7 Triumph In November Titled Tuesday; 40 GM Entries

Staff Note: The next Titled Tuesday is December 1st!

Chess.com's second Titled Tuesday double header was a competitive affair. In both the early and late tournament, no single player was able to to pull clear of the field, and multiple new faces and names battled their way to the top of the crowded lists.

In all, there were 40 GM entries and 150 total entries in the two events. While plenty of players did choose to play in both events, good form did not seem to carry over between events as no prize winners managed to repeat.

The early event was dominated by GM Aleks Lenderman much of the way. Lenderman was in tremendous form as shown by the following patient win against top seed GM Dmitry Andreikin. The finish should make for some good light fodder for Tactics Trainer.

[All full game commentary by GM Robert Hess.]

Lenderman also demonstrated excellent tactical opportunism in the following game. Can you find the way through?

Entering the last round, Lenderman had 7.0/8 and a half- point lead on the field, but in the end, he could not hold up against steady pressure in an instructive bishop endgame from GM Zviad Izoria (great name!). Izoria's win allowed him to catch Lenderman on 7.0/9. As it turned out, seven was the magic number as no one on 6.5 managed to pass Lenderman and Izoria with the requisite final round victory.

 

The others to join what became a five-way tie for first were GM Dmitry Andreikin, GM George Meier, and FM Renato Lujan. Andreikin entered the tournament as the top seed by FIDE rating, but he struggled early on before getting his bearings. His opponent in round one was comfortably drawing before inexplicably resigning in a still drawn position. In round two, he was nicked for a half-point. However, once Andreikin got rolling, he was a force to be reckoned with. Check out his fifth-round victory against IM Maksim Chigaev.

GM Andreikin required uncharacteristic fortune to catch the leaders in the last round. He had a difficult position against blitz expert GM Maxim Dlugy when Dlugy uncorked the "brilliancy" Qe3+!! There was quite a lot of enthusiasm from the spectators before everyone realized Dlugy wasn't sacrificing the queen. Instead, he had simply missed Bxe3  Had Dlugy played normally he had good chances to win and take clear first.

FM Lujan may not get the attention he deserves among his GM peers, but his games were full of vigor. Possibly his most entertaining game was the following third-round crush of FM James Eden. The rook sacrifice on h1 is common enough, but the hidden refutation of 15...Nd7 is still appealing.

Titled Tuesday, Early Event | Final Standings (Top 20)

The late event saw, if possible, even more turmoil as IM Borya Ider and NM Artem Sadovsky shared first with impressive 7.5/9 scores! It's the first time that any non-GM has taken first without sharing with a GM. For two non-GMs to pull clear of the field is truly astonishing!

IM Ider was among the leaders for most of the event. A major challenge came in round seven from the anonymous GM Siana who has been all over the Chess.com leaderboard of late. Siana won his first four games, but only scored half a point from rounds five through eight. Siana clearly wanted to generate winning chances and sought a sharp position; however, Ider was up to the complications and converted a strong position with several incisive tactics at the end.

In the last round, Ider had a half-point lead over the field, but it looked as though he might get knocked back as GM Andrey Deviatkin put the screws to him in a difficult knight endgame. Concerns were fleeting as confident simplification enabled Ider to force the draw.

The eventual co-champion NM Sadovsky was paired against one of the early tournament winners in GM Izoria in the last round. Despite holding the lesser title, Sadovsky was the rating favorite, and he proved his mettle by easily converting a pawn-up endgame.

Possibly the most impressive game of the entire day was GM Dlugy's bishop-pair endgame victory against GM Siana. GM Dlugy had only a space advantage to work with, and it seemed Siana's weaknesses could be held. Even many titled players were pleading for the draw in the chat. However, Dlugy gradually pressured on both sides of the board before breaking through on the kingside to weave a stunning mating net!

Dlugy received high praise from the spectators and commentators alike. GM Alex Yermolinsky, commentating the late game, was truly wowed by the finale.

Uncle Yermo and the Ginger GM, Simon Williams stood in as commentators while IM Danny Rensch and the Chess.com staff are away for the annual staff retreat. Yermo kept the spectators rolling in the aisles with hilarious, brutal, and accurate commentary on the many errors caught in his gaze.

Fan favorite IM Greg Shahade also tried his luck in the early event. Fresh from publishing a controversial blog "Slow Chess Should Die a Fast Death", Shahade put his time where his mouth is, playing lots of interesting fast chess. In the following R + B versus R ending, Shahade showed he knew the key to defending — stalemate! Shahade offered his rook four times! for stalemate, but after several mistakes from both sides, Shahade erred last, misSianag a chance to return to another stalemate trick to save the game.

Finally, here's a pleasant peccadillo from GM Dlugy.

GMs Izoria, Andreikin, Meier, Lenderman, and FM Lujan each took home $200 for their efforts in the early tournament. In the late tournament, IM Ider and NM Sadovsky received $375 apiece while GMs Deviatkin, Grigorov, and Arnaudov collected $83.33.

Titled Tuesday, Late Event | Final Standings (Top 20)

The next Titled Tuesday tournaments will be Tuesday, December 1 at 11 a.m. Pacific (GMT -7) and 5 p.m. Pacific (GMT -7).