The second edition of "Ultimate Moves" closed out the 2015 Sinquefield Cup with another fun, if slightly chaotic, two hours of blitz chess. The elite GM stars from the main tournament were joined by Garry Kasparov and Yasser Seirawan, in a series of 10 pro-plus-amateur games headed by Chess Club and Scholastic Center founder Rex Sinquefield and his son Randy.

"Team Rex" dominated the contest, which can be replayed in full courtesy the CCSCSL livestream:

The night before, the players gathered at the World Chess Hall of Fame for a closing press conference and ceremony, which included the mayor of Saint Louis, Francis Slay, who is a strong supporter of chess in the city.

Grandmaster Maurice Ashley "emceed" a brief Q&A session with the players, during which they were all asked to sum up their tournament performances and thoughts on the event. Here are some highlights:

Wesley So:

My thoughts have been all very positive, I'm very glad to be here...I've not much to say about my tournament, but it's my first time, and I'll hopefully get better and better every year.

Fabiano Caruana:

It all went wrong from the start for me. I still had a good time. It's just a great atmosphere. The exciting chess is just starting. Trent won a match with Magnus with rook odds, but only 5-4.

Caruana, and then Grischuk and Vachier-Lagrave, all took the opportunity to tease IM Lawrence Trent, who was present as Caruana's new manager, for his impromptu odds-blitz match the night before against Magnus Carlsen. Trent only managed to win 5-4 despite starting each game a full rook up.

Veselin Topalov:

I simply collapsed physically. Only now I realized in two years I didn't make it once to the swimming pool [at the Chase Park Plaza Hotel], so that's my ambition for next year. At least once to the gym and the swimming pool.

MVL:

It's been fun. I also have something to prove here compared to the other guys who were playing. I was the worst rated here, so I of course had some things to prove.

Giri:

My tournament was interesting. I won the first game and then I made so many draws I already forgot how I managed to win that game.

Nakamura:

It's really amazing to see how far American chess has come. Growing up when I just was a lowly master trying to make my way in the chess world, my parents helped me out. They sent me off to a lot of tournaments in Europe. And so growing up I had to play in Europe all the time. So certainly being able to come back and play tournaments in the US — it all started in 2009 of course with the US Championship, the first year that Saint Louis hosted it, and just to see how far chess has come here, it's just amazing…I find it to be a really special experience, even though I tend not to play the best chess in Saint Louis.

Carlsen:

I'm very happy to take second place in this tournament at plus one, and to be ahead of Anish in the standings despite having scored two less points. That takes, I think, some talent, and I'm very happy about everything.

Carlsen was referring to the Grand Chess Tour standings. The tour awards points in the overall series competition based on finishing place, rather than distributing them equally among players with the same point score.

Asked by Ashley to comment on the Trent match, Magnus elicited the biggest laugh of the evening by quipping:

That has been spoken about enough already. I'm not one who likes to brag a lot about my own conquests. I mean, that's a lie but...[laughter]

Aronian was not far behind Carlsen for sarcasm, referring to his three wins against the American players as an example of the United State's gracious "hospitality". He also explained why he had been sporting a beard for much of the event.

My opponents are so tough, I didn't really have time to have a shave. So I'm sorry to my opponents that they had to look at me, and get scared. Generally, I love being here. I really like going into different cities around the United States and seeing the architecture, and when it comes to Saint Louis, I think there are not many places where you can see such beautiful buildings preserved, and just next to a beautiful park, so this to me just feels like part of home — definitely in America, like home. Another thing I want to mention is the hospitality of everybody at the club. Somehow I think it's kind of a virus — people are so nice and so lovely, that even the American players were really hospitable to me. I could really feel their love.

Below: GMs Ramirez and Vachier-Lagrave play blitz at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center with Trent and Caruana at the board behind.

On what they will do with their tournament winnings, the players were also on form:

MVL expressed a desire to visit Australia and attend the Australian Open (tennis) in January. Anand was also keen on a vacation in Oceana, citing New Zealand as a preferred destination. Aronian suggested he might get into collecting fine art. Giri was thinking practically about furnishing his new now-empty home with his wife Sopiko Guramishvili. Carlsen, evidently in a generous mood, suggested he might buy a bike for his second Peter Heine Nielsen, adding "he needs a faster one to keep up."

Grischuk pointed to advice from an old Soviet animated film, noting "to spend something you first need to earn something, and in order to earn something you need to perform better than I did." Topalov suggested that the question should really be directed to his wife, the one who presumably will be doing the spending.

But it was Caruana who brought down the house, perhaps inspired by Aronian's celebratory tweet:

Yeah, I think I'd buy a goat. I think I could afford it with the money I earned, and this goat I think could see tactics better than me.

Replay the entire event:

See also:

• Sinquefield Cup games on chess24
• Grand Chess Tour website
• Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis
• Sinquefield Cup 2015 Preview
• Sinquefield Cup 1: An explosive start 
• Sinquefield Cup 2: Time mayhem, Topalov top
• Sinquefield Cup 3: Carlsen and So win
• Sinquefield Cup 4: Levon is back
• Sinquefield Cup 5: Carlsen hits the front
• Sinquefield Cup 6: Nakamura puts So to the sword
• Sinquefield Cup 7: Carlsen's despair
• Sinquefield Cup 8: A moment of insanity
• Sinquefueld Cup 9: Aronian cruises to victory