3 leaders in St.Louis

No German is playing in the Sinquefield Cup in St. Louis, but the spirit of Vincent Keymer still resonates for German chess fans. Keymer's chances of qualifying for the Candidates Tournament are vanishingly small. The last place is reserved for the Elo best in the world rankings, who has not yet secured a ticket to the Candidates Tournament. Keymer is still in the running for this place, with a live Elo of 2737.9. But while he recovers from the exertions of the Grand Swiss and the European Championship, many of the other candidates, Firouzja, So and Dominguez, are playing in St. Louis. A chance to lose Elo points, but also to win. After Duda dropped out after the first round for health reasons, 9 players are still in the game. After 7 rounds, with most players having played 6 rounds due to the dropout, Caruana, So and Dominguez are leading with 4 points each. Caruana and Dominguez have played 6 games, So has seven games under his belt. Yesterday's defeat against Caruana, who had made a brief spurt with 2 wins, was particularly painful.

The live rankings look like this: In the race for the last place in the Candidates Tournament, Wesley So, who still has one game to play in St. Louis, is currently in the lead. He is at 2757.1 points. We will soon see why the decimal places could be important. Leinier Dominguez has unexpectedly entered the race thanks to his good results. He is at 2756.7, just 0.4 points behind So, very close. Then comes Alireza Firouzja, who until recently seemed to be the sure candidate for the place in the Candidates Tournament, now he is at 2750.9. It is still unclear whether he still sees himself as a chess professional or whether he is aiming for other professions.

Keymer will have a hard time catching up again. The Bundesliga lineups are not published in advance, but it would be a miracle if Keymer did not play for Baden-Baden. With two wins he could play his way back into the draw.

Photo: https://grandchesstour.org/

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