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Record-Setting, Runner-Up Grischuk Wins This Titled Tuesday

Record-Setting, Runner-Up Grischuk Wins This Titled Tuesday

NathanielGreen
| 6 | Chess Event Coverage

GM Alexander Grischuk, two weeks removed from the best second-place finish in Titled Tuesday history (or most painful, depending how you look at it), won the early edition of the tournament on May 28. That was followed by a win for GM Minh Le in the late tournament. Grischuk scored 9.5 points and won on tiebreaks ahead of GMs Vasif Durarbayli and Jan-Krzysztof Duda, while Le won outright with 10 points after receiving some help from his top-seeded final-round opponent.


Early Tournament

Norway Chess was also ongoing during the early tournament, resulting in slightly lower turnout than past weeks, but there were still a robust 671 participants.

While Grischuk finished undefeated, he made three draws in rounds five through nine, after which he was in an 11-way tie for second place behind three leaders. One of those leaders, GM Sam Sevian, was Grischuk's opponent in the 10th round. Just 29 moves later, Grischuk had turned his half-point deficit into a share of first.

But Grischuk was hardly the only person to join the lead, and with one round to go, seven players were tied on 8.5 points. Three of them won their games: Grischuk, Durarbayli, and Duda. Durarbayli somehow turned a listless-looking endgame into a win against GM Denis Lazavik, who had led the tournament outright through eight rounds but now ended up outside the top five.

May 28 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number Rk Fed Title Username Name Rating Score Tiebreak 1
1 3 GM @Grischuk Alexander Grischuk 3133 9.5 76
2 50 GM @Durarbayli Vasif Durarbayli 2945 9.5 71
3 4 GM @Polish_fighter3000 Jan-Krzysztof Duda 3117 9.5 68
4 22 IM @MITerryble Renato Terry 3030 9 72.5
5 12 GM @Konavets Sam Sevian 3082 9 68.5
6 28 GM @Shankland Sam Shankland 3002 9 66.5
7 11 GM @DanielNaroditsky Daniel Naroditsky 3075 9 64.5
8 1 GM @HansOnTwitch Hans Niemann 3131 9 57.5
9 5 GM @DenLaz Denis Lazavik 3109 8.5 75.5
10 25 GM @GOGIEFF Anton Korobov 3014 8.5 74
11 60 GM @FGHSMN Bharath Subramaniyam H 2930 8.5 73.5
12 19 GM @vi_pranav Pranav V 3051 8.5 72
13 29 GM @DominguezOnYoutube Leinier Dominguez Perez 2988 8.5 70.5
14 35 GM @rasmussvane Rasmus Svane 2952 8.5 69.5
15 62 GM @crescentmoon2411 Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son 2914 8.5 69
16 18 GM @shimastream Aleksandr Shimanov 3034 8.5 68
17 24 GM @Oleksandr_Bortnyk Oleksandr Bortnyk 3017 8.5 68
18 101 GM @Cayse Martyn Kravtsiv 2845 8.5 64.5
19 10 GM @FairChess_on_YouTube Dmitry Andreikin 3078 8 77.5
20 67 GM @youngKID Karthikeyan Murali 2902 8 73.5
56 174 GM @Pomegranate988 Bella Khotenashvili 2684 7.5 58

(Full final standings here.)

Grischuk claimed $1,000 for the victory while Durarbayli earned $750 and Duda $350. IM Renato Terry finished fourth for $200 while Sevian earned $100, and GM Bella Khotenashvili $100 as the top-scoring woman.

Late Tournament

The late field saw 509 players join, including GM Hikaru Nakamura following the completion of action in Norway. When Nakamura beat Le in a rook ending in round seven and stayed perfect, it seemed he would coast to another Titled Tuesday victory.

From that point on, however, Nakamura made three draws in the last four rounds while Le never lost again, despite facing only top-15 finishers in those games.

And neither of them led the field after nine rounds. Instead, Sevian did, but that did not last the encounter with Le in round 10.

Now Le and Nakamura were again tied atop the standings, but they could not play each other again. Le ended up with GM Nihal Sarin as his opponent while Nakamura took on IM Rudik Makarian. Despite the nearly 100-point rating difference between them, Makarian held the draw, while Nihal tried trading queens in the endgame and instead fell into a mate-in-one.

