World Championship Challenger Reclaims Titled Tuesday
GM Ian Nepomniachtchi returned to Titled Tuesday on September 12 and won it for the first time in 17 months, taking the early tournament on tiebreaks with 9.5 points. GM Dmitry Andreikin, who has won more Titled Tuesdays in the last three years than any player not named GM Hikaru Nakamura, took home the late tournament outright with a 10/11 score, half a point ahead of GM Magnus Carlsen.
Early Tournament
Nepomniachtchi, a late replacement for GM Ding Liren in the ongoing Speed Chess Championship, started out his early Tuesday tournament with a 6/6 score in the field of 635. However, eventual runner-up GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda toppled him in the seventh round after a hard-fought endgame.
Duda retained a perfect score through nine rounds. In the 10th round, however, he faced off with GM Benjamin Bok, and his run at perfection ended. Bok himself ended up on 9.5/10 points after a tough victory. Duda gave up a queenside pawn for a short-lived attempt at a kingside attack, but Bok withstood the pressure and won the endgame.
Although it looked unlikely after his ninth-round draw with GM Levon Aronian, Nepomniachtchi stayed within range of tournament victory by beating GM Maxim Matlakov with the black pieces in round 10. Nepomniachtchi won a pawn tactically in the middlegame and held on through the end.
The stage was set for a final-round showdown between Nepomniachtchi and Bok. Nepomniachtchi not only needed to win his game, but he also needed at least a draw from Duda to have a chance. Fortunately for Nepomniachtchi, Duda's opponent was GM Alireza Firouzja, and a draw is indeed what happened there.
Meanwhile, in his must-win situation, Nepomniachtchi launched the King's Gambit against Bok. The gamble paid off, and, in fact, Nepomniachtchi was already up a pawn by move 12. After an eventual 39-move victory, the tiebreaks also went Nepomniachtchi's way for a triumphant return to Titled Tuesday.
September 12 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
| 1 | 8 | GM | @lachesisQ | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 3095 | 9.5 | 79 | |
| 2 | 12 | GM | @Polish_fighter3000 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 3086 | 9.5 | 78 | |
| 3 | 25 | GM | @GMBenjaminBok | Benjamin Bok | 3026 | 9.5 | 74.5 | |
| 4 | 15 | GM | @amintabatabaei | Amin Tabatabaei | 3074 | 9.5 | 73 | |
| 5 | 16 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3055 | 9 | 75.5 | |
| 6 | 17 | GM | @LevonAronian | Levon Aronian | 3064 | 9 | 69.5 | |
| 7 | 24 | GM | @vi_pranav | Pranav V | 2997 | 9 | 69.5 | |
| 8 | 9 | GM | @Firouzja2003 | Alireza Firouzja | 3078 | 9 | 69 | |
| 9 | 34 | FM | @artin10862 | Artin Ashraf | 2961 | 9 | 67 | |
| 10 | 13 | FM | @Sina_Movahed | Sina Movahed | 3058 | 9 | 63 | |
| 11 | 580 | GM | @HansOnTwitch | Hans Niemann | 3074 | 9 | 45.5 | |
| 12 | 3 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3105 | 8.5 | 72 | |
| 13 | 18 | GM | @BillieKimbah | Maxim Matlakov | 3034 | 8.5 | 71 | |
| 14 | 78 | GM | @OK97 | Ori Kobo | 2858 | 8.5 | 62.5 | |
| 15 | 4 | GM | @Parhamov | Parham Maghsoodloo | 3100 | 8 | 72.5 | |
| 16 | 27 | GM | @Duhless | Daniil Dubov | 2985 | 8 | 72 | |
| 17 | 40 | GM | @sergoy | Sergey Drygalov | 2932 | 8 | 70.5 | |
| 18 | 22 | GM | @Andreikka | Andrey Esipenko | 3013 | 8 | 70 | |
| 19 | 290 | FM | @Lion-Al-Messi | Ward Al-Tarboush | 2641 | 8 | 70 | |
| 20 | 14 | GM | @artooon | Pranesh M | 3042 | 8 | 69.5 | |
| 81 | 311 | WCM | @hongnhung1234 | Nhung Hong Nguyen | 2540 | 7 | 54.5 |
(Full final standings here.)
Nepomniachtchi earned the $1,000 first-place prize, while Duda ended up in second place for $750 and Bok in third for $350. Also reaching 9.5 points was GM Amin Tabatabaei, who finished fourth for $200. The $100 prizes went to Andreikin in fifth place and WCM Nhung Hong Nguyen, who scored seven points and won the women's prize.
