The Sinquefield Cup is an annual invitation-only chess event held to honour Rex Sinquefield and his wife Jeannie, the founders of the St Louis Chess Club. It is one of the most lucrative chess tournaments worldwide, and has been held since 2013 at the St Louis Chess Club, Missouri, USA. World champion Magnus Carlsen from Norway won the tournament twice, as did Levon Aronian from Armenia.
This year, the 9th edition, Iranian-French teenager Alireza Firouzja took the honours. But Carlsen withdrew from the tournament following a loss to 19-year-old American grandmaster Hans Niemann. Niemann broke Carlsen’s winning streak of 53 games and one news outlet, Slate, described the loss as a “shocking upset” for Carlsen; to be beaten by a lower-rated player than himself in a game where he had the white pieces and the advantage of the first move.
A senior FIDE official noted that Carlsen had not previously withdrawn from a tournament owing to a poor result, and must have believed he had a compelling reason to do so. According to the Guardian, Japanese-American chess grandmaster and online streamer Hikaru Nakamura said Carlsen had pulled out because he suspected Niemann was “probably cheating”.
Carlsen had tweeted a simple announcement of his withdrawal which read: “I prefer really not to speak. If I speak, I’m in big trouble”.
In an interview, Neimann denied having cheated during the Sinquefield Cup.
At the time of Carlsen’s unexpected withdrawal from the tournament, the chief arbiter said that nothing indicated unfair play on the part of any player. He added that the organisers had increased metal detection on the players and introduced a 15-minute broadcast delay for the following rounds.
Former world champion Garry Kasparov remarked that Carlsen’s withdrawal from the tournament had no precedent in the past 50 years and called on the world champion to explain his decision.
Later, when asked directly why he had withdrawn, Carlsen responded: “Unfortunately, I cannot particularly speak on that, but people can draw their own conclusions, and they certainly have. I have to say I’m very impressed by Niemann’s play and I think his mentor Maxim Dlugy must be doing a great job.”
Meanwhile, Niemann is a self-taught chess player who received the FIDE grandmaster title a year and nine months ago. He rose from an ELO rating of 2450 to an extraordinary figure of 2650 in just over three years. In July 2021, Niemann won the World Open chess tournament in Philadelphia. In this year’s Sinquefield Cup, Niemann placed 6th following the withdrawal of Carlsen. He drew with Firouzja, the winner of the tournament. Nieman’s FIDE rating now stands at 2688 points.
Chess Game
White: Nellisha Johnson, Guyana, 1089
Black: Linda Jambo, Malawi, 1418
Event: 2022 Chennai Chess Olympiad
Type of Game: Italian Game: Italian Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. O-O Nf6
5. d3 h6 6. Be3 Be7 7. Nc3 d6 8. h3 O-O 9. Nd5 Nxd5 10. Bxd5 Nb4 11. Bb3 a6 12. c3 Nc6
13. Nh2 Bg5 14. Qe2 Bxe3 15. fxe3 Qg5 16. Rf3 Be6 17. Raf1 Bxb3 18. axb3 Rae8 19. Rf5 Qg6
20. Qg4 Qxg4 21. Nxg4 b5 22. b4 Ra8 23. Ra1 a5 24. bxa5 Rxa5 25. Rxa5 Nxa5 26. d4 f6 27. Rf1 Nb3 28. Rd1 Ra8 29. Nf2 Ra1 30. Rxa1 Nxa1
31. Kf1 Kf7 32. d5 Nb3 33. Ke2 Ke7 34. Nd3 Nc5 35. Nxc5 dxc5 36. b3 Kd6 37. c4 b4 38. Kf3 Ke7 39. h4 h5 40. g4 g6 41. g5 fxg5 42. hxg5 Kd6
43. Kg3 Ke7 44. Kh4. ½ – ½. Draw.
