Nakamura, Kosteniuk Win IOM Trips In Titled Tuesday

GM Hikaru Nakamura started yesterday by claiming the sole lead to open Norway Chess with an excellent victory over Anish Giri. He finished the day with a sole first-place finish in Titled Tuesday. Even for a legendary player like Nakamura, that's a pretty great Tuesday!

The June Titled Tuesday also featured a special prize for the top male and female players: paid air fare and entry to the Chess.com Isle of Man International Sept. 23 - Oct. 1. As the sole winner, Nakamura claimed the top male prize while GM Alexandra Kosteniuk claimed the top female prize in an exciting final round.

What was a smooth event for Nakamura started quite roughly technically as Chesscom observed major disconnection issues and decided to restart of the tournament. The problem was not specific to Chess.com and affected many major internet services. Fortunately, the issue soon resolved, and even more players decided to play, bringing the total to 190 players!

Streaming fans could not have been happier as Nakamura was paired against two much loved streamers, IMs John Batholomew and Andrew Tang.

Bartholomew got first crack as he got Nakamura in round two. #TeamScandi fans must have been disappointed to see Bartholomew receive White, but he made excellent use of his first move, putting tons of pressure on Nakamura. Skip to 1:11 for the game.

Andrew Tang didn't get his crack against Nakamura until round eight, when he also got White. He established a passed pawn on d5, but ceded some control of the dark squares which Nakamura used to great effect. Skip to 1:39 for the game against Nakamura. After the game, Nakamura dropped in to IM Tang's stream to donate

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Here's another video we stumbled across this week with a younger Tang learning about commodities and stocks from IM Danny Rensch

After that victory, Nakamura was able to pull away a nice round-nine victory over GM Yuniesky Quesada.

That moved him into clear first with 8.5/9 (!) and with a quick draw in the last round against the only player who could pass him, GM Yuri Solodovnichenko, Nakamura was able to lock in his 9/10 score, log out, and catch some much needed rest to get ready for Norway Chess round two.

In contrast, the fight for the top female prize was loaded with last-round drama. Entering the round, Russian Women's Champion GM Alexandra Kosteniuk and U.S. Women's Champion WGM Sabina Foisor were tied at 5.5/9. Things started to look difficult for Foisor while Kosteniuk's position was improving, but eventually things turned against Kosteniuk as she overpressed! It appeared both could lose and might even be overtaken on tiebreaks by WFM Sai Nirupama Kotepalli, last year's winner. Watch the finale to see the full action unfold.

Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (7 Points And Up)

Full tournament crosstable available here.

The full tournament with ChessBrah commentary from the Canadian lumberjack who simply refuses to name his beard, IM Aman Hambleton, is available on Twitch.tv/chess.

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Of course the Isle of Man air fare and entry were not the only prizes. Nakamura won $500 for clear 1st while GMs Solodovnichenko and Quesada each received $325. The fourth and fifth place prizes went to IM Vladimir Seliverstov and GMs Jose Ibarra Jerez and Sergey Grigoriants. Each receives $83.33. The top streamer's prize went to IM Bartholomew who had over 1,600 spectators in his chat at one point!