Nakamura Wins Dec. 15 Titled Tuesday
GM Hikaru Nakamura can easily be called the Big Winner of 2020. Three days after clinching the Speed Chess Championship, he also won another Titled Tuesday, his third in eight weeks.
This week's December Titled Tuesday tournament had a total of 681 participants. It was an 11-round Swiss with a 3+1 time control.
Two players started with a perfect 7/7: Nakamura (@Hikaru), but also the Romanian grandmaster Bogdan-Daniel Deac (@BogdanDeac). Nakamura's final move in his round-six game was nice:
Usually, there is a bit of luck involved as well, and that occurred in round seven where Nakamura was lost but swindled his opponent in time trouble. So, maybe it isn't luck after all but simply better time management.
Nakamura and Deac drew a hard-fought game in round eight and were still half a point ahead of the pack with three rounds to go. Deac missed a huge chance (and later another one) as he completely missed that Naka's 19...Bf7 is a blunder:
Nakamura grabbed the sole lead by adding another win while Deac drew with Russian GM Grigoriy Oparin (@GrigoriyOparin). After another win with the black pieces against IM Le Tuan Minh (@wonderfultime), Nakamura stayed on top, half a point ahead of two players: GM Parham Maghsoodloo (@Parhamov) and GM Baadur Jobava (@exoticprincess).
Nakamura was OK with a tie for first as he drew quickly with Maghsoodloo using a theoretical move repetition. However, he didn't have to share the first prize because Jobava drew his game with GM Eduardo Iturrizaga (@iturrizaga).
December 15 Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Place | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Score | SB |
| 1 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 10 | 69.25 | |
| 2 | 41 | GM | @exoticprincess | Baadur Jobava | 9.5 | 70.5 | |
| 3 | 31 | GM | @Parhamov | Parham Maghsoodloo | 9.5 | 55.5 | |
| 4 | 30 | GM | @iturrizaga | Eduardo Iturrizaga | 9 | 65 | |
| 5 | 13 | GM | @BogdanDeac | Bogdan Daniel Deac | 9 | 64.5 | |
| 6 | 15 | IM | @wonderfultime | Le Tuan Minh | 9 | 59.5 | |
| 7 | 10 | GM | @Indianlad | S.L. Narayanan | 9 | 58.5 | |
| 8 | 43 | GM | @rpragchess | Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu | 9 | 57 | |
| 9 | 21 | NM | @Sviridov_Valery | Valery Sviridov | 9 | 55.5 | |
| 10 | 54 | GM | @Khamrakulov_Djurabek | Khamrakulov Djurabek | 9 | 51 | |
| 11 | 97 | IM | @Tacticalon | Suleymanli Aydin | 9 | 46 | |
| 12 | 125 | FM | @frederiksvane | Frederik Svane | 8.5 | 61.25 | |
| 13 | 35 | GM | @TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 8.5 | 58.75 | |
| 14 | 2 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 8.5 | 57.75 | |
| 15 | 22 | GM | @rasmussvane | Rasmus Svane | 8.5 | 55.75 | |
| 16 | 32 | GM | @KuzubovYuriy | Yuriy Kuzubov | 8.5 | 55.25 | |
| 17 | 56 | GM | @Eltaj_Safarli | Eltaj Safarli | 8.5 | 52.25 | |
| 18 | 70 | GM | @Onischuk_V | Vladimir Onischuk | 8.5 | 52 | |
| 19 | 83 | GM | @dretch | Conrad Holt | 8.5 | 50.75 | |
| 20 | 69 | GM | @SergeiAza | Sergei Azarov | 8.5 | 50.5 |
(Full final standings here.)
The tournament's total prize fund was doubled after the December 8 edition was interrupted due to technical issues. The effect of "The Queen's Gambit," a staggering rise of games played on our site, cannot be ruled out as the cause.
Nakamura won $750 for first place, Jobava $600 for second, Maghsoodloo $500 for third, Iturrizaga $400 for fourth, Deac $300 for fifth, Le $200 for sixth, and GM S.L. Narayanan $100 for seventh.
The $150 prize for the best female player went to WGM Meri Arabidze (@Meri-Arabidze), and another $100 for the second-best woman went to Valentina Gunina (@Vanina1989).
Titled Tuesday is Chess.com's weekly tournament for titled players. It starts each Tuesday at 10 a.m. Pacific time (19:00 Central Europe). Next week (Dec. 22) it will go back to the regular weekly prize fund of $1,600.
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