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Dreev Wins December 21 Titled Tuesday

Dreev Wins December 21 Titled Tuesday

NathanielGreen
| 21 | Chess Event Coverage

GM Aleksey Dreev won Titled Tuesday on December 21 with a score of 9.5/11, after a big victory in the final round. He edged out second-place GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov on the tiebreak system. With nine points out of 11, GM Raunak Sadhwani won third place and GM Aram Hakobyan finished fourth.

Titled Tuesday saw a field of 486 players this week. The event was the standard 11-round Swiss tournament with a 3+1 time control. 

The live broadcast of this week's tournament, hosted by WGM Dina Belenkaya.

Dreev, 52, has been on the chess scene for decades, with an outstanding resume. A super-grandmaster with a 2711 peak FIDE rating in 2011, he was a world championship candidate in 1991 and won the Wijk aan Zee international tournament in 1995.

The heads-up battle between the eventual top two finishers came early, back in round four. Mamedyarov delivered what turned out to be Dreev's only defeat of the tournament.

Mamedyarov ended up starting with 7/7, the last perfect score in the tournament, before drawing in rounds eight and ten. That still put him in first by a half-point entering the final round, where he and Sadhwani decided to make a draw before any moves were played.

That gave Dreev a window that he took full advantage of, defeating GM Brandon Jacobson in a clutch performance that showed a good knight vs. a bad bishop.

Titled Tuesday breaks ties with a system called Sonneborn-Berger instead of head-to-head. Dreev's slightly better opposition throughout the tournament gave him a win that only became secure once the entire tournament ended (when the tiebreak scores could be finalized).

Third-place Sadhwani was also celebrating his 16th birthday. (Titled Tuesday runs into Wednesday in Indian time zones.) His round-10 win over GM Vugar Rasulov was very smooth.

For the second straight week, GM Aleksandra Goryachkina won the prize for the highest-scoring female player. She was in the running for the overall top four entering the final round, after defeating GM Vladimir Onischuk in round 10.

December 21 Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number Rk Fed Title Username Name Rating Score SB
1 64 GM @Igrok3069 Alexey Dreev 2946 9.5 62.75
2 2 GM @Azerichess Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 3044 9.5 61.75
3 8 GM @champ2005 Raunak Sadhwani 2956 9 57.5
4 7 GM @Njal28 Aram Hakobyan 2990 9 57
5 35 IM @Arash_Tahbaz Arash Tahbaz 2849 9 53.5
6 66 GM @Evgeny81 Evgeny Postny 2782 9 45
7 11 GM @BrandonJacobson Brandon Jacobson 2930 8.5 58.75
8 19 IM @AlexTriapishko Alexandr Triapishko 2877 8.5 53.75
9 5 GM @Alexander_Zubov Alexander Zubov 3000 8.5 51.5
10 32 GM @TigrVShlyape Gata Kamsky 2841 8.5 51.25
11 16 GM @TenisMaster Yuniesky Quesada 2908 8.5 48.25
12 55 IM @carlesdc96 Carles Diaz Camallonga 2798 8.5 47.25
13 72 IM @PavelShkapenko Pavel Shkapenko 2735 8 52.25
14 33 GM @tigra Boris Savchenko 2863 8 52
15 24 GM @TimofeevAr Artem Timofeev 2859 8 47.75
16 62 GM @Gabrielian_Artur Artur Gabrielian 2747 8 46
17 108 FM @suyu28 Suyog Wagh 2685 8 45.5
18 1 IM @Supernotar Maly Alexey 2824 8 44.25
19 95 IM @Undisputed92 Shyaamnikhil P 2704 8 40
20 31 GM @VladDobrov Vladimir Dobrov 2837 8 38
23 102 GM @Goryachkina Aleksandra Goryachkina 2689 8 33.25

(Full final standings here.)

Dreev took home $750 with his victory while Mamedyarov won $400 for second place. Sadhwani earned $150 for third and Hakobyan $100 for fourth. Goryachkina with 8/11 won $100 as the top female player.

Titled Tuesday is Chess.com's tournament for titled players, a Swiss-system event played every week at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time/19:00 Central European.

Titled Tuesday Format

NathanielGreen
Nathaniel Green

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.

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