IM Minh Le Wins August Titled Tuesday
The popular Chess.com blitz and bullet player IM Minh Le (@wonderfultime) achieved a convincing victory in the August Titled Tuesday, scoring 9/10 and besting many excellent speed chess players.
Minh Le started off hot with a beautiful finishing move in his first Titled Tuesday game. Sure, capturing the queen would have won too, but he found the best and most pleasing conclusion.
Minh Le wasn't just using tactics though. He also used positional play to get his way. Here he defeated GM Pavel Eljanov (@eljanov) with excellent play in the endgame.
2700-rated GM Pavel Eljanov is never an easy player to defeat. | Photo: Maria Emelianova.
GM Alexander Moskalenko (@Alexander_Moskalenko) shared second in the event a half-point back with 8.5/10. His fastest win was this miniature against GM Robert Hess (@RLH2) who chose to compete after commenting on the Speed Chess Championship match between Alexander Grischuk and Ian Nepomniachtchi. It seemed as though his pieces might be getting tangled on the kingside, but although Hess won material the tangled pieces ended up strangling his king.
As always, there were hundreds of excellent chess players competing. GM Dmitry Andreikin (@Vladimirovich290) is always an exciting player to watch. Here he "sacked/blundered" his queen and went on to win with his minor pieces battling the queen.
GM Dmitry Andreikin is one of the most winning Titled Tuesday players. | Photo: Maria Emelianova.
There were also some big-time streamers competing. One regular was the expressive GM Jon Ludvig Hammer (@gmjlh). He demonstrated his knowledge of the classic bishop-and-knight checkmate on stream.
In total, 237 players competed in the August Titled Tuesday. Our next event will be September 4 at 1 p.m. PDT.
Final Standings | August Titled Tuesday
| Place | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Score |
| 1 | 9 | IM | wonderfultime | Minh Le | 9 | |
| 2 | 45 | IM | GadimbayliA | Abdulla Gadimbayli | 8.5 | |
| 3 | 11 | GM | Alexander_Moskalenko | Александр Москаленко | 8.5 | |
| 4 | 5 | GM | OparinGrigoriy | Grigoriy Oparin | 8 | |
| 5 | 56 | IM | Korchmar_Vasiliy | Vasiliy Korchmar | 8 | |
| 6 | 2 | GM | 2Vladimirovich90 | Dmitry Andreikin | 7.5 | |
| 7 | 32 | GM | platy3 | Alan Pichot | 7.5 | |
| 8 | 42 | GM | Margency | Mert Erdoğdu | 7.5 | |
| 9 | 4 | GM | Zaven_Andriasyan | Zaven Andriasyan | 7.5 | |
| 10 | 51 | IM | Angry_Twin | Andrey Drygalov | 7.5 | |
| 11 | 48 | GM | erichansen | Eric Hansen | 7.5 | |
| 12 | 26 | GM | Indianlad | Mystery Man | 7.5 |
Find the complete crosstable, standings, and games here.
GM Aman Hambleton provided commentary for Titled Tuesday with his typically droll humor.
Watch August Titled Tuesday: Blitz Chess Tournament from Chess on www.twitch.tv
For clear first, IM Minh Le won $500. IM Abdulla Gadimbayli, GadimbayliA and Moskalenko won $325 for shared second place. Shared fourth place was good for$125 for IM Vasiliy Korchmar (@Korchmar_Vasiliy) and GM Grigory Oparin (@OparinGrigoriy).
The $100 streamers prize went to GM Eric Hansen (@erichansen) who in addition to streaming his commentary, managed to come just a half-point shy of the place prizes.
Watch TITLED TUESDAY| ERIC H from chessbrah on www.twitch.tv
I'm the Head of Community for Chess.com. I earned the National Master title in 2012, and in 2014, I returned to my home state of South Carolina to start Strategery: Chess and Games. In late 2015, I began working for Chess.com and haven't looked back since.
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