The Sinquefield Cup has crowned a champion every year since 2013 (bar the pandemic-cancelled 2020), and its roll of honour reads like a top-ten rating list. Below is the complete winners list by year, from Magnus Carlsen in the very first edition to Wesley So in 2025, plus the records and playoffs worth knowing. (Reigning champion as of July 2026: Wesley So.)
The complete list of Sinquefield Cup winners
| Year | Champion | Federation | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Magnus Carlsen | Norway | Won the inaugural 4-player double round-robin |
| 2014 | Fabiano Caruana | Italy | 8½/10 — started 7/7, three points clear |
| 2015 | Levon Aronian | Armenia | Won the first Grand Chess Tour edition |
| 2016 | Wesley So | USA | 5½/9 |
| 2017 | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | France | 6/9 (+3 −0 =6) |
| 2018 | Carlsen · Caruana · Aronian (shared) | NOR / USA / ARM | 5½/9 each — three-way tie, title shared |
| 2019 | Ding Liren | China | 6½/11 — won the playoff vs Carlsen |
| 2020 | — not held — | — | Cancelled (COVID-19 pandemic) |
| 2021 | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | France | 6/9 (+4 −1 =4) |
| 2022 | Alireza Firouzja | France | Won the playoff vs Ian Nepomniachtchi |
| 2023 | Fabiano Caruana | USA | 5½/8 |
| 2024 | Alireza Firouzja | France | 6/9 (+3 −0 =6) — undefeated |
| 2025 | Wesley So | USA | 5½/9 — won a three-way blitz playoff |
A note on federations: Fabiano Caruana represented Italy when he won in 2014 and the United States by the time of his 2023 title, having transferred to US Chess in 2015. Alireza Firouzja competed under the French flag for his 2022 and 2024 wins.
What the winners list tells you
Look down the column and you’ll notice something: there are no soft touches. Every Sinquefield champion has been a genuine world-elite player, and most were world number one or number two at the time they won. That’s by design — the Cup is invitation-only, and the Saint Louis Chess Club stacks the field with the strongest players it can gather, which is why the event is routinely described as the toughest classical tournament of the year outside a world title match. Winning it once is a career highlight; winning it twice, as Caruana, So, Vachier-Lagrave and Firouzja have all done, puts you in rare company. The list also captures the sport’s shifting map: American stars (So, Caruana), a French contingent (Vachier-Lagrave, Firouzja), Armenia’s Aronian, China’s Ding Liren, and Norway’s Carlsen have all lifted the trophy, and the 2025 playoff featured India’s Praggnanandhaa pushing the veterans to the wire — a sign of the next generation arriving.
Multiple champions
No player has won the Sinquefield Cup three times outright (as of July 2026), but four have each won it twice:
- Fabiano Caruana — 2014 and 2023 (and a share of the 2018 title)
- Wesley So — 2016 and 2025
- Maxime Vachier-Lagrave — 2017 and 2021
- Alireza Firouzja — 2022 and 2024
Add in his 2013 win and 2018 share and Magnus Carlsen is also a two-time name on the trophy.
Records & milestones
- Greatest performance: Fabiano Caruana in 2014 — he won his first seven games in a row (7/7) in the six-player double round-robin, finished on 8½/10 (three full points ahead of runner-up Carlsen), and posted a performance rating around 3098, one of the highest ever recorded in a single event.
- First champion: Magnus Carlsen, winner of the inaugural 2013 edition — his last tournament before he became World Champion.
- Decided by a playoff: 2019 (Ding Liren over Carlsen), 2022 (Firouzja over Nepomniachtchi) and 2025 (So over Praggnanandhaa and Caruana in a three-way blitz tiebreak).
- Shared title: 2018 — Carlsen, Caruana and Aronian all finished on 5½/9 and agreed to share the crown rather than play a tiebreak.
- One of the youngest champions: Alireza Firouzja, who won in 2022 aged 19.
- Not held: 2020, cancelled during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A few notable results
- 2014 — Caruana 8½/10. The performance that put the Sinquefield Cup on the map: seven straight wins to open, and a three-point winning margin over the reigning World Champion.
- 2019 — Ding Liren over Carlsen. Tied on 6½/11 after the classical games, Ding Liren won the rapid-and-blitz playoff to become the first player in over a decade to beat Carlsen in a tiebreak.
- 2025 — So’s late surge. Wesley So reeled in the leaders to force a three-way tie on 5½/9, then went 1½/2 in the blitz playoff to take his second title, with Praggnanandhaa second and Caruana third.
Frequently asked questions
Who has won the most Sinquefield Cups? No one has won it three times outright as of July 2026. Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Alireza Firouzja have each won it twice (Caruana also shares the 2018 title).
Who won the first Sinquefield Cup? Magnus Carlsen, in the inaugural 2013 edition.
Who is the reigning Sinquefield Cup champion? Wesley So, who won the 2025 edition in a blitz playoff (as of July 2026).
What was Caruana’s 2014 Sinquefield Cup score? He scored 8½/10, opening with seven straight wins and finishing three points clear of runner-up Magnus Carlsen.
Was a Sinquefield Cup ever cancelled? Yes — the 2020 edition was not held because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Explore more
Read the full story of the event on the Sinquefield Cup hub · See how it fits the season at the Grand Chess Tour · Browse profiles of the players who’ve won in Saint Louis.
Researched and fact-checked by the Chess Lab Academy Editorial Team · Verified against Wikipedia, the Grand Chess Tour, and major chess media · Champions and records current as of July 2026 · Last verified 2026-07-11 · How we verify content.