Sinquefield Cup 2026: Wesley So Leads After Beating Caruana

Wesley So leads the Sinquefield Cup 2026 chess tournament on 3.5/5 after beating Fabiano Caruana, with four players half a point behind.

Wesley So is the sole leader of the Sinquefield Cup 2026 after five rounds in St. Louis. The American grandmaster has 3.5 points. Four players follow on 3: Vincent Keymer, Praggnanandhaa R, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Fabiano Caruana.

So's key win came in round 3. With the black pieces against Fabiano Caruana, he played the Nimzo-Indian Defense and won in just 37 moves. Wins with Black against a player of Caruana's class are rare.

Round 3 had other big results too. Vincent Keymer beat Praggnanandhaa in the Catalan Opening, finishing the game with checkmate on the board. Samuel Sevian beat Anish Giri in a very long 110-move struggle.

Praggnanandhaa bounced back straight away. In round 4 he beat Jorden Van Foreest in 71 moves from a Sicilian Defense. That is a good example of not letting one loss become two.

In round 5 Caruana also recovered, beating Levon Aronian in the Petrov Defense, and Keymer won again, this time against Giri. So drew his round 4 and 5 games against Aronian and Praggnanandhaa to keep his lead.

Notice what the leaders have done after setbacks. Caruana lost to So and won two rounds later. Praggnanandhaa lost to Keymer and won the very next round. Strong players treat a loss as information, not as a disaster. After a loss in your own tournament, ask yourself one simple question: what is one thing I will do differently in the next game? Then let the rest go.

Four rounds remain after the rest day. With five players within half a point, the Sinquefield Cup is set for an exciting finish.