Nakamura Reasserts Control In Titled Tuesday

For most players, a six-month wait between Titled Tuesday victories would not be remarkable; hundreds play every single week, yet only a few dozen players have even won twice ever. But for all-time victories leader GM Hikaru Nakamura, months between wins can feel like centuries—upon claiming the May 5 tournament, Nakamura exclaimed on stream: "For the first time in 500 years, I finally get a win in Titled Tuesday." The victory was Nakamura's 94th, but his first since November 18, 2025.

Despite some shaky early victories and then a loss in round four, Nakamura scored 10/11 to win by a full point. GM Sina Movahed finished in second place, extending his lead in the spring split standings as Nakamura entered the top 10.

• CCT Standings
• Recap

CCT Standings

Although Nakamura is not yet technically qualified for the 2026 Esports World Cup, he was a top favorite to make it even before today. A return to form can only help.

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

Tournament Recap

Only one-third of the nine players who reached 4/4 made it to 5/5: GMs Jose Martinez, Nodirbek Yakubboev, and Andrey Esipenko. None of them made it 6/6, as Martinez and Yakubboev drew while GM Denis Lazavik defeated Esipenko in the round. Lazavik, GM Alexey Sarana, and GM Matthias Bluebaum joined Martinez and Yakubboev on 5.5, with 19 players, including Esipenko and Nakamura, on 5/6. The leaders were cut to two in the seventh round, with Sarana defeating Lazavik and Martinez taking down Bluebaum.

Finally, entering the second break, there was a leader all alone atop the standings, after Martinez had White in round eight against Sarana and improved to 7.5/8. Although Martinez spent most of the game with a knight stuck on a4 and b2, at least it was safe there, and he would be ahead two knights of material by the end of the game.

In the same round, Nakamura survived a scare against Drygalov to become one of five players behind Martinez on 7/8, and the resumption of play saw them match up in the ninth round. After refusing to repeat positions, Nakamura was up a rook for a knight in the endgame, but only had one pawn against two. In the ensuing time scramble, with both players under 20 seconds, Martinez unsuccessfully counterattacked a pawn instead of defending his, and Hikaru went on to win. Now he and Movahed held the shared lead on 8/9 each.

In round 10, Nakamura had White against Movahed. Seeing a tactic Movahed missed on move 28, Nakamura won yet again, taking the sole lead in the tournament for the first time with just a round left. Immediately behind him were Martinez and GM Amin Tabatabaei.

Nakamura got Black against Tabatabaei in his attempt to clinch. Martinez also had Black, against Movahed. As Nakamura gained an edge on Tabatabaei, Movahed took down Martinez, meaning Nakamura only needed a draw to take the tournament. Soon after, however, Nakamura won on time, getting a full-point victory. Movahed's win got him second place, ahead of GM Sam Sevian on tiebreaks.

Despite his late setbacks, Martinez took fourth place with the best tiebreaks out of nine players on 8.5 points. Sarana and Lazavik took fifth and sixth, while IM Gunay Mammadzada won the women's prize in 33rd place.

May 5 Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (Top 25)

Full final standings.

Prizes: Nakamura $1,000, Movahed $750, Sevian $350, Martinez $250, Sarana $150, Lazavik $100, Mammadzada $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.