Minh Le Adds Freestyle Friday To Victory Ledger
GM Minh Le won the May 23 edition of Freestyle Friday with 9.5 points, beating out a field of 243 players, including GM Luca Moroni Jr. on tiebreaks. It was the first win in Freestyle Friday for the eight-time Titled Tuesday champion Le.
Le scored all his points in the first 10 rounds and was able to hold first place. He was indeed defeated in the last round by Moroni, who moved into second place.
Le was perfect for the first six rounds before a draw against countryman GM Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son. In the next three rounds, however, Le took on GMs Arjun Erigaisi, Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis, and Dmitrij Kollars, winning against all of them. Arjun appeared on his way to a gradual victory, but it all changed in a move.
The same thing would happen to Kollars in the 10th round.
Unlike Kollars, Arjun was able to salvage a paid position anyway after winning his final three games, the third one coming against Kollars himself. This game ended just as suddenly as the previous two above, but with the added twist of both players blundering—confirming yet again the old adage that a chess game is won by the player who makes the second-to-last mistake.
It was GM Denis Lazavik, not Arjun, however, who finished in third place. Meanwhile, the women's prize went to WIM Afruza Khamdamova.
Several other players, including last week's winner, GM Hikaru Nakamura, who might have played Freestyle Friday, were busy with the Chess.com Classic instead, won by GM Magnus Carlsen.
May 23 Freestyle Friday | Final Standings (Top 25)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | 1st Tiebreak |
| 1 | 15 | GM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 2437 | 9.5 | 75 | |
| 2 | 19 | GM | @moro182 | Luca Moroni Jr | 2381 | 9.5 | 68.5 | |
| 3 | 4 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 2604 | 9 | 83 | |
| 4 | 5 | GM | @GHANDEEVAM2003 | Arjun Erigaisi | 2579 | 9 | 73.5 | |
| 5 | 33 | GM | @PursuitOfHappyness2 | Abhimanyu Mishra | 2204 | 9 | 62.5 | |
| 6 | 44 | GM | @Sina-Movahed | Sina Movahed | 2121 | 8.5 | 66 | |
| 7 | 105 | GM | @Dr_Tyger | Haowen Xue | 1872 | 8.5 | 66 | |
| 8 | 11 | IM | @Rud_Makarian | Rudik Makarian | 2417 | 8 | 71 | |
| 9 | 24 | GM | @DarkAlekhine | Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis | 2306 | 8 | 68.5 | |
| 10 | 42 | FM | @Carnivoras | Quoc Hy Nguyen | 2123 | 8 | 59.5 | |
| 11 | 47 | INT | FM | @Turboplombir | Sergey Sklokin | 2074 | 8 | 57.5 |
| 12 | 83 | IM | @scarabee43 | Marco Materia | 1910 | 8 | 57 | |
| 13 | 40 | GM | @francyIM | Francesco Sonis | 2103 | 8 | 51.5 | |
| 14 | 31 | GM | @crescentmoon2411 | Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son | 2220 | 7.5 | 74 | |
| 15 | 21 | INT | IM | @hakanazeri2 | Khagan Ahmad | 2317 | 7.5 | 68 |
| 16 | 59 | FM | @KogotBobra17 | Egor Koshulyan | 2036 | 7.5 | 65 | |
| 17 | 93 | CM | @Drstrange2015 | Aarit Kapil | 1851 | 7.5 | 65 | |
| 18 | 61 | FM | @ilqar_74 | Rustam Rustamov | 2014 | 7.5 | 63 | |
| 19 | 8 | GM | @GM_dmitrij | Dmitrij Kollars | 2483 | 7.5 | 63 | |
| 20 | 43 | GM | @Byniolus | Zbigniew Pakleza | 2068 | 7.5 | 55.5 | |
| 21 | 86 | FM | @GP9isback23 | Gerson Príncipe | 1854 | 7.5 | 43.5 | |
| 22 | 51 | IM | @DonkyDonkyDonkey | Eray Kilic | 2054 | 7 | 66 | |
| 23 | 71 | FM | @SahibSinghKnight | Sahib Singh | 1954 | 7 | 66 | |
| 24 | 37 | GM | @Kosak12 | Jakub Kosakowski | 2094 | 7 | 64 | |
| 25 | 45 | FM | @puz2010 | Semyon Puzyrevsky | 2062 | 7 | 61.5 | |
| 33 | 197 | WIM | @FARIZA2018 | Afruza Khamdamova | 1575 | 7 | 48.5 |
Prizes: Le $400, Moroni $250, Lazavik $150, Arjun $100, Khamdamova $100.
Freestyle Friday is Chess.com's weekly tournament dedicated to Freestyle Chess for titled players. The tournament begins at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Standard Time.
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.
