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How Sweep It Is, As Nakamura Takes Double Victory

How Sweep It Is, As Nakamura Takes Double Victory

NathanielGreen
| 16 | Chess Event Coverage

GM Hikaru Nakamura has done it again, winning both tournaments of Titled Tuesday on November 12. It is his eighth time achieving the feat of double victory since the second weekly event was added in February 2022—no one else has done it more than once—and the first since May 14. He also won last week's late tournament, giving him three in a row.

Nakamura scored 10 points in both of this week's events, but his opponents did not make things easy as he also needed tiebreaks in both. In the early event, he came out just ahead of GMs Alireza Firouzja and Jan-Krzysztof Duda, while GM Alexey Sarana was his near-equal in the late event.


Early Tournament

For most of the early tournament, it seemed like Firouzja would be the one to coast through the field of 683 players. Nakamura lost to Duda in round seven, but then Duda would lose to Firouzja in round eight. Firouzja then extended his perfect run to nine games with a win over GM Magnus Carlsen in just 28 moves.

At that point, Nakamura took matters into his own hands. Firouzja did not make it easy on him, of course, as the game went on for 71 moves. With Nakamura up a piece but only having one pawn left to Firouzja's three, a draw might have seemed like the most probable outcome. But time pressure finally got to Firouzja, who had spent the last 30 moves with less than five seconds on his clock, and on his last move, he fell into a fork trying to keep his king centralized.

Entering the final round, Nakamura, Firouzja, and Duda were now all tied on 9/10, but they had already all played each other as well. Instead, the tournament would conclude with Nakamura playing against GM Denis Lazavik, Firouzja against GM Dmitry Andreikin, and Duda against GM Sam Shankland.

Firouzja and Duda dominated with Black, both forcing checkmate in under 40 moves. While it took Nakamura a little longer to win with White, he still got the job done. And in the end, that was enough to secure a half-point tiebreak advantage over Firouzja, who himself also led Duda by half a tiebreak point.

November 12 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number Rk Fed Title Username Name Rating Score Tiebreak 1
1 2 GM @Hikaru Hikaru Nakamura 3281 10 80
2 3 GM @Firouzja2003 Alireza Firouzja 3273 10 79.5
3 12 GM @Polish_fighter3000 Jan-Krzysztof Duda 3131 10 79
4 24 GM @AnishOnYoutube Anish Giri 3042 9 79
5 18 GM @DanielNaroditsky Daniel Naroditsky 3076 9 78.5
6 17 GM @lachesisQ Ian Nepomniachtchi 3081 9 75.5
7 1 GM @MagnusCarlsen Magnus Carlsen 3295 9 67.5
8 43 FM @rezamahdavi2008 Reza Mahdavi 2957 9 66.5
9 20 IM @Rud_Makarian Rudik Makarian 3060 9 65
10 6 GM @FairChess_on_YouTube Dmitry Andreikin 3122 8.5 77.5
11 22 GM @Shankland Sam Shankland 3028 8.5 70
12 140 FM @SALVA-DALI Alen Yeremyan 2785 8.5 69.5
13 82 FM @PeshkaCh Tykhon Cherniaiev 2866 8.5 68.5
14 59 GM @MarkusRagger Markus Ragger 2906 8.5 67.5
15 96 IM @atbenina64 Abtin Atakhan 2823 8.5 67
16 4 GM @DenLaz Denis Lazavik 3165 8.5 66
17 62 FM @Eagle_2019 Mamedov Edgar 2889 8.5 64
18 27 GM @FGHSMN Bharath Subramaniyam 3037 8 75.5
19 55 GM @Zhigalko_Sergei Sergei Zhigalko 2930 8 74.5
20 9 GM @GMBenjaminBok Benjamin Bok 3089 8 73.5
47 141 IM @Vesper2018 Anastasia Bodnaruk 2752 7.5 64.5

(Full final standings here.)

Nakamura won the $1,000 prize for first place, while Firouzja settled for $750 and Duda for $350. GM Anish Giri managed fourth place for $200 and GM Daniel Naroditsky fifth place for $100, while several players also on nine points were left out. IM Anastasia Bodnaruk won the $100 women's prize.

Late Tournament

Nakamura's run in the late event with 478 participants followed a similar track as the early event. He was not the last perfect player; he still entered the final round tied for first with someone he had lost to earlier, and they both won in the last round, but Nakamura's tiebreaks were better.

