Artemiev Wins Feb. 16 Titled Tuesday
GM Vladislav Artemiev won the Titled Tuesday blitz tournament on February 16, his second victory so far. The Russian grandmaster had the best tiebreak among a group of six players who finished on 9.5/11.
This week's Titled Tuesday tournament had a total of 719 participants. It was an 11-round Swiss with a 3+1 time control. Artemiev had won on August 18, 2020, and half a year later he won for the second time.
GM Le Quang Liem (@LiemLe) had the best start of all. The Vietnamese grandmaster, who happens to be a former world blitz champion (he won the title in 2013), was the only player to score 8/8. That included a win vs. GM Alireza Firouzja (@Firouzja2003) in round seven, the only other player who had won his first seven games.
In the same round, Artemiev won an interesting battle with GM Aryan Tari (@AryanTari). The young Norwegian eventually lost the rook endgame after neglecting the rule to use the king:
Chessbrah GM Eric Hansen (@erichansen) played his best Titled Tuesday ever as he tied for first place and came in second on tiebreaks. His finish was impressive as he won his last five games against GMs Viorel Iordachescu (@Violord), Pavel Ponkratov (@Infernal_XaM), Aleksei Pridorozhni (@Alexsur1981), and then the big names Firouzja and GM Dmitry Andreikin (@mishanick).
Here's Hansen's win vs. Firouzja:
FINALLY...after 5 years of playing #titledtuesday pic.twitter.com/HKAxyE8eGB
— Eric Hansen (@hansenchess) February 17, 2021
Feb. 16 Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (Top 20)
| # | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Score | SB |
| 1 | 4 | GM | @Sibelephant | Vladislav Artemiev | 9.5 | 69.25 | |
| 2 | 20 | GM | @erichansen | Eric Hansen | 9.5 | 64.75 | |
| 3 | 12 | GM | @LiemLe | Le Quang Liem | 9.5 | 61.25 | |
| 3 | 206 | GM | @Krakozia | Denis Khismatullin | 9.5 | 61.25 | |
| 5 | 3 | GM | @lachesisQ | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 9.5 | 60.75 | |
| 6 | 42 | GM | @RD4ever | Rustam Khusnutdinov | 9.5 | 56.75 | |
| 7 | 31 | GM | @Arabicfalcon | Salem Saleh | 9 | 55.5 | |
| 8 | 27 | GM | @rasmussvane | Rasmus Svane | 9 | 55.25 | |
| 9 | 46 | GM | @bocah_sakit | Novendra Priasmoro | 9 | 48.5 | |
| 10 | 39 | GM | @Grandelicious | Nils Grandelius | 8.5 | 58.5 | |
| 11 | 2 | GM | @Firouzja2003 | Alireza Firouzja | 8.5 | 57.75 | |
| 12 | 28 | GM | @Genghis_K | Federico Perez Ponsa | 8.5 | 55.75 | |
| 13 | 38 | IM | @kuban1991 | Oleg Vastrukhin | 8.5 | 53.75 | |
| 14 | 5 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara | 8.5 | 53.5 | |
| 15 | 114 | FM | @seorobert1971 | Jung Min Seo | 8.5 | 52.5 | |
| 16 | 17 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 8.5 | 52.25 | |
| 17 | 45 | NM | @12teen | Janak Awatramani | 8.5 | 50 | |
| 18 | 100 | GM | @1977Ivan | Ivan Ivanisevic | 8.5 | 49.75 | |
| 19 | 8 | GM | @mishanick | Aleksey Sarana | 8.5 | 48.5 | |
| 20 | 14 | GM | @ChessWarrior7197 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | 8.5 | 48.25 |
(Full final standings here.)
Artemiev won $750 for first place and Hansen $400 for second. Finishing on the same amount of SB points, Le and GM Denis Khismatullin shared the prizes for third and fourth place and both earned $125.
The $100 prize for the best female player went to the GM Valentina Gunina (@Vanina1989) who scored 8/11.
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).
