Firouzja Wins Titled Tuesday Twice In A Row
He hadn't won a Titled Tuesday since June 23, 2020, but after winning last week, this week GM Alireza Firouzja (@Firouzja2003) came in first twice in a row. The victory, again achieved with a 10/11 score, was a nice warm-up for his match with GM Vladislav Artemiev in the bullet championship that Firouzja would win as well.
This week's Titled Tuesday tournament, held on April 6, had a total of 800 participants. As always, it was an 11-round Swiss with a 3+1 time control.
The live broadcast of the tournament.
Like last week, Firouzja managed to remain undefeated throughout the tournament. After five wins, he drew with GM @Oleksandr_Bortnyk and joined a big group of players on 5.5/6. GM Jeffery Xiong (@jefferyx) and GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac (@BogdanDeac) were still ahead of the pack with 6/6.
An exciting game was Firouzja's clash with GM Baadur Jobava (@exoticprincess), who played a promising sacrifice on the kingside but then didn't find the right follow-up:
After nine rounds, Firouzja was in a tie for first place with GM Hikaru Nakamura as both had scored 8.5/9. Obviously, they got paired against each other. It was Firouzja who had winning chances for a while:
While Nakamura was held to a draw in the final round by GM Federico Perez Ponsa (@Genghis_K), Firouzja as Black became the only player to reach 10 points as he defeated GM Peter Svidler (@PSvidler):
April 6 Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (Top 20)
| # | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 2 | GM | @Firouzja2003 | Alireza Firouzja | 3155 | 10 | 70.5 | |
| 2 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3230 | 9.5 | 76.75 | |
| 3 | 59 | GM | @GMSrinath | Srinath Narayanan | 2848 | 9.5 | 56.5 | |
| 4 | 56 | GM | @kirillshevchenko | Kirill Shevchenko | 2855 | 9 | 63.75 | |
| 5 | 58 | GM | @gmgamil | Cemil Aghamaliyev | 2836 | 9 | 59.5 | |
| 6 | 21 | GM | @ChessWarrior7197 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | 2931 | 9 | 58 | |
| 7 | 15 | GM | @Genghis_K | Federico Perez Ponsa | 2965 | 9 | 57.75 | |
| 8 | 26 | GM | @Fandorine | Maksim Chigaev | 2913 | 9 | 55.75 | |
| 9 | 4 | GM | @BogdanDeac | Bogdan Daniel Deac | 3065 | 9 | 54.25 | |
| 10 | 14 | GM | @mishanick | Aleksey Sarana | 2951 | 9 | 50.5 | |
| 11 | 34 | GM | @Andreikka | Andrey Esipenko | 2886 | 9 | 48 | |
| 12 | 10 | GM | @PSvidler | Peter Svidler | 2982 | 8.5 | 60.25 | |
| 13 | 41 | GM | @eljanov | Pavel Eljanov | 2865 | 8.5 | 58.25 | |
| 14 | 16 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 2952 | 8.5 | 53.5 | |
| 15 | 27 | GM | @Sychev_Klementy | Klementy Sychev | 2892 | 8.5 | 52.5 | |
| 16 | 35 | GM | @Sam_ChessMood | Samvel Ter-Sahakyan | 2881 | 8.5 | 51 | |
| 17 | 47 | GM | @Sanan_Sjugirov | Sanan Sjugirov | 2878 | 8.5 | 50.75 | |
| 18 | 22 | GM | @Beca95 | Aleksandar Indjic | 2919 | 8.5 | 50.25 | |
| 19 | 7 | GM | @Alexander_Zubov | Alexander Zubov | 2982 | 8.5 | 47.5 | |
| 20 | 247 | FM | @babyking1205 | Alekhine Nouri | 2629 | 8.5 | 47 | |
| 20 | 66 | IM | @Bulldog167 | Leon Livaic | 2813 | 8.5 | 47 |
(Full final standings here.)
Firouzja won $750 for first place, Nakamura $400 for second, GM Srinath Narayanan (@GMSrinath) $150 for third, and GM Kirill Shevchenko (@kirillshevchenko) $100 for fourth.
The $100 prize for the best female player went to GM Aleksandra Goryachkina (@Goryachkina) who scored 7/11.
Titled Tuesday is Chess.com's weekly tournament for titled players. It starts each Tuesday at 10 a.m. Pacific time (19:00 Central Europe).
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms.
Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools.
Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013.
As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
In October, Peter's first book The Chess Revolution will be published!
Company Contact and News Accreditation:
Email: peter@chess.com FOR SUPPORT PLEASE USE chess.com/support!
Phone: 1 (800) 318-2827
Address: 877 E 1200 S #970397, Orem, UT 84097
