Dominant Movahed Wins Titled Tuesday On 10.5 Points

GM Sina Movahed, the 15-year-old Iranian grandmaster coming off of victory in the Under-16 ChessKid Youth Championship, became the first player to score 10.5 points in a Titled Tuesday in 2026 on March 10, going to wire-to-wire to win the tournament easily. Only GM Magnus Carlsen was within a point, taking second place on 9.5/11 after losing his individual matchup to Movahed in the seventh round. 

• Broadcast
• CCT Standings
• Recap

Broadcast

If you missed the Take Take Take broadcast with GM David Howell, WFM Maud Rodsmoen, and CM Jon Kristian Haarr, you can catch it below!

Movahed gave a wide-ranging interview afterward. Asked about the increment-free Titled Tuesday format: "I always struggle in 5+0, but today it worked out for me." About defeating Carlsen: "This is not something I expect, but in blitz i feel like I have really great chances, especially online. The opening he chose [today] was also very dubious." Complimented on his accuracy, he was self-critical: "The first four rounds were terrible, I could have lost any of them." And finally, asked about the situation in Iran, he noted was playing from Armenia before concluding: "I just play chess—this is my work—so I don't really have thoughts on that."

Movahed also said he is aware of the popularity of his name (which to English speakers sounds like "seen a move ahead").

CCT Standings

Nine of the top ten players this week were different from last week, with only GM Nikolas Theodorou repeating. Movahed moved into a tie for first with last week's winner, GM Javokhir Sindarov, two weeks into the spring split.

Full Standings | Titled Tuesday Info | CCT Info | CCT Standings

Tournament Recap

In a sizeable field of 476, he most since September, 21 players made it to the first break on 4/4. But only six of those won in the fifth round, almost all big names: Movahed, Carlsen, and GM Denis Lazavik among them. In the sixth, Carlsen defeated IM Renato Terry, promoting with discovered check, to win with under 10 seconds left.

Lazavik and Movahed also won, and it was Movahed who had the chance to take down Magnus, which he achieved with a performance Howell labeled a "masterpiece."

Lazavik also made 7/7, setting up the big match with Movahed with in the last round before the final break. No one was half a point back, but 16 players had six points, including Carlsen, GM Hikaru Nakamura and other favorites. Just when it appeared Movahed would coast into command of the tournament, Lazavik made him fight for it, but the younger teenager (Lazavik is 19, Movahed 15) did indeed move ahead to 8/8. Lazavik was now one of seven players on 7/8.

Coming out of the break, it was Theodorou who finally held Movahed to a draw. Movahed remained in the sole lead, but now with three players a half-point back: GMs Minh Le, Benjamin Bok, and Lazavik still hanging around as well. Theodorou was a point back on 7.5, along with Carlsen and two others. 

The draw turned out to be a short-term setback for Movahed, who took a big lead on both the board and the clock fairly early against Bok. With two big blows, 17.Nf5 and 19.Rxf6, Movahed was on his way to victory in just 32 moves.

Le was the only player to stay a half-point back, keeping him in contention if he could defeat Movahed in the final round. A draw and Movahed would win outright. Le, playing White, kept the position fairly simple out of the opening, with seven structurally symmetric pawns each still on the board but otherwise just kings, queens, and a minor piece each. But one slip just a few moves later, 30.Qd3, and the game was effectively over; "that went really quickly," Haarr noted.

Carlsen, after scoring only 0.5 points in rounds seven and eight, went a perfect 3/3 after the last break, including a win over GM Fabiano Caruana in the final round.

Lazavik, Theodorou, Le, GM Alexey Sarana, and Terry all scored nine points. Terry was the tough luck seventh place finisher, but that was still good enough for standings points. The women's prize went to GM Alexandra Kosteniuk with seven points, moving into second place in the spring split women's standings.

March 10 Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (Top 20)

(Full final standings.)

Prizes: Movahed $1,000, Carlsen $750, Lazavik $350, Theodorou $250, Le $150, Sarana $100, Kosteniuk $100. Streamers' prizes to be posted on the Events page.

Titled Tuesday is Chess.com's weekly tournament for titled players. It begins at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Standard Time.