Bortnyk Finishes Freestyle Friday First With Flair
GM Oleksandr Bortnyk took home his third Freestyle Friday on May 30, tying him with GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Arjun Erigaisi for the most so far, and he did it with a last-minute comeback. Bortnyk scored 9.5/11, passing GM Leon Luke Mendonca in the final round. Mendonca still finished in third place, but he was passed for second by GM Daniel Naroditsky.
Despite losing in the fifth round to GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Mendonca nonetheless took the outright lead after round nine, when he beat GM Ediz Gurel (combined age: 35). At first glance, you might not even realize this game even started from a Chess960 position, since the only difference from the standard setup was a swap of the queenside rook and knight.
Mendonca then went on to beat GM Frederik Svane in the next round, retaining the lead, while Bortnyk became the only other player within half a point, leaving them the only two players with a chance at winning first place by themselves. Bortnyk had the game won twice, the first time missing a two-move deflection tactic, but not missing the other chance.
And with that, Bortnyk took the tournament. Naroditsky, after beating GM Rud Makarian in the last round, wound up with better tiebreaks than Mendonca to finish as the runner-up despite losing twice from rounds seven through nine.
The final prizes in the field of 222 went to GM Samvel Ter-Sahakyan in fourth place and 28th-place WFM Kseniya Zeliantsova as the highest-scoring woman.
May 30 Freestyle Friday | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | 1st Tiebreak |
| 1 | 12 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 2529 | 9.5 | 67 | |
| 2 | 27 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 2378 | 9 | 70.5 | |
| 3 | 25 | GM | @LionTheLeon_06 | Leon Luke Mendonca | 2391 | 9 | 64 | |
| 4 | 30 | GM | @Sam_ChessMood | Samvel Ter-Sahakyan | 2279 | 9 | 58 | |
| 5 | 5 | GM | @frederiksvane | Frederik Svane | 2586 | 8.5 | 72.5 | |
| 6 | 13 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 2442 | 8.5 | 64 | |
| 7 | 22 | GM | @moro182 | Luca Moroni Jr | 2372 | 8 | 72.5 | |
| 8 | 17 | GM | @mitrabhaa | Mitrabha Guha | 2412 | 8 | 70 | |
| 9 | 35 | GM | @gurelediz | Ediz Gürel | 2259 | 8 | 69 | |
| 10 | 38 | GM | @Jumbo | Rinat Jumabayev | 2173 | 8 | 65 | |
| 11 | 34 | FM | @sonicdravise | Jun Ying Tan | 2169 | 8 | 59 | |
| 12 | 18 | IM | @Rud_Makarian | Rudik Makarian | 2387 | 8 | 55 | |
| 13 | 1 | GM | @Polish_fighter3000 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 2701 | 7.5 | 77 | |
| 14 | 4 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 2560 | 7.5 | 69 | |
| 15 | 50 | IM | @DonkyDonkyDonkey | Eray Kilic | 2112 | 7.5 | 65 | |
| 16 | 32 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 2252 | 7.5 | 63.5 | |
| 17 | 11 | GM | @MarkusRagger | Markus Ragger | 2458 | 7.5 | 60.5 | |
| 18 | 46 | FM | @Turboplombir | Sergey Sklokin | 2099 | 7.5 | 59 | |
| 19 | 73 | NM | @Little_Skib | Ethan Sheehan | 1907 | 7.5 | 54.5 | |
| 20 | 8 | IM | @Kacparov | Kacper Drozdowski | 2512 | 7 | 70.5 | |
| 28 | 101 | WFM | @Kasandra124 | Kseniya Zeliantsova | 1787 | 7 | 48.5 |
Prizes: Bortnyk $400, Naroditsky $250, Mendonca $150, Ter-Sahakyan $100, Zeliantsova $100.
Freestyle Friday is Chess.com's weekly tournament dedicated to Freestyle Chess for titled players. The tournament begins at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Standard Time.
Nathaniel Green is a staff writer for Chess.com who writes articles, player biographies, Titled Tuesday reports, video scripts, and more. He has been playing chess for about 30 years and resides near Washington, DC, USA.
