Artemiev Swindles Nakamura To Win Another Titled Tuesday
GM Vladislav Artemiev won the Titled Tuesday blitz tournament on March 2, his second victory in three weeks and his third overall. This time, the Russian grandmaster was the only player to finish on 10/11.
This week's Titled Tuesday tournament had a total of 778 participants. It was an 11-round Swiss with a 3+1 time control. Artemiev (@Sibelephant) had won on August 18, 2020, and also on February 16 this year.
Watch the live broadcast above.
Artemiev started with seven magnificent wins, but he was not the only one. In round eight, he faced his compatriot IM Oleg Vastrukhin (@kuban1991), who actually managed to hold the draw.
Artemiev then beat another compatriot to reach 8.5/9: GM Dmitry Andreikin (@FairChess_on_YouTube). In blitz, it's always hard to play against a very advanced d-pawn, but there is a way to defend:
The key game, however, was in the penultimate round against GM Hikaru Nakamura (@Hikaru). The American GM tricked Artemiev in the opening and was completely winning with an extra exchange, pawn, and attack when he missed an even nastier trick:
Another nice little tactic was seen in the round-three game between GM Alireza Firouzja (@Firouzja2003) and GM Sebastien Maze (@Mazetovic). The latter has often played the role of team captain for the French team, but this game is not likely to affect Firouzja's chances to join that team if he chooses to represent France!
GM Peter Svidler (@PSvidler), the winner on February 9, did well again as one of the players to finish on 9.5/11. On tiebreak, he placed second.
Svidler lost in round five to GM Steven Zierk (@Zkid) and drew with GM Alexandr Fier (@A-Fier) in round seven, but finished with four consecutive wins. Svidler's opponent in the ninth round might want to brush up on his double-attack tactics:
March 2 Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (Top 20)
| # | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Score | SB |
| 1 | 6 | GM | @Sibelephant | Vladislav Artemiev | 10 | 68.75 | |
| 2 | 31 | GM | @PSvidler | Peter Svidler | 9.5 | 65.75 | |
| 3 | 43 | GM | @Parhamov | Parham Maghsoodloo | 9.5 | 63.25 | |
| 4 | 94 | GM | @1977Ivan | Ivan Ivanisevic | 9.5 | 57.75 | |
| 5 | 75 | IM | @fearless_guy | Semen Lomasov | 9 | 64.25 | |
| 6 | 36 | GM | @AryanTari | Aryan Tari | 9 | 59 | |
| 7 | 9 | GM | @mishanick | Aleksey Sarana | 9 | 58.5 | |
| 8 | 33 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 9 | 57.25 | |
| 9 | 46 | GM | @rpragchess | Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu | 9 | 57 | |
| 10 | 29 | IM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 9 | 56 | |
| 11 | 56 | GM | @iturrizaga | Eduardo Iturrizaga | 9 | 53 | |
| 12 | 68 | GM | @Zkid | Steven Zierk | 8.5 | 61.75 | |
| 13 | 62 | FM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 8.5 | 58.25 | |
| 14 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 8.5 | 56.75 | |
| 15 | 50 | GM | @tigra | Boris Savchenko | 8.5 | 55.5 | |
| 16 | 23 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 8.5 | 53.25 | |
| 17 | 42 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 8.5 | 52.25 | |
| 18 | 47 | GM | @bocah_sakit | Novendra Priasmoro | 8.5 | 51.75 | |
| 19 | 64 | GM | @AlexeiShirov | Alexei Shirov | 8.5 | 51.5 | |
| 20 | 35 | GM | @KuzubovYuriy | Yuriy Kuzubov | 8.5 | 49.75 | |
| 20 | 309 | CM | @Brave_spirit12 | Eldiar Orozbaev | 8.5 | 49.75 |
(Full final standings here.)
Artemiev won $750 for first place, Svidler $400 for second, GM Parham Maghsoodloo (@Parhamov) $150, and GM Ivan Ivanisevic (@1977Ivan) $100.
The $100 prize for the best female player went to WFM Karina Kruk (@Karla) who scored 7/11.
Titled Tuesday is Chess.com's weekly tournament for titled players. It starts each Tuesday at 10 a.m. Pacific time (19:00 Central Europe).
