Rising U.S. chess star captures high-powered Sinquefield Cup

It wasn’t the biggest payday of his career, but it was easily his biggest win.

U.S. GM Wesley So scored his first clear win in a superelite event, taking home the top prize and $75,000 at the 4th Sinquefield Cup tournament at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis. So’s undefeated 5½-3½ held up Sunday when Bulgarian former world champ Veselin Topalov was unable to convert a favorable long endgame against Armenian star Levon Aronian, leaving both a half-point back at 5-4.

The 22-year-old Philippine-born So cashed in the $100,000 winner’s check from the 2014 Millionaire Open, but the Sinquefield win pushes him to a new level. Among the also-rans at the Sinquefield were his two top American rivals, GMs Fabiano Caruana, who was part of the four-way tie for second at 5-4, and Hikaru Nakamura. So’s Round 2 victory over Nakamura — who appeared to be ailing at times during the tournament — was his first over the four-time U.S. champion at classical time controls.

The three U.S. stars will be teammates at the upcoming Olympiad starting Sept. 1 in Baku, Azerbaijan, with the Americans a good bet for their first medal in the biennial event since 2008.

So played solid chess in St. Louis and did not miss when opportunity presented itself in St. Louis. Today’s diagram picks things up at the critical point in his Round 6 win over Topalov, where So baits his opponent into a fatal mistake. White’s e-pawn looks weak here, but So realizes that there is more than adequate compensation if he can break the blockade on his protected passed c-pawn.

There followed: 34. Rd1! (grabbing the d-file is far better than passive defense of the pawn) Bxe3? (tougher was 34…Rxe3 35. Qd4 Qe8 36. Rxe3 Qxe3 37. Qf3, although the White c-pawn is ready to roll) 35. Qd7 Qa8 36. Nd5!, and the knight gains a tempo as it arrives to help escort the pawn. After 36…Bg5 37. c6 Bh4 38. Rd2 Re1 39. Rc2 Kg7 40. Nb6 Qb8 41. Qd4+, White’s idea has played out to perfection, as there’s no defense against the coming 42. c7; Topalov resigned.

Nakamura’s 4½-4½ score was commendable, given his health, and he also managed one of the event’s best attacking combinations in his last-round game against Ding Liren, China’s top-rated grandmaster. Ding is holding his own in this QGD Semi-Slav until an ill-judged kingside foray — 17. 0-0 Nh5!? 18. d5! Qxh4? — leaves him open to a devastating tactical shot: 21. cxb7 Rb8 22. Nd5!! (Rxa6?! Bc5!, with the threat of 23…Qxg3+) exd5 23. Qc8+, and Black is basically busted.

The finale: 23…Ke7 24. Rxa6 Nxg3 25. Bxb5 Ne2+ (Nxf1 26. Qd7 mate) 26. Bxe2 f6 27. Re6+! Qxe6 28. Qxb8, and Black resigned as 28…Kf7 29. Qc7+ Be7 30. b8=Q is hopeless.

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We have new details of November’s FIDE world championship match in New York between champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway and Russian challenger Sergey Karjakin. The 12-game match will be played at the Fulton Market Building in lower Manhattan’s Seaport District, with the opening ceremony Thursday, Nov. 10 and Game 1 set for Friday, Nov. 11.

Tickets go on sale Wednesday. For more information on attending, log in to nyc2016.fide.com.

Nakamura — Ding, 4th Sinquefield Cup, St. Louis, August 2016

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 e6 5. Bg5 h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e4 g5 8. Bg3 b5 9. Be2 Bb7 10. h4 g4 11. Ne5 Nbd7 12. Nxd7 Qxd7 13. Be5 Qe7 14. b3 cxb3 15. axb3 a6 16. Qc1 Rg8 17. O-O Nh5 18. d5 Qxh4 19. g3 Qg5 20. dxc6 Qxe5 21. cxb7 Rb8 22. Nd5 exd5 23. Qc8+ Ke7 24. Rxa6 Nxg3 25. Bxb5 Ne2+ 26. Bxe2 f6 27. Re6+ Qxe6 28. Qxb8 Black resigns.

• David R. Sands can be reached at 202/636-3178 or by email at dsands@washingtontimes.com.