Grand Chess Tour 2017 Sinquefield Cup Betting Odds
–Chess is a surprisingly popular game among bettors–particularly in Europe.
–Magnus Carlsen is the reigning World Champion, a title he’s held since 2013.
–The Grand Chess Tour stops in St. Louis for two events beginning with the Sinquefield Cup
While it’s yet to reach the status that Texas Hold’em Poker enjoyed a few years back competitive chess is extremely popular. The mainstream media may have ignored it since the classic 1972 World Championship battle between Bobby Fisher and Boris Spassky but high level chess lives on and if anything has flourished during the digital revolution. The classic ‘analog era’ game has leveraged the Internet in many of the same ways as poker. Online chess sites now afford players the opportunity to hone their skills against opponents of all levels no matter where they might live. It has also provided a venue for live streaming video coverage of tournaments worldwide as well as a source of up to date news and information about the game.
Competitive chess is also a surprisingly popular betting sport, particularly in Europe. Most European and Eastern European sportsbooks offer futures odds on the 2018 World Championship but a good number also take action on the lower profile tournaments in International play. That’s the case this week as the chess world descends upon St. Louis, Missouri for the Sinquefield Cup. The Sinquefield Cup is named for St. Louis Chess Club founder Rex Sinquefield and is part of the ‘Grand Chess Tour‘. The Sinquefield Cup will run from August 2nd to the 12th and will be followed by the St. Louis Rapid and Blitz tournament running from August 14th through the 19th. The Rapid and Blitz event will be a huge deal this year–more about that in a moment.
THE GRAND CHESS TOUR
The Grand Chess Tour is a series of international tournaments with impressive cash prizes. Here’s the ‘elevator pitch’ from their website:
The 2017 Grand Chess Tour is a series of five chess tournaments held throughout the year and across the globe. A total of nine players were selected as full 2017 Grand Chess Tour participants. Three spots were awarded to the top finishers in the 2016 GCT, another three to the top players by average 2016 rating and the final three were determined by the GCT advisory board as tour wildcards. Tour participants will play both classic events and two of the three rapid and blitz events. Unlike last year, every result will count toward a player’s final GCT standing.
The total prize pool for the Tour is a hefty $1.2 million with $300,000 to be awarded at the Sinquefield Cup. The Sinquefield Cup is a 10 player, round robin tournament that has attracted many of the heavy hitters of the chess world including reigning World Champ Magnus Carlsen. Carlsen is the favorite to win as he is just about any time he sits down at a chessboard. From a handicapping standpoint, chess has many similarities with tennis. There’s a defining ranking system and competitive ‘pecking order’ but that doesn’t mean that the higher ranked players always win. Like tennis, form is a very important component of chess competition. If a lower ranked player is playing well and/or a top ranked player in poor form the competitive dynamic changes dramatically. Also like tennis some individual matchups are more favorable or difficult–every player has opponents that they dominate and those they have trouble with.
BACK LIKE JORDAN WEARING THE 45
The Sinquefield Cup was already going to be a big deal in the chess world but it’s now become something of an ‘opening act’ for the Rapid and Blitz tournament. That’s because former world champion Garry Kasparov has announced that he’s going to play competitive chess for the first time in twelve years. Kasparov has been integral in the organization and promotion of the Grand Chess Tour but his return to competition came as a surprise. Think Michael Jordan’s legendary ‘I’m back’ return to the NBA in the mid 1990’s only more of a shock. The comparison to Jordan is a good one–Kasparov is a legit legend and considered by many to be the best chess player in history. He was a beast–in fact, that was his nickname (“The Beast”) and he was described as a “monster with 100 eyes, who sees all”. He became World Champion in 1985 at age 22 and held the title for a ridiculous 15 years during which he was virtually unbeatable. Since his retirement, Kasparov has been politically active in his native Russia. He’s written many articles and a book addressing his concerns with Vladimir Putin. He’s been arrested on several occasions for his public opposition of Putin and has since become a Croatian citizen.
St. Louis Chess Club impresario Rex Sinquefield underscored the huge audience for competitive chess and the significance of Kasparov’s return to competition with this comment:
“It will be fun to measure the online audience. My guess is it will be in the many millions.”
