Top College Coach Tops Second Straight Tuesday
GM Liem Le, head coach of the legendary Webster University chess program, won the early Titled Tuesday on October 31, his second in a row after winning late last week. This week's late event went to GM Pranav V, who also finished fifth in the early event.
The tournament came a day after the announcement that Titled Tuesday in 2024 will include a yearlong Grand Prix-style competition worth $100,000 on top of the weekly prizes.
Early Tournament
With the FIDE Grand Swiss ongoing, albeit on a rest day, the early field only featured 512 players. Because of the rest day, some Grand Swiss players also played in this event, including GM Hikaru Nakamura, who finished in second place.
Le and Nakamura fought to a draw in the eighth round, which put Le half a point back of GM Wesley So in the standings. So, who is not at the Isle of Man for the Grand Swiss, continued to lead after winning on time against GM Dmitry Andreikin in the ninth round.
But So wouldn't score another half-point, while Le, who had kept pace in round nine, won in rounds 10 and 11 as well. In the final round, he took on Pranav and won. As it would turn out, this game eventually prevented a Pranav sweep of both the day's events.
Nakamura, meanwhile, was perfect outside of his loss to Pranav (round six) and draw against Le. By winning his last three games, like Le, Naka didn't need tiebreaks in order to finish in second place. While he locked up that finish against GM Vladislav Kovalev in round 11, the win over GM Mitrabha Guha a round prior was an even better performance.
October 31 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
| 1 | 13 | GM | @LiemLe | Liem Le | 3054 | 10 | 74.5 | |
| 2 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3234 | 9.5 | 80 | |
| 3 | 17 | GM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 2995 | 9 | 70.5 | |
| 4 | 4 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3107 | 9 | 70 | |
| 5 | 12 | GM | @vi_pranav | Pranav V | 3045 | 9 | 67.5 | |
| 6 | 30 | IM | @the_chess_child | Ilamparthi A R | 2943 | 9 | 65.5 | |
| 7 | 9 | IM | @Rud_Makarian | Rudik Makarian | 3052 | 9 | 63 | |
| 8 | 5 | GM | @GMWSO | Wesley So | 3100 | 8.5 | 78.5 | |
| 9 | 28 | GM | @Fandorine | Maksim Chigaev | 2937 | 8.5 | 68 | |
| 10 | 32 | GM | @FGHSMN | Bharath Subramaniyam H | 2916 | 8.5 | 67 | |
| 11 | 26 | FM | @rezamahdavi2008 | Reza Mahdavi | 2934 | 8.5 | 67 | |
| 12 | 36 | GM | @vladislavkovalev | Vladislav Kovalev | 2911 | 8.5 | 66.5 | |
| 13 | 100 | IM | @Szparu | Miłosz Szpar | 2750 | 8.5 | 66 | |
| 14 | 11 | IM | @MITerryble | Renato Terry | 3022 | 8 | 79.5 | |
| 15 | 3 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3117 | 8 | 70 | |
| 16 | 37 | GM | @ContrVersia | Valery Kazakouski | 2877 | 8 | 69.5 | |
| 17 | 55 | GM | @TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 2841 | 8 | 69.5 | |
| 18 | 42 | IM | @PLAYER_2006_M | Mukhiddin Madaminov | 2868 | 8 | 69 | |
| 19 | 139 | FM | @ChinguunSu | Chinguun Sumiya | 2684 | 8 | 66.5 | |
| 20 | 53 | GM | @Byniolus | Zbigniew Pakleza | 2827 | 8 | 65 | |
| 66 | 184 | WIM | @aloe_normansen | Alua Nurmanova | 2645 | 6.5 | 62 |
(Full final standings here.)
Le won the $1,000 first-place prize and Nakamura won the $750 second-place prize. GM Tuan Minh Le, Andreikin, and Pranav rounded out the top five for $350, $200, and $100, respectively. WIM Alua Nurmanova won the $100 women's prize.
Late Tournament
Pranav, who had "only" finished fifth early despite wins over Nakamura and So, continued to crush it in the late tournament. The second-place finisher was again a Grand Swiss participant—this time GM Nihal Sarin—who had the best tiebreaks in a six-player group on nine points. But Pranav won by a solid point with 10, only losing in round five, outlasting a field of 422. The tournament was a wide-open battle between the two, who did not meet head-to-head until the very final round.
Through nine rounds, only four players had eight points. Pranav faced GM Aravindh Chithambaram while Nihal took on GM Benjamin Bok. Pranav made the quicker work, winning in 31 moves when Aravindh dropped the exchange early.
Nihal's win over Bok was a bit more difficult, going 58 moves with a couple of momentum swings.
With Pranav and Nihal now on 9/10 each, there was only one way to settle the tournament: a head-to-head matchup. As it turned out, a draw would have locked up the top two spots for them anyway; but given that Nihal had better tiebreaks with what actually happened, Pranav likely needed the win to finish in first place.
He got it, after Nihal made the unusual decision, possibly just a slip, to give up a pawn in the Queen's Indian Defense.
October 31 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
| 1 | 8 | GM | @vi_pranav | Pranav V | 3074 | 10 | 69.5 | |
| 2 | 1 | GM | @nihalsarin | Nihal Sarin | 3132 | 9 | 72 | |
| 3 | 10 | GM | @ChristopherYoo | Christopher Woojin Yoo | 3060 | 9 | 70.5 | |
| 4 | 63 | IM | @Szparu | Miłosz Szpar | 2813 | 9 | 67.5 | |
| 5 | 27 | GM | @vladislavkovalev | Vladislav Kovalev | 2931 | 9 | 66 | |
| 6 | 42 | IM | @seopie | Seo Jungmin | 2878 | 9 | 65 | |
| 7 | 3 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3116 | 9 | 63 | |
| 8 | 15 | GM | @bardiya_Daneshvar | Bardiya Daneshvar | 2967 | 8.5 | 69.5 | |
| 9 | 5 | GM | @LiemLe | Liem Le | 3048 | 8.5 | 68.5 | |
| 10 | 69 | FM | @IlanSchnaider | Ilan Schnaider | 2767 | 8.5 | 63 | |
| 11 | 36 | GM | @Vaathi_Coming | Aravindh Chithambaram | 2909 | 8 | 79.5 | |
| 12 | 2 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3143 | 8 | 73.5 | |
| 13 | 24 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 2910 | 8 | 71.5 | |
| 14 | 14 | GM | @SpeedofLight0 | Andrew Hong | 2954 | 8 | 71 | |
| 15 | 16 | GM | @GMBenjaminBok | Benjamin Bok | 2968 | 8 | 71 | |
| 16 | 37 | GM | @ckgchess | Cem Kaan Gokerkan | 2882 | 8 | 70 | |
| 17 | 18 | IM | @the_chess_child | Ilamparthi A R | 2950 | 8 | 64.5 | |
| 18 | 47 | GM | @eljanov | Pavel Eljanov | 2853 | 8 | 64.5 | |
| 19 | 29 | GM | @sergiochess83 | Sergey Grigoriants | 2898 | 8 | 62.5 | |
| 20 | 13 | GM | @Elsa167 | Leon Livaic | 2941 | 8 | 62.5 | |
| 48 | 163 | FM | @tteshan | Nadya Toncheva | 2554 | 7 | 54 |
(Full final standings here.)
Pranav won $1,000 for first place, taking him to $1,100 on the day's total. Nihal earned $750 for second. GM Christopher Yoo won the $350 for third, IM Milosz Szpar $200 for fourth, and GM Vladislav Kovalev $100 in fifth. FM Nadya Toncheva won the $100 women's prize.
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).
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.
