(ST. LOUIS, AP) — A 22-year-old man won a chess competition held in St. Louis that featured six of the world’s top 10 players and a $100,000 first-place prize.
Fabiano Caruana won the top spot at the Sinquefield Cup at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of St. Louis, beating the world’s greatest players one after the other, seven victories in a row, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported (http://bit.ly/1qBdyQZ). The chess club now hosts the U.S. Chess Championships.
Philanthropist Rex Sinquefield, 70, has helped lure some of the world’s greatest chess players to St. Louis. One of those players is the top-rated U.S. player Hikaru Nakamura. He entered the tournament ranked fifth in the world and finished sixth, receiving a $20,000 prize.
Caruana’s win last week has earned him a second-place world rank, behind Norway’s Magnus Carlsen.
Brian Jerauld, a spokesman for the club, said after Caruana’s performance at the competition, “a lot of people think this is the start of a new rivalry.”
Caruana plays for Italy, but was born in Miami and holds dual citizenship in Italy and the United States. He now lives in Madrid.
Caruana said his performance surprised him “more than a little.”
“It felt very good,” he said. “I was always expecting that at some point it would end, that I would start to make my usual mistakes. But it really didn’t happen.”
The tournament’s closing ceremony was held Sunday, but finished up with an exhibition match Monday between Sinquefield and his son Randy.
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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com
Philanthropist Rex Sinquefield, 70, has helped lure some of the world’s greatest chess players to St. Louis. One of those players is the top-rated U.S. player Hikaru Nakamura. He entered the tournament ranked fifth in the world and finished sixth, receiving a $20,000 prize.
Caruana’s win last week has earned him a second-place world rank, behind Norway’s Magnus Carlsen.
Brian Jerauld, a spokesman for the club, said after Caruana’s performance at the competition, “a lot of people think this is the start of a new rivalry.”
Caruana plays for Italy, but was born in Miami and holds dual citizenship in Italy and the United States. He now lives in Madrid.
Caruana said his performance surprised him “more than a little.”
“It felt very good,” he said. “I was always expecting that at some point it would end, that I would start to make my usual mistakes. But it really didn’t happen.”
The tournament’s closing ceremony was held Sunday, but finished up with an exhibition match Monday between Sinquefield and his son Randy.
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Information from: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, http://www.stltoday.com
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