This time, it was in round six that Nakamura faced Sarana but could not win.

Sarana would lose in the very next round to GM Javokhir Sindarov, which left Sindarov as the last perfect player, but he could only split his last four games. The second of Sindarov's two losses came in round 10 against Nakamura.

And so, once again, a final-round tie could not be broken with a head-to-head matchup. This time, Nakamura faced IM Rudik Makarian, while Sarana took on GM Raunak Sadhwani. Unlike earlier in the day, Nakamura got the quicker win, needing only 26 moves to topple Makarian. Also, his tiebreak lead was a somewhat more comfortable 1.5 points.

Sarana would go on to beat Raunak in 59 moves and take second place. 

November 12 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number Rk Fed Title Username Name Rating Score Tiebreak 1
1 1 GM @Hikaru Hikaru Nakamura 3307 10 76.5
2 13 GM @mishanick Aleksei Sarana 3114 10 75
3 6 GM @Javokhir_Sindarov05 Javokhir Sindarov 3131 9 80
4 15 GM @Msb2 Matthias Bluebaum 3049 9 73
5 17 GM @Shankland Sam Shankland 3048 9 71
6 5 GM @FairChess_on_YouTube Dmitry Andreikin 3125 9 65
7 19 GM @champ2005 Raunak Sadhwani 3038 8.5 75
8 9 GM @jefferyx Jeffery Xiong 3090 8.5 72.5
9 11 IM @Rud_Makarian Rudik Makarian 3080 8.5 70.5
10 24 FM @rezamahdavi2008 Reza Mahdavi 2971 8.5 65
11 40 IM @Szparu Miłosz Szpar 2908 8 76
12 20 GM @Oleksandr_Bortnyk Oleksandr Bortnyk 3005 8 72.5
13 38 GM @pouya21 Pouya Idani 2930 8 71.5
14 23 GM @VladimirKramnik Vladimir Kramnik 2972 8 70.5
15 7 GM @GMBenjaminBok Benjamin Bok 3076 8 70.5
16 18 GM @dropstoneDP David Paravyan 3029 8 70
17 48 GM @ChessSharkz Kayden Troff 2875 8 68
18 57 FM @PyrihRoman Roman Pyrih 2807 8 68
19 56 GM @PawelCzarnota Pawel Czarnota 2841 8 68
20 3 GM @Polish_fighter3000 Jan-Krzysztof Duda 3117 8 66
47 71 IM @Flawless_Fighter Polina Shuvalova 2756 7 64

(Full final standings here.)

Nakamura won another $1,000 for $2,000 total on the day, while Sarana earned $750. Sindarov held onto third place and $350. GM Matthias Bluebaum won $200 in fourth, Shankland won $100 in fifth, and IM Polina Shuvalova won the $100 women's prize.

Titled Cup Standings

Nakamura hit 200 points, and it now seems like he will win the Titled Cup, barring a big comeback from Carlsen. There were shakeups elsewhere in the top five, with Duda now in third place.

In the women's standings, a few weeks ago it seemed GM Aleksandra Goryachkina might pull away, but her lead is now just half a point on both Shuvalova and GM Alexandra Kosteniuk

Open

# Username Score Player
1 @Hikaru 200.0 GM Hikaru Nakamura
2 @MagnusCarlsen 194.5 GM Magnus Carlsen
3 @Polish_fighter3000 188.0 GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda
4-t @mishanick 187.5 GM Alexey Sarana
4-t @jefferyx 187.5 GM Jeffery Xiong

Women

# Username Score Player
1 @Goryachkina 143.5 GM Aleksandra Goryachkina
2-t @ChessQueen 143.0 GM Alexandra Kosteniuk
2-t @Flawless_Fighter 143.0 IM Polina Shuvalova
4-t @karinachess1 139.0 IM Karina Ambartsumova
4-t @annasargsyan_m 139.0 IM Anna M. Sargsyan

Other Category Leaders

Juniors: GM Denis Lazavik (185.0 points)

Seniors: GM Gata Kamsky (171.0 points)

Girls: WCM Veronika Shubenkova (123.0 points)

The Titled Cup fantasy game Chess Prophet continues as well. Current standings can be found here. (Login required.)

Titled Tuesday


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).

NathanielGreen
Nathaniel Green

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.

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