Nakamura Bests Carlsen, Firouzja To Sweep Another Titled Tuesday
Coming off winning his fifth consecutive Speed Chess Championship, GM Hikaru Nakamura's online blitz dominance may be at an all-time high. On December 20, he won both the early and late Titled Tuesday tournaments.
He has now won three in a row and 28 on the year (out of 98 held). It was also his fourth time sweeping both tournaments in a day, something no one else has accomplished even once.
Nakamura won both of the day's tournaments outright, including by a full point in the second event. Second place was also won outright, by two other dominant figures, GMs Alireza Firouzja and Magnus Carlsen.
Early Tournament
Nakamura got away with a loss in the sixth round to outlast the field of 452 in his first Titled Tuesday since his Speed Chess Championship title defense. Firouzja, however, was the last perfect player, reaching a 7/7 score after defeating GM Tuan Minh Le, who had just delivered Nakamura his loss the round before.
GM Daniil Dubov ended Firouzja's perfection with a round-eight draw. Then, in round nine, Firouzja defeated GM Baadur Jobava to keep his lead on the field, while Nakamura defeated GM Dmitry Andreikin.
As a result, the superstar matchup between Nakamura and Firouzja in the 10th round was the biggest game of the tournament, both in name recognition and in the standings. Nakamura leapfrogged into first with the sharp 27-move knockout.
He still needed a victory in the final round as well, which came against GM Matthias Bluebaum, to claim the tournament.
Firouzja also won in the last round to take sole second with 9.5 points, after Andreikin flagged in a better endgame position.
Another note from the early event: Sixth place went to GM Jose Martinez despite missing the first two rounds. He was a perfect 9/9 afterward, but given the missing rounds, tiebreaks did not favor him.
December 20 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3225 | 10 | 62 | |
| 2 | 3 | GM | @Firouzja2003 | Alireza Firouzja | 3134 | 9.5 | 64 | |
| 3 | 10 | GM | @dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 3043 | 9 | 62.5 | |
| 4 | 2 | GM | @Duhless | Daniil Dubov | 3135 | 9 | 61 | |
| 5 | 8 | GM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3063 | 9 | 59.5 | |
| 6 | 415 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3030 | 9 | 52 | |
| 7 | 9 | GM | @exoticprincess | Baadur Jobava | 3049 | 8.5 | 62 | |
| 8 | 5 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 3079 | 8.5 | 59.75 | |
| 9 | 15 | GM | @vi_pranav | Pranav V | 2996 | 8.5 | 59 | |
| 10 | 29 | GM | @TimofeevAr | Artem Timofeev | 2935 | 8.5 | 55 | |
| 11 | 24 | CM | @stollenmonster | Egor Baskakov | 2942 | 8.5 | 54.75 | |
| 12 | 20 | GM | @rasmussvane | Rasmus Svane | 2958 | 8.5 | 52.75 | |
| 13 | 12 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 3005 | 8.5 | 49.25 | |
| 14 | 48 | GM | @jcibarra | José Carlos Ibarra Jerez | 2863 | 8.5 | 46.75 | |
| 15 | 67 | FM | @Sina_Movahed | Sina Movahed | 2800 | 8.5 | 43.75 | |
| 16 | 45 | GM | @Zkid | Steven Zierk | 2868 | 8 | 48 | |
| 17 | 92 | FM | @BegmuratovKh2010 | Khumoyun Begmuratov | 2728 | 8 | 47 | |
| 18 | 36 | GM | @Sam_ChessMood | Samvel Ter-Sahakyan | 2887 | 8 | 46.5 | |
| 19 | 60 | GM | @Alexander_Donchenko | Alexander Donchenko | 2817 | 8 | 44 | |
| 20 | 35 | IM | @bardiya_Daneshvar | Bardiya Daneshvar | 2900 | 8 | 43.5 | |
| 88 | 93 | GM | @Goryachkina | Aleksandra Goryachkina | 2717 | 6.5 | 26.75 |
(Full final standings here.)
