America’s best chess players will return to the Saint Louis Chess Club to battle over the board on April 18-29 in a brand new and exciting tournament, the American Cup. With $300,000 in prize money up for grabs, the competitors will prove their mettle under mounting pressure in a double-elimination knockout tournament.
The final day of the Charity Cup preliminaries had its fair share of drama, with half the players getting knocked out of the competition after 15 rounds. Praggnanandhaa and Richard Rapport did not make the cut, with Pragg missing winning chances before losing his last game of the prelims against David Anton. Anton, who came from scoring wins in the two previous rounds, climbed all the way up to fourth place thanks to this victory and will face Jan-Krzysztof Duda in the quarterfinals. | Photo: Alina l’Ami
With three rounds to go, Le Quang Liem is still the sole leader of the preliminaries at the Charity Cup. The Vietnamese stands three points ahead of second-placed Magnus Carlsen and has already secured a spot in the knockout stage. On day 3, Jorden van Foreest was the highest scorer, as he collected three wins and a draw. Moreover, the Dutchman had a superior position in the one game he drew, against Carlsen. | Photo: Jurriaan Hoefsmit – Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2021
Le Quang Liem is the sole leader of the Charity Cup preliminaries after eight rounds. The Vietnamese grandmaster won six out of eight games so far to go into day 3 with an unbeaten 20/24 score. A full four points behind stand Magnus Carlsen and Jan-Krzysztof Duda in shared second place. The single round-robin continues until Tuesday, when half the participants in the 16-player field will move on to the knockout stage. | Photo: Andreas Kontokanis
The first four rounds of the Charity Cup left Le Quang Liem and Hans Niemann sharing the lead on 10/12 points (a win is worth 3 points, a draw is worth 1 point). Remarkably, the 18-year-old Niemann defeated Chinese star Ding Liren in the third round. After the loss, however, Ding bounced back brilliantly, getting the better of Magnus Carlsen to end the day on 9/12, a point behind the leaders. | Photo: Crystal Fuller