Late Tournament
Andreikin, who had earned a bit of cash in the early tournament, won the whole thing in the late event, surviving a sixth-round loss at the hands of GM Bogdan Daniel Deac. It ended up the only blemish on Andreikin's performance against the field of 485 players.
The tournament turned on the ninth-round contest between Andreikin and Carlsen. Andreikin had the black pieces and employed the Schliemann Defense, or Jaenisch Gambit, to the Ruy Lopez with 3...f5 in a move reminiscent of Nepomniachtchi's choice of the King's Gambit against Bok earlier in the day. Andreikin's decision also paid off for him, leading to a messy position that neither player navigated perfectly, but where Carlsen made the final mistake. Andreikin even had two queens before Carlsen resigned.
But Andreikin was not done as he faced Nakamura next. Against Nakamura's pet Modern Defense, Andreikin established a strong center, and by the time that center could be broken up, he was ahead in material by an exchange and a pawn.
One last test awaited Andreikin in the person of Firouzja. Undeterred, Andreikin demonstrated that perhaps he should be counted among Carlsen, Nakamura, and Firouzja as the very strongest blitz players in the world—he ended the day beating all three of them consecutively. (Unfortunately for Andreikin, however, he has already been nudged out of the Speed Chess Championship by a single point against Firouzja.)
Andreikin needed all of those three big wins, as Carlsen ended up with the better tiebreak score despite finishing a half-point back of Andreikin. Carlsen's wins over FM Artin Ashraf and GM Steven Zierk in the last two rounds kept the pressure on, but not enough to overcome the ninth-round result.
Zierk tried the French Defense against Carlsen, who responded with the notoriously drawish Exchange Variation but still found a path to victory in the game. It just wasn't enough for Carlsen to achieve victory in the tournament.
September 12 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
| 1 | 16 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3098 | 10 | 74 | |
| 2 | 2 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3222 | 9.5 | 76 | |
| 3 | 3 | GM | @Njal28 | Aram Hakobyan | 3118 | 9 | 71 | |
| 4 | 14 | GM | @mishanick | Aleksei Sarana | 3078 | 9 | 70.5 | |
| 5 | 22 | GM | @dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 3041 | 9 | 62 | |
| 6 | 12 | GM | @Firouzja2003 | Alireza Firouzja | 3083 | 8.5 | 74.5 | |
| 7 | 18 | GM | @Bigfish1995 | Vladimir Fedoseev | 3067 | 8.5 | 73 | |
| 8 | 7 | GM | @SpeedofLight0 | Andrew Hong | 3090 | 8.5 | 71 | |
| 9 | 44 | GM | @Zkid | Steven Zierk | 2954 | 8.5 | 69 | |
| 10 | 35 | GM | @TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 2971 | 8.5 | 65 | |
| 11 | 21 | GM | @GMBenjaminBok | Benjamin Bok | 3016 | 8.5 | 64.5 | |
| 12 | 41 | GM | @jcibarra | José Carlos Ibarra Jerez | 2957 | 8.5 | 63 | |
| 13 | 23 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3007 | 8.5 | 62.5 | |
| 14 | 36 | GM | @h4parah5 | Jaime Santos Latasa | 2959 | 8 | 72.5 | |
| 15 | 4 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 3088 | 8 | 71.5 | |
| 16 | 33 | GM | @kuli4ik | Mikhail Demidov | 2956 | 8 | 70.5 | |
| 17 | 26 | GM | @rasmussvane | Rasmus Svane | 2996 | 8 | 69.5 | |
| 18 | 5 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3081 | 8 | 69 | |
| 19 | 30 | FM | @artin10862 | Artin Ashraf | 2951 | 8 | 67 | |
| 20 | 63 | IM | @Manticore17 | Arystanbek Urazayev | 2854 | 8 | 66 | |
| 57 | 153 | IM | @TatjanaVasilevich | Tatjana Vasilevich | 2610 | 7 | 59 |
(Full final standings here.)
Andrekin's $1,000 first-place prize gave him $1,100 on the day. Carlsen won $750 in second place. In a three-way tie on nine points, tiebreaks gave GM Aram Hakobyan third place and $350, GM Alexey Sarana fourth for $200, and GM David Paravyan fifth for $100. The $100 women's prize went to IM Tatjana Vasilevich.
Titled Tuesday is Chess.com's weekly 11-round Swiss tournament for titled players. Every Tuesday, there are two tournaments: the first one 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).
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.
