Quintessential Magnus Perfects Titled Tuesday Again
GM Magnus Carlsen scored a perfect 11/11 in the late Titled Tuesday on August 6, the first flawless Titled Tuesday of the year and overshadowing GM Hikaru Nakamura's earlier win out of a four-way tie on 9.5 points. It was Carlsen's second 11/11 score in Titled Tuesday, following one on July 4, 2023, tying him with Nakamura for the all-time record. They are the only two players to ever reach 11/11.
And it wasn't even Carlsen's only blitz tournament victory in a 24-hour period.
✅ Win #TitledTuesday with perfect 11/11 score, 1.5 points ahead of the field.
— chess24 (@chess24com) August 7, 2024
✅ Win Titled Tuesday two weeks in a row.
✅ Win World Blitz Team Chess Championship the same week.
👏 @MagnusCarlsen 🐐 pic.twitter.com/14VxfDhhxE
Earlier in the day, scoring 9.5 points along with Nakamura were GMs Daniel Naroditsky, Dmitry Andreikin, and Jeffery Xiong. It was Xiong whom Carlsen defeated later on to score his coveted 11th point.
Let's lead off this week with the late tournament.
Late Tournament
Carlsen's perfect score came at the expense of a field of 543 players. He was matched step-for-step by Andreikin for seven rounds, but not eight. Carlsen's win with Black via a smothered mate in just 30 moves was a sign of just how impossible it would be to defeat him in this tournament on this day.
Next, it was Nakamura's turn to try to stop Carlsen, and while he made it to 44 moves, he never really had a chance to get in the game. The contest was reminiscent of hundreds of other examples of Carlsen grinding down his opponents.
GM Andrew Tang was next, and he gave Carlsen his longest fight of the evening, but that still came in at just 54 moves. On average, it took Carlsen only 37 turns to win each game of the event. The last win, against Xiong, came in just below that mark at 33. Carlsen already led the tournament by 1.5 points entering the round, so he could chase perfection without risking his tournament standing—something that has occasionally stopped other players who started on 10/10.
Below you can enjoy all 11 of Carlsen's victories in order, including those final victories against Tang and Xiong:
With his fast start, Andreikin finished in sole second place on 9.5 points. Four players tied for third on nine points, including GM Sam Shankland, who played Carlsen's shortest game of the event (just 14 moves after a tactical oversight) but recovered to finish fifth after the tiebreak calculations. GM Adhiban Baskaran and Naroditsky finished ahead of him.
August 6 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
| 1 | 1 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3319 | 11 | 78.5 | |
| 2 | 3 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3176 | 9.5 | 81 | |
| 3 | 17 | GM | @fireheart92 | Adhiban Baskaran | 3030 | 9 | 72.5 | |
| 4 | 4 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3093 | 9 | 72.5 | |
| 5 | 24 | GM | @Shankland | Sam Shankland | 2998 | 9 | 71 | |
| 6 | 6 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 3118 | 9 | 70 | |
| 7 | 45 | GM | @frederiksvane | Frederik Svane | 2953 | 8.5 | 74.5 | |
| 8 | 11 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 3090 | 8.5 | 73.5 | |
| 9 | 2 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3256 | 8.5 | 72.5 | |
| 10 | 12 | IM | @MITerryble | Renato Terry | 3067 | 8.5 | 70.5 | |
| 11 | 7 | GM | @spicycaterpillar | Ray Robson | 3100 | 8.5 | 68.5 | |
| 12 | 21 | GM | @FGHSMN | Bharath Subramaniyam.H | 3007 | 8.5 | 67.5 | |
| 13 | 44 | FM | @FaustinoOro | Faustino Oro | 2938 | 8.5 | 62.5 | |
| 14 | 8 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3091 | 8.5 | 62.5 | |
| 15 | 81 | NM | @amanmuhammethommadov | Amanmuhammet Hommadov | 2811 | 8.5 | 62 | |
| 16 | 90 | IM | @Zurability | Zurab Javakhadze | 2776 | 8.5 | 58.5 | |
| 17 | 27 | GM | @DrVelja | Velimir Ivic | 2980 | 8 | 79.5 | |
| 18 | 20 | GM | @penguingm1 | Andrew Tang | 3012 | 8 | 75 | |
| 19 | 52 | GM | @rednova1729 | Awonder Liang | 2875 | 8 | 62.5 | |
| 20 | 28 | IM | @Kacparov | Kacper Drozdowski | 2950 | 8 | 60 | |
| 45 | 194 | IM | @zajka-molotok | Yuliia Osmak | 2634 | 7.5 | 53 |
(Full final standings here.)
Carlsen earned $1,000 for his stunning performance. Andreikin took home $750. Adhiban won $350, Naroditsky $200, and Shankland $100. Ukrainian IM Yuliia Osmak won the $100 women's prize with 7.5 points.
Early Tournament
With 706 players competing earlier in the day, no one could know that later events would eclipse their efforts. Whereas later on, two players would start 7/7, only GM Matthias Bluebaum did so in the early tournament, but he would eventually fall out of the top 20.