And with that, Le won the tournament, and Nihal's blunder was integral, too. With a draw, Nakamura's tiebreaks would have won out, as they did over Sevian, who recovered from the round 10 setback to join Nakamura on 9.5 points.

May 28 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number Rk Fed Title Username Name Rating Score Tiebreak 1
1 22 GM @wonderfultime Tuan Minh Le 3067 10 73.5
2 2 GM @Hikaru Hikaru Nakamura 3224 9.5 77
3 7 GM @Konavets Sam Sevian 3115 9.5 67
4 9 GM @DanielNaroditsky Daniel Naroditsky 3078 9 72
5 20 GM @Oleksandr_Bortnyk Oleksandr Bortnyk 3031 9 70.5
6 32 IM @Rud_Makarian Rudik Makarian 2952 9 63.5
7 1 GM @nihalsarin Nihal Sarin 3244 8.5 76.5
8 3 GM @Grischuk Alexander Grischuk 3127 8.5 72.5
9 43 GM @AlexeiShirov Alexei Shirov 2934 8.5 70.5
10 37 IM @kingofthenil Mahel Boyer 2979 8.5 69.5
11 16 GM @LiemLe Liem Le 3022 8.5 68
12 53 GM @Vladimir_Zakhartsov Vladimir Zakhartsov 2888 8.5 66.5
13 18 GM @Msb2 Matthias Bluebaum 3037 8.5 66.5
14 69 NM @Abund Qingyu Yuan 2849 8.5 64.5
15 56 GM @K_A_S_T_O_R Rodrigo Vasquez 2871 8.5 60.5
16 5 GM @Polish_fighter3000 Jan-Krzysztof Duda 3103 8 73
17 38 GM @TigrVShlyape Gata Kamsky 2916 8 70
18 95 FM @carokannlover213 Patryk Cieslak 2769 8 69.5
19 8 GM @FairChess_on_YouTube Dmitry Andreikin 3075 8 68.5
20 23 GM @Shankland Sam Shankland 3006 8 67.5
53 160 IM @karinachess1 Karina Ambartsumova 2655 7 61.5

(Full final standings here.)

Le won $1,000 for his efforts, while Nakamura took home $750 and Sevian $350. GMs Daniel Naroditsky and Oleksandr Bortnyk rounded out the top five, winning $200 and $100, respectively. IM Karina Ambartsumova was the $100 women's prize winner.

Titled Cup Standings

With their performances, Le joined a tie for fifth place in the Titled Cup, while Ambartsumova is tied for third in the women's standings, as Nakamura and GM Alexandra Kosteniuk still lead. Lazavik continues to lead the juniors, GM Gata Kamsky the seniors, and WCM Veronika Shubenkova the girls. 

Open

# Username Score Player
1 @Hikaru 194.5 GM Hikaru Nakamura
2 @Polish_fighter3000 184.5 GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda
3-t @mishanick 180.5 GM Alexey Sarana
3-t @Jospem 180.5 GM Jose Martinez
5-t @jefferyx 176.0 GM Jeffery Xiong
5-t @wonderfultime 176.0 GM Minh Le

Women

# Username Score Player
1 @ChessQueen 138.5 GM Alexandra Kosteniuk
2 @Goryachkina 136.0 GM Aleksandra Goryachkina
3-t @Meri-Arabidze 132.0 IM Meri Arabidze
3-t @karinachess1 132.0 IM Karina Ambartsumova
5 @Fh2411 121.5 IM Le Thao Nguyen Pham

Other Category Leaders

Juniors: GM Denis Lazavik (174.5 points)

Seniors: GM Gata Kamsky (164.5 points)

Girls: WCM Veronika Shubenkova (108.5 points)

The Titled Cup fantasy game Chess Prophet continues as well. Current standings can be found here. (Login required.)

Titled Tuesday


Titled Tuesday is Chess.com's weekly tournament for titled players, with two tournaments held each Tuesday. The first tournament begins at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Standard Time, and the second at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time/23:00 Central European/2:30 Indian Standard Time (next day).

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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