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.”
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