MVL, Caruana, Aronian and Praggnanandhaa advance to the GCT Finals
"It's been nine years. Has it been that long? Fortunately it didn't get to ten." - Wesley So referring to his last Sinquefield Cup triumph in 2016. "Now that I have won the tournament, I would like to glorify the Lord for winning, because I have been waiting for this a long time. I think last year I only won only one online tournament. Like in the last two years I only won like one or two events. This is the second event." - The Sinquefield Cup 2025 champion. He added, "Also I'd like to thank my mother a lot. She has always been with me through good times and bad hard times. And this year has been particularly difficult. Yeah it's a pity that I didn't make it to Brazil but at least now I am back in the top ten... Also I would like a big shoutout to English GM Gawain Jones because that opening idea today that I played against Nodirbek was in his book - Coffeehouse Repertoire. So that's where I got the idea. I analyzed this a few months back. I noticed Nodirbek plays Nf6 in his last 15 games. So I thought why not? It's actually a very risky line. Like if Black plays perfectly, White is a even a bit worse in many lines. But I had to risk it."
"Also I'd like to thank my mother a lot. She has always been with me through good times and bad hard times. And this year has been particularly difficult. Yeah it's a pity that I didn't make it to Brazil but at least now I am back in the top ten... Also I would like a big shoutout to English GM Gawain Jones because that opening idea today that I played against Nodirbek was in his book - Coffeehouse Repertoire. So that's where I got the idea. I analyzed this a few months back. I noticed Nodirbek plays Nf6 in his last 15 games. So I thought why not? It's actually a very risky line. Like if Black plays perfectly, White is a even a bit worse in many lines. But I had to risk it."
Replay live stream
Replay Round 9 and Playoff games
Schedule and Format
Sinquefield Cup will have one round per day from 18th to 27th August. Rest day is on Saturday 23rd August. Each round starts at 12 p.m. local time, 10:30 p.m. IST. It will be a 10-player Round Robin event. GCT Playoffs if required will take place on 28th August.
Round 9 results
| Bo. | No. | Rtg | White | Result | Black | Rtg | No. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | 2725 | GM | Duda, Jan-Krzysztof | ½ - ½ | GM | Vachier-Lagrave, Maxime | 2736 | 9 | |
| 2 | 10 | 2784 | GM | Caruana, Fabiano | ½ - ½ | GM | Gukesh, D | 2776 | 5 | |
| 3 | 4 | 2737 | GM | Aronian, Levon | ½ - ½ | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | 2779 | 6 | |
| 4 | 3 | 2745 | GM | So, Wesley | 1 - 0 | GM | Abdusattorov, Nodirbek | 2771 | 7 | |
| 5 | 2 | 2766 | GM | Firouzja, Alireza | ½ - ½ | GM | Sevian, Samuel | 2683 | 8 |
Standings after Round 9
GCT standings
Prize
The total prize fund for each Classical event is US$ 350000. The top three prizes are US$ 100000, $65000 and $48000.
