Movahed On Freestyle Run Of Victories
Iranian teenage GM Sina Movahed won his second consecutive Freestyle Friday, and his third overall, in a field of 115 on September 12 after beating out GMs Magnus Carlsen, Arseniy Nesterov, and Denis Lazavik by a full point. There were two key factors that led to Movahed's finish over Carlsen specifically: the runner-up missed the first round, and things went the teenager's way when the two faced off in the seventh round. It didn't take very many moves, either, just 28.
At that point, Movahed was a perfect 7/7, but that run ended the next round with a draw against GM Hikaru Nakamura, followed by an endgame loss to Lazavik.
At that point, Lazavik and Movahed were tied for the tournament lead with a third player, GM Dmitry Andreikin. Lazavik stayed in the lead and knocked Andreikin down, while Movahed got back on track against IM Renato Terry. Unfortunately for Lazavik, the final round was now his turn to face Carlsen, and he wasn't as lucky as Movahed had been. By move 33, the position was a completely normal endgame, which is always a good situation for Carlsen.
Despite missing the first round, Carlsen had the best tiebreaks among the now-tied players at 8.5 points. But Movahed himself won in the final round, locking up the consecutive tournament victories while ending Andreikin's chances at contention.
In 17th place, WFM Kseniya Zeliantsova won the Freestyle Friday women's prize, preventing IM Nataliya Buksa, who finished 23rd, from winning her third straight women's prize.
September 12 Freestyle Friday | Final Standings (Top 25)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | 1st Tiebreak |
| 1 | 3 | GM | @Sina-Movahed | Sina Movahed | 2791 | 9.5 | 74.5 | |
| 2 | 2 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 2863 | 8.5 | 69.5 | |
| 3 | 9 | GM | @Arseniy_Nesterov | Arseniy Nesterov | 2671 | 8.5 | 69 | |
| 4 | 2 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 2798 | 8.5 | 64.5 | |
| 5 | 11 | GM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 2606 | 8 | 71 | |
| 6 | 7 | IM | @MITerryble | Renato Terry | 2657 | 8 | 61 | |
| 7 | 10 | GM | @Jumbo | Rinat Jumabayev | 2604 | 8 | 56.5 | |
| 8 | 5 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 2724 | 7.5 | 69 | |
| 9 | 6 | GM | @PeacefulWarrior888 | Arman Mikaelyan | 2663 | 7.5 | 65 | |
| 10 | 16 | FM | @ilqar_74 | Rustam Rustamov | 2511 | 7.5 | 64 | |
| 11 | 19 | IM | @Sardaukar-2 | Dmytro Danylenko | 2496 | 7.5 | 54.5 | |
| 12 | 21 | GM | @Gareth-Bale11 | Mamikon Gharibyan | 2489 | 7 | 68 | |
| 13 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 2857 | 7 | 67 | |
| 14 | 24 | IM | @chenxiaoyuer | Ryo Chen | 2482 | 7 | 67 | |
| 15 | 23 | IM | @SahibSinghKnight | Sahib Singh | 2470 | 7 | 64.5 | |
| 16 | 28 | GM | @alexrustemov | Alexander Rustemov | 2432 | 7 | 63.5 | |
| 17 | 85 | WFM | @Kasandra124 | Kseniya Zeliantsova | 2152 | 7 | 59 | |
| 18 | 32 | CM | @alexboy14 | Oleksii Nakonechnyi | 2393 | 7 | 52.5 | |
| 19 | 34 | FM | @FUNNY_MAN1234 | Seyed Abolfazl Moosavifar | 2375 | 7 | 48 | |
| 20 | 22 | IM | @PyrihRoman | Roman Pyrih | 2454 | 6.5 | 61 | |
| 21 | 35 | FM | @AllCer7 | Allahverdi Hamidov | 2391 | 6.5 | 57.5 | |
| 22 | 64 | CM | @Khazhatuly_Alikhan | Alikhan Khazhatuly | 2244 | 6.5 | 50 | |
| 23 | 43 | IM | @Natalya_Buksa | Nataliya Buksa | 2314 | 6.5 | 50 | |
| 24 | 45 | FM | @Trojan-Knight | Matthias Mattenberger | 2300 | 6.5 | 49.5 | |
| 25 | 17 | CM | @Germanovs_Georgijs | Georgijs Germanovs | 2503 | 6 | 69.5 |
Prizes: Movahed $400, Carlsen $250, Nesterov $150, Lazavik $100, Zeliantsova $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.