His loss was Nakamura's gain, as it was Hikaru who delivered Bluebaum's first loss. The win gave Nakamura a 7.5/8 start after he had only made a draw in round three.
Nakamura did not sustain the momentum, however, and was defeated in the ninth round by Andreikin, who, by the way, didn't just finish top five in the late tournament. An early piece sacrifice here soon forced Nakamura to part with his queen and helped Andreikin ultimately take third place in the final standings.
But not second place, which belonged in the end to Naroditsky by half a tiebreak point. Naroditsky defeated IM Balazs Csonka in a very straightforward game in the 10th round (below). Then a draw with Andreikin in the 11th was enough.
Nakamura's ninth-round loss was his final setback, however, and wins in the final two rounds against GMs Levon Aronian and Vladislav Kovalev ultimately delivered him the tournament.
August 6 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
| 1 | 2 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3261 | 9.5 | 80 | |
| 2 | 7 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3136 | 9.5 | 74 | |
| 3 | 5 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3157 | 9.5 | 73.5 | |
| 4 | 10 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 3083 | 9.5 | 69.5 | |
| 5 | 15 | GM | @Salem-AR | Salem AR Saleh | 3024 | 9 | 75 | |
| 6 | 18 | GM | @LevonAronian | Levon Aronian | 3022 | 9 | 72.5 | |
| 7 | 21 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 2999 | 9 | 67.5 | |
| 8 | 124 | IM | @CSB7 | Balázs Csonka | 2795 | 9 | 65.5 | |
| 9 | 13 | GM | @GM_dmitrij | Dmitrij Kollars | 3032 | 9 | 61.5 | |
| 10 | 68 | GM | @crescentmoon2411 | Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son | 2912 | 8.5 | 75.5 | |
| 11 | 11 | GM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3065 | 8.5 | 75.5 | |
| 12 | 12 | IM | @MITerryble | Renato Terry | 3048 | 8.5 | 71 | |
| 13 | 25 | GM | @Shankland | Sam Shankland | 2975 | 8.5 | 70 | |
| 14 | 545 | FM | @npaipal | Nikolaos Poupalos | 2397 | 8.5 | 68.5 | |
| 15 | 77 | GM | @vladislavkovalev | Vladislav Kovalev | 2885 | 8.5 | 67.5 | |
| 16 | 54 | GM | @nrvignesh | Vignesh N.R | 2892 | 8.5 | 66.5 | |
| 17 | 49 | IM | @MatthewG-p4p | Matvey Galchenko | 2912 | 8.5 | 65.5 | |
| 18 | 42 | IM | @Rsnr | Arsene Kukhmazov | 2921 | 8.5 | 62 | |
| 19 | 34 | IM | @Reader777 | Read Samadov | 2932 | 8.5 | 61.5 | |
| 20 | 80 | FM | @1800_strength | Dachey Lin | 2872 | 8 | 76 | |
| 58 | 140 | GM | @Goryachkina | Aleksandra Goryachkina | 2724 | 7.5 | 53 |
(Full final standings here.)
Nakamura won $1,000 for his efforts, while Naroditsky took home $750, Andreikin $350, and Xiong settled for $200 (Andreikin and Naroditsky would end up with daily totals of $1,100 and $950, respectively, after their performances later on.) The $100 prizes went to GM Salem Saleh in fifth place and GM Aleksandra Goryachkina with the highest score, 7.5 points, among the women who played.
Titled Cup Standings
Unsurprisingly, Carlsen gained several points in the Titled Cup standings this week, and he jumped into second place by 1.5 points. Andreikin's day brought him into fifth.
But the women's standings are now getting absurdly close (if not quite as close as the Olympic 100 meters). GM Alexandra Kosteniuk still leads, but big days for Goryachkina and GM Polina Shuvalova mean that a meager half-point is all that currently separates first from third.
Open
| # | Username | Score | Player |
| 1 | @Hikaru | 198.5 | GM Hikaru Nakamura |
| 2 | @MagnusCarlsen | 186.5 | GM Magnus Carlsen |
| 3 | @Polish_fighter3000 | 185.0 | GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda |
| 4 | @mishanick | 184.5 | GM Alexey Sarana |
| 5 | @FairChess_on_YouTube | 183.0 | GM Dmitry Andreikin |
Women
| # | Username | Score | Player |
| 1 | @ChessQueen | 141.0 | GM Alexandra Kosteniuk |
| 2-t | @Goryachkina | 140.5 | GM Aleksandra Goryachkina |
| 2-t | @Flawless_Fighter | 140.5 | IM Polina Shuvalova |
| 4 | @Meri-Arabidze | 137.5 | IM Meri Arabidze |
| 5 | @karinachess1 | 135.5 | IM Karina Ambartsumova |
Other Category Leaders
Juniors: GM Denis Lazavik (182.0 points)
Seniors: GM Gata Kamsky (168.5 points)
Girls: WCM Veronika Shubenkova (115.0 points)
The Titled Cup fantasy game Chess Prophet continues as well. Current standings can be found here. (Login required.)
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.
