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Caruana Wins 2024 9LX After Surviving Scare Vs. Kasparov
Fabiano Caruana earned $37,500 for winning 9LX. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.

Caruana Wins 2024 9LX After Surviving Scare Vs. Kasparov

PeterDoggers
| 29 | Chess Event Coverage

A week after winning his fourth U.S. title, GM Fabiano Caruana also won the 2024 Chess 9LX tournament in St. Louis. With 7.5/9 he remained half a point ahead of GM Hikaru Nakamura. Caruana won $30,000 and another $7,500 for finishing in sole first place.

At 61, "chess tourist" GM Garry Kasparov held his own wonderfully in a field of professional players by finishing on a 50-percent score. It could have been even better as according to Kasparov himself, he missed wins against both GM Levon Aronian and the tournament winner.

Final Standings

Final Standings 2024 9LX

The three weeks of activities ended on Wednesday in St. Louis with first the U.S. Championships, next a chess and education conference (with keynote speeches by GMs Maurice Ashley, Judit Polgar, and Kasparov), and then the 9LX tournament. In the end, this October month was a particularly good one for Caruana, who won both chess events held in his home city.

Round 7 Position

Caruana was going into the final day with a half-point lead, but after he drew his game with GM Leinier Dominguez, Nakamura caught him in first place by outplaying GM Ray Robson with the black pieces:

Hikaru Nakamura chess
A good game by Nakamura. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.

Meanwhile, most eyes were also on the game between Kasparov and Aronian. Could The Boss do something with that plus-one score, and perhaps even play a role in the higher echelons of the standings?

Well, he was doing quite well out of the opening; perhaps you could even say that he was virtually winning. However, at some point the tables turned, and Kasparov was in trouble for several moves. He was then briefly completely fine, and with slightly more time on the clock (1:38 vs 0:46) he made the last mistake.

Kasparov Aronian 9LX 2024
Kasparov knew he had Aronian on the ropes. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.

Round 8 Position

"I was absolutely sure during the game that I was losing," Caruana admitted when discussing his game with Kasparov in the penultimate round. It was another painful loss for the 13th world champion, who blundered a full piece on a single move.

"My idea was that, OK, I definitely misplayed this very badly, but I have a time advantage and if I avoid losing to very direct tactics, then probably I can make it a mess," said Caruana. "And I thought as long as the moves that he has to play are a bit vague, this is more difficult." He added: "It's very typical with Garry because he very often plays extremely well, but struggles with his time and getting low on the clock."

Kasparov blunder Caruana 9LX 2024
Two tough losses in a row for Kasparov. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.

With this fortunate win, Caruana regained his half-point lead since Nakamura was held to a draw by GM Grigoriy Oparin despite trying for 166(!) moves.

Round 9 Position

Remarkably, the position for the final round was exactly the same as the one used for the final round in 2023. It was Kasparov himself who pointed it out to this author. After he beat Dominguez from the white side in 2023, he also converted the full point against GM Sam Sevian this year to end on a respectable 4.5/9.

Kasparov Sevian 9LX 2024 stare
Who can deal with a stare like that? Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.
Kasparov Sevian 9LX 2024
Kasparov showed textbook technique to beat Sevian in a rook endgame. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Saint Louis Chess Club.

"I enjoyed it," Kasparov said when the tournament was over. "I made 50 percent without any luck. OK, I was lucky with Oparin, but also I was winning against Nakamura when I took a draw; I was winning by force."

Asked if he'll be back next year, he said: "I always play here. It's fun!"

I always play here. It's fun!
—Garry Kasparov

Since Nakamura won his game, Caruana needed to win as well in order to secure sole first place. A big mistake by Robson on move 28 lost a pawn for him, but it took quite a while for this game to finish and the tournament be decided.

Here is the game, with annotations by GM Rafael Leitao:

Caruana 9LX 2024
Caruana accepts Robson's resignation.

How to review?
You can review the 2024 Chess 9LX tournament on the Saint Louis Chess Club YouTube Channel. You can also review the games on our Events Page.

The live broadcast was hosted by GMs Maurice Ashley & Yasser Seirawan and IM Nazi Paikidze.

The 2024 Chess 9LX tournament was an over-the-board Chess960 tournament featuring 10 star players including the legendary Kasparov that took place in the World Chess Hall of Fame in St. Louis. Three rounds were played each day with a 20+10 time control. The first prize was $30,000 with a bonus prize of $7,500 for sole first.


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PeterDoggers
Peter Doggers

Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”

Peter's first book The Chess Revolution is out now!

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