Warning: To Beat Magnus, Tiebreaks May Be Required
It seems like no one can beat GM Magnus Carlsen these days. In just the last five weeks, he's won the World Cup, the Julius Baer Generations Cup, and the Speed Chess Championship. After advancing in the AI Cup earlier in the day on September 26, he joined up the late Titled Tuesday and finished in... second place. But it took the tiebreak system to finish him off.
Instead, GMs Sergey Drygalov and Aram Hakobyan were the winners of this week's Titled Tuesdays. Drygalov outright won early with 10 points in a field that was missing some regulars who were instead playing the AI Cup, including Carlsen, GM Hikaru Namakura, GM Alireza Firouzja, and others, but also featured several previous Titled Tuesday champions. Hakobyan won late on tiebreaks over Carlsen, with both on 9.5 points.
Early Tournament
Despite some missing big names, a group of 539 players joined the early Titled Tuesday tournament, including several who have won one since 2022, such as GMs Matthias Bluebaum, Daniel Naroditsky, Vugar Rasulov and Gata Kamsky.
Drygalov didn't lose a single game, making draws in rounds two and three ahead of an eight-game win streak to wrap things up. Because the draws came so early, however, he didn't take even a share of the lead in the tournament until round 10. Then, in round 11, Drygalov beat Naroditsky to take sole first place.
Meanwhile, the co-leader through 10 rounds, GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov, lost to GM Sergei Zhigalko, who finished second with the win.
September 26 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
| 1 | 18 | GM | @sergoy | Sergey Drygalov | 2958 | 10 | 71 | |
| 2 | 37 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 2876 | 9.5 | 67.5 | |
| 3 | 47 | GM | @moro182 | Luca Moroni Jr | 2869 | 9 | 78.5 | |
| 4 | 10 | GM | @Shield12 | Shamsiddin Vokhidov | 2989 | 9 | 77.5 | |
| 5 | 2 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 3086 | 9 | 75.5 | |
| 6 | 43 | IM | @remi04 | Tsvetan Stoyanov | 2853 | 9 | 72 | |
| 7 | 1 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3139 | 8.5 | 79 | |
| 8 | 15 | GM | @vugarrasulov | Vugar Rasulov | 2956 | 8.5 | 76.5 | |
| 9 | 19 | GM | @Denis_Makhnyov | Denis Makhnev | 2927 | 8.5 | 72.5 | |
| 10 | 62 | FM | @Zohid6 | Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov | 2801 | 8.5 | 69 | |
| 11 | 12 | GM | @TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 2953 | 8.5 | 67.5 | |
| 12 | 11 | GM | @h4parah5 | Jaime Santos Latasa | 2959 | 8.5 | 67 | |
| 13 | 67 | GM | @DuleMudule | Igor Miladinovic | 2797 | 8.5 | 66.5 | |
| 14 | 5 | GM | @Krakozia | Denis Khismatullin | 3022 | 8.5 | 66.5 | |
| 15 | 59 | IM | @AlmasRakhmatullaev | Almas Rakhmatullaev | 2805 | 8.5 | 65.5 | |
| 16 | 26 | GM | @platy3 | Alan Pichot | 2876 | 8.5 | 61 | |
| 17 | 102 | IM | @CSB7 | Balázs Csonka | 2759 | 8.5 | 60.5 | |
| 18 | 58 | IM | @blitzking1729 | Srihari L R | 2788 | 8.5 | 56.5 | |
| 19 | 166 | GM | @astralpulse | Alex Goldin | 2683 | 8 | 70 | |
| 20 | 23 | FM | @artin10862 | Artin Ashraf | 2887 | 8 | 67.5 | |
| 45 | 75 | GM | @ChessQueen | Alexandra Kosteniuk | 2732 | 7.5 | 57 |
(Full final standings here.)
Drygalov earned $1,000 for his victory, while Zhigalko claimed $750 in second place. GM Luca Moroni Jr finished third for $350, Vokhidov fourth for $200, and Bluebaum fifth for $100. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk scored 7.5/11 and won the $100 women's prize.
Late Tournament
While Hakobyan lost in the fourth round of the late tournament against Moroni, Carlsen appeared to be running away from the late field of 431 after a perfect eight rounds. When Carlsen's run ended in round nine, it was not Hakobyan but instead GM David Paravyan who stopped the streak after Carlsen got his king stuck in the center of the board. Paravyan would finish in third place.
Hakobyan and Carlsen played each other in round 10 and made a draw, their 8.5 points each falling behind Paravyan's 9/10.
Hakobyan did what Carlsen could not and defeated Paravyan, who was knocked off his perch but still finished in third place. The game ended on time, but Paravyan's queen was trapped.
Carlsen got Zhigalko, who was trying to finish in the top two in both the early and late events. Carlsen, unlike in his game against Paravyan, was sure to keep his king safe this time.
The eight rounds of perfection were only enough in the end for Carlsen to finish in second place. But he's also gotten to enjoy plenty of other wins lately.
September 26 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
| 1 | 7 | GM | @Njal28 | Aram Hakobyan | 3097 | 9.5 | 78 | |
| 2 | 1 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3278 | 9.5 | 74.5 | |
| 3 | 4 | GM | @dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 3125 | 9 | 72.5 | |
| 4 | 16 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3022 | 9 | 67.5 | |
| 5 | 13 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3023 | 9 | 62 | |
| 6 | 8 | GM | @Polish_fighter3000 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 3090 | 9 | 60.5 | |
| 7 | 21 | GM | @OparinGrigoriy | Grigoriy Oparin | 2988 | 8.5 | 75.5 | |
| 8 | 9 | GM | @mishanick | Aleksei Sarana | 3092 | 8.5 | 73.5 | |
| 9 | 41 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 2939 | 8.5 | 71.5 | |
| 10 | 52 | GM | @mitrabhaa | Mitrabha Guha | 2862 | 8.5 | 67.5 | |
| 11 | 30 | GM | @jcibarra | José Ibarra | 2957 | 8.5 | 66 | |
| 12 | 11 | GM | @SpeedofLight0 | Andrew Hong | 3041 | 8.5 | 65 | |
| 13 | 45 | FM | @Bauman_Guy | Konstantin Popov | 2875 | 8 | 72.5 | |
| 14 | 6 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3074 | 8 | 69 | |
| 15 | 10 | IM | @0gZPanda | Anthony He | 3024 | 8 | 67 | |
| 16 | 2 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3185 | 8 | 65 | |
| 17 | 67 | IM | @Nor1lsk | Kuzmicz Krystian | 2742 | 8 | 61.5 | |
| 18 | 25 | GM | @vugarrasulov | Vugar Rasulov | 2948 | 8 | 60.5 | |
| 19 | 100 | IM | @MMSANCHEZ | Max Gedajlovic | 2715 | 8 | 59.5 | |
| 20 | 31 | GM | @nihalsarin | Nihal Sarin | 3066 | 8 | 52 | |
| 47 | 164 | IM | @zajka-molotok | Yuliia Osmak | 2580 | 7 | 59 |
(Full final standings here.)
Hakobyan won the $1,000 first-place prize for his efforts. Carlsen went home with $750 and Paravyan with $350. Rounding out the top five were GM Jose Martinez, who won $200, and GM Oleksandr Bortnyk, for a $100 prize. IM Yuliia Osmak was the $100 women's prize winner with seven points.
Titled Tuesday is an 11-round Swiss tournament for titled players hosted by Chess.com. There are two tournaments each week, both on Tuesday: one at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Standard Time and then another at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time/23:00 Central European/2:30 Indian Standard Time (next day).
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.