Nakamura won another $1,000 first-place prize after claiming last week's early tournament. Firouzja won $750 for second place. GM David Paravyan earned $350 in third place, Dubov $200 in fourth, and Minh Le $100 in fifth. GM Aleksandra Goryachkina won the $100 women's prize with a 6.5/11 score.
Late Tournament
Carlsen joined the late tournament and finished in second place out of 333, none of whom could stop Nakamura. Nakamura actually improved on his early score, hitting 10.5/11 points for the third time this year (no one else has done so more than once). That gave him a total score on the day of 20.5/22 (93%).
It was Carlsen, however, who prevented Nakamura from a perfect score with a draw in the seventh round in a battle of 6/6 scores. Nakamura will have to wait for his second perfect Titled Tuesday.
Third-place finisher GM Oleksandr Bortnyk got a shot at both of them in the next two rounds. Bortnyk delivered a loss to Carlsen, before taking his own loss against Nakamura, and now has an improbable 3.5/4 score against Carlsen on Chess.com.
By the end of nine rounds, only IM Rudik Makarian was within half a point of Nakamura in the standings. Makarian got into an endgame, but Hikaru took care of business and now led the field by a full point.
Needing only a draw to clinch first, Nakamura defeated Jobava in the final round for good measure. Meanwhile, Carlsen secured second place with a 26-move victory over GM Vincent Keymer.
December 20 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3255 | 10.5 | 74.25 | |
| 2 | 2 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3205 | 9.5 | 70.25 | |
| 3 | 11 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3010 | 9 | 61.25 | |
| 4 | 29 | IM | @Rud_Makarian | Rudik Makarian | 2924 | 8.5 | 56.5 | |
| 5 | 9 | GM | @FabianoCaruana | Fabiano Caruana | 3026 | 8.5 | 52.5 | |
| 6 | 17 | GM | @AryanTari | Aryan Tari | 2962 | 8.5 | 48.25 | |
| 7 | 21 | GM | @TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 2927 | 8.5 | 45 | |
| 8 | 18 | GM | @Fandorine | Maksim Chigaev | 2971 | 8.5 | 44.25 | |
| 9 | 33 | GM | @jcibarra | José Carlos Ibarra Jerez | 2868 | 8 | 51.25 | |
| 10 | 38 | GM | @Vladimir_Zakhartsov | Vladimir Zakhartsov | 2846 | 8 | 49.5 | |
| 11 | 6 | GM | @exoticprincess | Baadur Jobava | 3052 | 8 | 48.5 | |
| 12 | 8 | GM | @mishanick | Alexey Sarana | 3021 | 8 | 47.5 | |
| 13 | 13 | GM | @VincentKeymer | Vincent Keymer | 2965 | 8 | 47.25 | |
| 14 | 40 | GM | @GMKrikor | Krikor Sevag Mekhitarian | 2810 | 8 | 44.25 | |
| 15 | 27 | GM | @ChessBrah | Eric Hansen | 2902 | 8 | 44 | |
| 16 | 77 | FM | @Alexei_Gubajdullin | Alexei Gubajdullin | 2698 | 8 | 39.5 | |
| 17 | 7 | GM | @dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 3013 | 7.5 | 48.75 | |
| 18 | 164 | FM | @pedromartinez91 | Pedro Martinez | 2552 | 7.5 | 44.5 | |
| 19 | 5 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3051 | 7.5 | 43 | |
| 19 | 10 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 3004 | 7.5 | 43 | |
| 21 | 67 | GM | @GMRafpig | Rafael Leitao | 2723 | 7.5 | 42.5 | |
| 24 | 63 | GM | @Goryachkina | Aleksandra Goryachkina | 2736 | 7.5 | 39.25 |
(Full final standings here.)
It was another $1,000 to Nakamura for $2,000 on the day. Carlsen won $750 and Bortnyk $350. In fourth place was Makarian for $200, while GM Fabiano Caruana finished fifth for $100. Goryachkina again had the highest women's score, this time 7.5 for 24th place, winning another $100 ($200 on the day).
Titled Tuesday is a tournament held weekly by Chess.com for titled players. Two Swiss tournaments of 11 rounds each are played every Tuesday, starting at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time/17:00 Central European and 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time/23:00 Central European.
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.