We’ll have odds on the Rapid and Blitz tournament as well as Kasparov props but for now we’ll focus on the Sinquefield Cup along with updated World Championship odds:
GRAND CHESS TOUR SINQUEFIELD CUP BETTING ODDS–ST. LOUIS (AUGUST 1-12, 2017)
ODDS TO WIN GRAND CHESS TOUR SINQUEFIELD CUP
Magnus Carlsen: +275
Wesley So: +450
Levon Aronian: +500
Hikaru Nakamura: +650
Fabiano Caruana: +750
Sergey Karjakin: +750
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave: +900
Ian Nepomniachtchi: +1500
Viswanathan Anand: +1500
Peter Svidler: +1750
YES/NO ODDS TO WIN THE GRAND CHESS TOUR SINGQUEFIELD CUP
WILL MAGNUS CARLSEN WIN THE GRAND CHESS TOUR SINGQUEFIELD CUP?
Yes: +275
No: -350
WILL WESLEY SO WIN THE GRAND CHESS TOUR SINGQUEFIELD CUP?
Yes: +450
No: -750
WILL LEVON ARONIAN WIN THE GRAND CHESS TOUR SINGQUEFIELD CUP?
Yes: +500
No: -800
WILL HIKARU NAKAMURA WIN THE GRAND CHESS TOUR SINGQUEFIELD CUP?
Yes: +650
No: -950
WILL FABIANO CARUANA WIN THE GRAND CHESS TOUR SINGQUEFIELD CUP?
Yes: +750
No: -1250
WILL SERGEY KARJAKIN WIN THE GRAND CHESS TOUR SINGQUEFIELD CUP?
Yes: +750
No: -1250
WILL MAXIME VACHIER-LAGRAVE WIN THE GRAND CHESS TOUR SINGQUEFIELD CUP?
Yes: +900
No: -2500
WILL IAN NEPOMNIACHTCHI WIN THE GRAND CHESS TOUR SINGQUEFIELD CUP?
Yes: +1500
No: -3750
WILL VISWANATHAN ANAND WIN THE GRAND CHESS TOUR SINGQUEFIELD CUP?
Yes: +1500
No: -3750
WILL PETER SVIDLER WIN THE GRAND CHESS TOUR SINGQUEFIELD CUP?
Yes: +1750
No: -5000
TO FINISH IN THE TOP TWO OF THE GRAND CHESS TOUR SINGQUEFIELD CUP
Magnus Carlsen: -150
Wesley So: +250
Levon Aronian: +300
Hikaru Nakamura: +350
Fabiano Caruana: +350
Sergey Karjakin: +350
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave: +450
Ian Nepomniachtchi: +750
Viswanathan Anand: +750
Peter Svidler: +950
TO FINISH IN THE TOP THREE OF THE GRAND CHESS TOUR SINGQUEFIELD CUP
Magnus Carlsen: -300
Wesley So: +100
Levon Aronian: +150
Hikaru Nakamura: +150
Fabiano Caruana: +150
Sergey Karjakin: +250
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave: +250
Ian Nepomniachtchi: +350
Viswanathan Anand: +350
Peter Svidler: +450
MAGNUS CARLSEN/2018 WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP PROPOSITION ODDS
MAGNUS CARLSEN’S FIDE CLASSIC RATING ON 12/31/17?
Less than 2800: +850
2800-2849: +250
2850-2899: -300
Over 2900: +1500
2018 WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS–CHALLENGER
Sergey Karjakin: +250
Hikaru Nakamura: +350
Fabiano Caruana: +350
Wesley So: +900
Anish Giri: +1200
Levon Aronian: +1500
Vladimir Kramnik: +1750
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave: +2000
Alexander Grischuk: +2000
Viswanathan Anand: +2500
Telmour Radjabov: +3000
Veselin Topalov: +3000
Ding Liren: +3000
Michael Adams: +10000
Nils Garandelius: +20000
Field: +2000
TO WIN 2018 WORLD CHESS CHAMPIONSHIP (NOVEMBER 7-28, 2018)
Magnus Carlsen: -250
Any other player: +210