Magnus won't be in attendance which means there is no clear favorite.

- MVL is on a heater and actually tries to play a real game with Black after 1.e4.

- Svidler is taking big Vlad's place and as long as he doesn't have to talk into his laptop microphone I think he will be able to concentrate and possibly surprise some of the haters.

- Caruana does well in St. Louis, is always super prepared, and doesn't have to worry about Magnus winning a bunch of games and having to play catch up.

- So has been playing super solidly lately and is in shared-lead of the GCT. And that was after Rapid and Blitz which he is allegedly much weaker in. Is this the event where he goes for a bit more than "just being happy to play with the big boys"?

- Naka is also co-leader of the GCT and has a great score against the entire field. Since nothing is actually on the line (e.g. not the Candidates) perhaps he will demolish everyone

- Topalov won't win. But will he even care? Hopefully he does and doesn't just give away games left and right like the Candidates.

- Anand: Is he too old? Can he keep things moving in the right direction or will he falter as he seems to be capable of now that he's 47?

- Liren got absolutely destroyed by Grischuk and is essentially replacing him in the line up vs. last year. It will be interesting to see if he just had a bad match or was on an unsustainable heater over the last year

- Aronian is the defending champ. But will the carefree Aronian show up and create some beautiful chess and a few brilliancies, or will working Aronian show up and grind out a 2nd-3rd place finish?

- Almost forgot about Giri. Looks like he cannot be king of the draw any longer since now he just draws and loses. Is he finally ready to convert his advantages into wins, go back to just drawing every game, or keep on his current struggling trend?

Also, let's all post a bunch of hot takes in this thread during the tournament and make the 2p2 chess forum great again!

I'm curious about the viewership market for high rated classical tournaments such as the sinq cup. Does the tournament have live television broadcast in any countries or is it solely web stream? Not that anyone cares about the perspective of a 1500 lichess player, but I found greater entertainment watching eric hansen commentate the blitz ICC open than any classical tournament.

Well, if you like Eric Hansen, then you're in luck since he'll be part of the main English commentary team!

Afaik, no country except Norway broadcasts these things on actual television. They only do so when Magnus is playing.

It turns out that chess24 has signed kingscrusher and it's he who'll be doing highlight shows for this cup. What the beep.

Here is GM Alex Yermolinsky's prediction (made yesterday at the end of his ICC show).

For those who don't want to watch the whole rant:

You want hot takes?

I've said this before, but holy **** this murican commentating team/style is insufferable.

Vishy was probably aware that Fabi would play the French because Caruana had done it yesterday in online blitz vs a Filipino GM Antonio Rogelio (the guy who was talking with him during the game was Eric Hansen).

Maybe Svidler can arrange quick draws and then help with the commentary .

I actually like the US show for the most part.

Poor Peter. At least he has a great future as a commentator.

Meanwhile, Anish is living up to his drawmaster title (34. Ka2? 1/2-1/2).

Giri really has a talent. He finds such great moves until it's winning time and then he misses something somehow.

How about So? Looked like a straight win, it's not even like Naka blundered or anything. Maybe he'll be trying to go for a bit more this tournament. Although I'm not sure he pressed that hard when he had e4 instead of e3. Got kind of lucky Naka didn't defend very well.

I like the hometown guy this year, So has 2 win something like this eventually

The home town guy would be Naka iirc. Caruana may also live in st. Louis now too?

TIL from a caller: the Gaga Gambit exists

I may be wrong, but pretty sure Wesley has stayed in Kirkwood/Webster Groves, a STL suburb, 4 a couple years.

Either way, think he is due 2 win 1

Just when I thought MVL had made the blunder of the round (30. Nxe6?), Hikaru plays 39. Qf3? and arrives at an equal position instead of a crushing win after Giri bluff-sacked a rook, lol.

So we have 2 more or less predictable results (the draws of Ding vs So and likely Aronian vs Svidler), Nakamura's win that could have easily been a draw if Giri had thought for a moment and found 41... Ng4 (already after the time control), and 2 totally WTF results that I didn't see coming in the light of the middlegame positions.

Wesley did go to Webster but now lives in MN with his adoptive parents/family. The live in the same hoa as my aunt in law.

I believe Naka currently resides in Florida.

https://twitter.com/GMHikaru


Hot take: Naka takes this down.

An AIML sighting! What's up? Do you chess anymore?

Yeah, ok, maybe I got Naka and Caruana mixed up since I thought Fabi lived in Florida. Maybe no one lives in St. Louis...

Ahh, I think Fabi does live in St. Louis: http://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/...f6f0c#stream/0. Although I'm still not entirely sure since him and Naka may both be residents of St. Louis but not really live there.

Hey Yugo!

n/m, I still chess sometimes.

Wonder when Wesley moves to Florida. :/

Fabi's 'very close friend' Alexandra Wiener comes from Westport, CT. I have no idea where they'll reside if they decide to move in together - CT charges a 6-6.99% tax on income over $100K.

Naka sweeps

IM Akshat Chandra has just confessed that his family has moved to St. Louis to help his career! (If you're trying to access the interview before the finish of the broadcast, rewind back to the 2:38:39 mark, it was just after Ramirez' lecture on GM blunders and a break.)

Judit Bowlgar must be delighted with Fabi's decision to fianchetto his king right now (20. Kf1).

Topalov is clearly a recreational player at this point... but I wonder if he's really getting fun out of chess when he makes inexplicable blunders like the 58. Nf8+? vs Ding. I'd be in a world of pain after erring like this.

Having the tournament lead should make him feel better. I was really hoping for 5 more draws, guess he could still blow it.