Highest Scores In Over A Month Set In Tuesday Blitz Tournaments
GMs Daniil Dubov and David Paravyan each won a Titled Tuesday tournament on March 28, both winning outright. They became the first players to score 10 points since February 14. Each second-place finish also belonged to the only two players to score 9.5 points, GM Hikaru Nakamura in the early tournament and GM Denis Lazavik in the late.
Early Tournament
Dubov, who also won last week's early tournament, outlasted a field of 552 players this week, the largest field since January 31. In doing so, he went undefeated, only making draws in the seventh and eighth rounds.
Those consecutive draws actually dropped Dubov into a tie for second place. He rejoined the lead after round nine by defeating GM Alexey Sarana while GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave drew with Nakamura. Then, Dubov defeated Vachier-Lagrave in the 10th round to claim first place with one round left.
Dubov wasn't in sole first yet, as he was still tied with GM Oleksandr Bortnyk. But Dubov trapped Bortnyk's queen and won their matchup, leaving him unable to be caught by anyone else.
Nakamura, meanwhile, played last week's late winner GM Vladimir Kramnik and won that game to finish in second place by himself.
Vachier-Lagrave and Bortnyk settled for third and fourth place respectively.
March 28 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score |
| 1 | 6 | GM | @Duhless | Daniil Dubov | 3109 | 10 | |
| 2 | 2 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3180 | 9.5 | |
| 3 | 4 | GM | @LyonBeast | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 3123 | 9 | |
| 4 | 8 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3093 | 9 | |
| 5 | 24 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 2994 | 9 | |
| 6 | 29 | GM | @BilodeauA | Kirill Alekseenko | 2979 | 9 | |
| 7 | 53 | GM | @Durarbayli | Vasif Durarbayli | 2928 | 9 | |
| 8 | 15 | GM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3053 | 8.5 | |
| 9 | 36 | IM | @MetiForce | Mahdi Gholami Orimi | 2976 | 8.5 | |
| 10 | 1 | GM | @GMWSO | Wesley So | 3168 | 8.5 | |
| 11 | 14 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 3051 | 8.5 | |
| 12 | 10 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3065 | 8.5 | |
| 13 | 21 | GM | @champ2005 | Raunak Sadhwani | 3000 | 8.5 | |
| 14 | 5 | GM | @GHANDEEVAM2003 | Arjun Erigaisi | 3075 | 8.5 | |
| 15 | 28 | GM | @VladimirKramnik | Vladimir Kramnik | 2976 | 8.5 | |
| 16 | 59 | GM | @shimastream | Aleksandr Shimanov | 2930 | 8 | |
| 17 | 18 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 3023 | 8 | |
| 18 | 75 | GM | @DrVelja | Velimir Ivic | 2893 | 8 | |
| 19 | 35 | IM | @Rud_Makarian | Rudik Makarian | 2957 | 8 | |
| 20 | 38 | GM | @xxysoul6 | Xu Xiangyu | 2947 | 8 | |
| 77 | 196 | IM | @Vesper2018 | Anastasia Bodnaruk | 2630 | 7 |
(Full final standings here.)
Dubov won $1,000 while Nakamura won $750. Vachier-Lagrave scored $350, Bortnyk $200, and GM Jose Martinez finished fifth for $100. IM Anastasia Bodnaruk won the $100 women's prize with a 7/11 score.
Late Tournament
Paravyan, like Dubov, went undefeated while drawing twice. For Paravyan, those draws came in rounds five and seven.
But the show was almost stolen by GM Raunak Sadhwani, who began the tournament with a 9/9 score, including an incredible run in rounds six through nine where he defeated Bortnyk, GM Vladimir Fedoseev, Nakamura (below), and GM Alireza Firouzja.
That kind of opposition would wear anyone out, and when it came time for Sadhwani to try for 10/10, he ran into Paravyan and lost to the eventual tournament winner.
That result put the two of them into a tie for first, but they could not face each other again. Instead, Paravyan hit double-digit points by outlasting GM Shant Sargsyan with checkmate on move 115.
Meanwhile, Lazavik and Sadhwani played in a battle of teenagers. Lazavik won in a relatively few 37 moves to claim second place in the field of 439.
March 28 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score |
| 1 | 28 | GM | @dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 3008 | 10 | |
| 2 | 10 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 3071 | 9.5 | |
| 3 | 8 | GM | @Firouzja2003 | Alireza Firouzja | 3072 | 9 | |
| 4 | 25 | GM | @Parhamov | Parham Maghsoodloo | 3006 | 9 | |
| 5 | 18 | GM | @champ2005 | Raunak Sadhwani | 3039 | 9 | |
| 6 | 12 | GM | @rasmussvane | Rasmus Svane | 3045 | 9 | |
| 7 | 47 | GM | @vugarrasulov | Vugar Rasulov | 2929 | 9 | |
| 8 | 17 | GM | @Sargsyan_Shant | Shant Sargsyan | 3030 | 8.5 | |
| 9 | 16 | GM | @mishanick | Alexey Sarana | 3014 | 8.5 | |
| 10 | 4 | GM | @GHANDEEVAM2003 | Arjun Erigaisi | 3077 | 8.5 | |
| 11 | 34 | GM | @BogdanDeac | Bogdan Daniel Deac | 2933 | 8.5 | |
| 12 | 3 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3094 | 8 | |
| 13 | 38 | IM | @MITerryble | Renato Terry | 2927 | 8 | |
| 14 | 22 | GM | @VladimirKramnik | Vladimir Kramnik | 2970 | 8 | |
| 15 | 32 | GM | @Durarbayli | Vasif Durarbayli | 2943 | 8 | |
| 16 | 58 | GM | @Matibar | Mateusz Bartel | 2862 | 8 | |
| 17 | 52 | GM | @Annawel | Jules Moussard | 2875 | 8 | |
| 18 | 14 | GM | @Polish_fighter3000 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 3012 | 8 | |
| 19 | 56 | GM | @VitaliyBernadskiy | Vitaliy Bernadskiy | 2855 | 8 | |
| 20 | 54 | IM | @jacky72 | Mihnea Costachi | 2875 | 8 | |
| 38 | 360 | WFM | @koteRV1610 | Lera Reger | 2668 | 7 |
(Full final standings here.)
Paravyan earned $1,000 for his victory while Lazavik claimed $750 as the runner-up. Firouzja finished third for $350, GM Parham Maghsoodloo fourth for $200, and Sadhwani stayed in the money winning $100 for fifth place. WFM Lera Reger won the $100 women's prize with a 7/11 finish.
Titled Tuesday is a weekly Chess.com tournament for titled players, made up of two 11-round Swiss tournaments played every Tuesday at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time/17:00 Central European and 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time/23:00 Central European.
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.
