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Firouzja Wraps Up Year With Titled Tuesday Win

Firouzja Wraps Up Year With Titled Tuesday Win

NathanielGreen
| 25 | Chess Event Coverage

GMs Alireza Firouzja and Jose Martinez won the last Titled Tuesday tournaments of 2022 on December 27. Both did so with undefeated performances of eight wins and three draws, although Firouzja needed tiebreaks over GM Aleksandr Lenderman.

Martinez managed to finish fifth in the tournament he did not win, while GM Bodgan Daniel Deac finished third in both events.


Early Tournament

Despite the ongoing World Rapid and Blitz Championships, the early tournament brought in 388 players. It became somewhat of a battle of attrition near the end. In round nine, Deac defeated Lenderman to take a half-point lead in the tournament.

Deac's lead was short-lived, however, as he dropped his next game to Firouzja.

Even then, the tournament leader before the final round was not Firouzja but Martinez. However, Lenderman won their game to pass Martinez in the standings.

Unfortunately for Lenderman, Firouzja defeated GM Steven Zierk in the final round and was able to claim the tournament on tiebreaks. Firouzja, who became very active in Titled Tuesday in November, ended the year with three tournament wins in just two months.

December 27 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number Rk Fed Title Username Name Rating Score SB
1 1 GM @Firouzja2003 Alireza Firouzja 3121 9.5 58.75
2 16 GM @AlexanderL Aleksandr Lenderman 2949 9.5 57.5
3 2 GM @BogdanDeac Bogdan Daniel Deac 3097 9 70
4 40 IM @KhazarBabazada007 Khazar Babazada 2874 9 58.25
5 4 GM @Jospem Jose Martinez 3098 9 56.25
6 19 GM @jefferyx Jeffery Xiong 2947 9 54.5
7 18 GM @TimofeevAr Artem Timofeev 2935 8.5 54
8 29 GM @TigrVShlyape Gata Kamsky 2926 8.5 51.75
9 5 GM @exoticprincess Baadur Jobava 3053 8.5 50
10 3 GM @Msb2 Matthias Bluebaum 3076 8 60.25
11 31 GM @Zkid Steven Zierk 2893 8 52.5
12 54 FM @Sina_Movahed Sina Movahed 2859 8 50.5
13 27 GM @GMBenjaminBok Benjamin Bok 2919 8 48
13 76 IM @Korchmar_Vasiliy Vasiliy Korchmar 2717 8 48
15 9 GM @OparinGrigoriy Grigoriy Oparin 2973 8 47.5
16 6 GM @Oleksandr_Bortnyk Oleksandr Bortnyk 3020 8 47.25
17 17 IM @Rud_Makarian Rudik Makarian 2907 8 44.25
18 30 GM @ActorXu Xu Yi 2888 8 44
19 113 FM @Alex_Sahakyan2006 Alex Sahakyan 2671 8 43.5
20 81 GM @attack2mateU Razvan Preotu 2758 8 43
24 71 GM @daika91 Zhongyi Tan 2784 7.5 48.5

(Full final standings here.)

Firouzja won the $1,000 first-place prize and Lenderman settled for the $750 for second place. Deac's superb tiebreak score gave him third place and $350 rather easily, while IM Khazar Babazada earned $200 in fourth place and Martinez $100 in fifth. GM Zhongyi Tan won the $100 women's prize—in the middle of a winning World Rapid Championship performance, no less—finishing with a 7.5 score for 24th place overall.

Late Tournament

322 players participated in the last Titled Tuesday tournament of 2022. Martinez recovered from the disappointing final round early to win this one, without needing tiebreaks. He started the event with a perfect 7/7 before drawing three of his last four games, but still needed help to win outright.

Martinez reached 7/7 by defeating GM Oleksandr Bortnyk in the seventh round.

It was Bortnyk's only non-win of the first ten rounds, giving him a 9/10 score with one round remaining. But after dropping his game to Deac, nine points is where Bortnyk—who still won four Titled Tuesdays in 2022—stayed.

Martinez, who also entered the last round on 9/10, was thus able to win the event with a draw against FM Talibov Shiroghlan.

December 27 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number Rk Fed Title Username Name Rating Score SB
1 3 GM @Jospem Jose Martinez 3098 9.5 58.75
2 5 GM @Oleksandr_Bortnyk Oleksandr Bortnyk 3020 9 63
3 2 GM @BogdanDeac Bogdan Daniel Deac 3097 9 61.25
4 62 FM @ShiroglanTalibov Talibov Shiroghlan 2776 9 60.25
5 16 GM @TigrVShlyape Gata Kamsky 2926 9 55
6 38 FM @LiamPutnam2008 Liam Putnam 2826 8.5 54
7 13 GM @GMBenjaminBok Benjamin Bok 2919 8.5 51.75
8 10 GM @Hrant_ChessMood Hrant Melkumyan 2939 8.5 51.5
9 6 GM @NikoTheodorou Nikolas Theodorou 3007 8.5 50.5
10 14 CM @stollenmonster Egor Baskakov 2921 8.5 48.25
11 61 CM @Vaibhavraut99 Vaibhav Raut 2739 8 53
12 29 FM @Sina_Movahed Sina Movahed 2859 8 48.75
13 33 GM @Cayse Martyn Kravtsiv 2824 8 48.5
14 37 GM @Mikhail_Bryakin Mikhail Bryakin 2821 8 46.5
15 8 GM @jefferyx Jeffery Xiong 2947 8 45.25
16 120 FM @scandalgod Ezio Toniutti 2625 8 43
17 39 GM @alexrustemov Alexander Rustemov 2775 8 38
18 94 IM @albi1999 Alberto Barp 2640 8 36.5
19 66 IM @Coachpoker Alexey Averjanov 2687 8 34.5
20 24 GM @K_A_S_T_O_R Rodrigo Vasquez 2852 7.5 47.25
40 96 IM @AnotherGrumpy Anna M Sargsyan 2609 7 33.25

(Full final standings here.)

Martinez won $1,000 for first place, which gave him $1,100 total for the day. Bortnyk earned $750 in second. Deac's second-straight third place gave him another $350 for $700 total. Shiroghlan won $200 for fourth place, GM Gata Kamsky $100 for fifth, and IM Anna M Sargsyan the $100 women's prize, scoring 7/11.

Year in Review

There were exactly 100 Titled Tuesday tournaments in 2022: four in January prior to the doubling of the event, and 96 from February through December. 149 players placed at least once (top five and/or highest-scoring woman). Of them, 31 won or shared first place in at least one event. 49 players won at least $1,000, while six players won $10,000 or more:

  1. GM Hikaru Nakamura $37,825
  2. GM Dmitry Andreikin $20,650
  3. GM Oleksandr Bortnyk $11,650
  4. GM Daniil Dubov $11,200
  5. GM Vladimir Fedoseev $11,100
  6. GM Jeffery Xiong $10,700
Nakamura dominated Titled Tuesday in 2022, but with GM Magnus Carlsen and Firouzja becoming more active, 2023 could be a more competitive year.

Nakamura had the most wins (28) and places (48) of anyone. Andreikin had the second-most of each with 10 wins and 35 places. Dubov and Xiong tied for the third-most wins with six, while Bortnyk placed 26 times, more than either of them. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk won the most women's prizes, with 17, followed by GM Aleksandra Goryachkina, with 11.

Titled Tuesday will continue into 2023 with two tournaments per day; the only change will be new tiebreaks. Here's to another year!

Titled Tuesday

Titled Tuesday is a weekly tournament for titled players on Chess.com. Two 11-round Swiss tournaments are 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.

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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