath.
In the meantime, Sindarov vs. Vachier-Lagrave and Van Foreest vs. Aronian resulted in attracts, however each video games have been sharp. Sindarov vs. Vachier-Lagrave was a Queen’s Gambit Accepted; Black discovered a pleasant pawn sacrifice, and though White was higher at some factors, the benefit was by no means huge. Van Foreest was a pawn up with reasonable possibilities to win, however Aronian escaped once more—besides with a draw this time, not a win.
Sevian vs. Giri reached an opposite-color bishop endgame that regarded more likely to be a draw, however the younger American floor out an extended win, with two pawns vs. one pawn on the identical facet of the board. Sevian missed a direct win on transfer 39, and it took him one other 71 strikes to get the deserved consequence.
Aronian has the white items towards the chief on Thursday. An particularly thrilling conflict of generations is Vachier-Lagrave vs. Keymer.
Spherical 4 Pairings
Cairns Cup Spherical 3: Divya Scores 2nd Win, third Loss For Kosteniuk
Nearly all of video games have been strong this spherical after the bloodshed over the 2 days prior. Divya scored the one win, and it was type of a self-destruction by Kosteniuk within the opening. By transfer 9, Black was already higher with 9…e6!. Kosteniuk’s demons within the first rounds have multiplied as the previous world champion sits on 0/3.
Muzychuk vs. Tan was a strong draw within the Alapin Sicilian (99.3 and 99.5 accuracy, respectively). We noticed sharper fights in Lee vs. Assaubayeva, which even began within the King’s Indian Protection, and Humpy vs. Yip, the place either side loved benefits at totally different factors of the sport. However they resulted in attracts, leaving the remainder of the scoreboard unchanged.
In spherical 4, Tan has the white items towards Vaishali, whereas Lee will defend with the black items towards Tsolakidou. We’ll see if Kosteniuk can discover her type on Thursday, however she’s taking part in the best seed, Assaubayeva.
Spherical 4 Pairings:
The 2026 Sinquefield Cup is the fifth and last leg of the 2026 Grand Chess Tour. Ten gamers competed in a classical round-robin match with a $475,000 prize fund and counts 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 among the strongest ladies on the earth, with a prize fund of $250,000.
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