Nepomniachtchi Holds On For 1st Freestyle Friday Victory
GM Ian Nepomniachtchi doesn't really need to add too many more accomplishments to his resume, but he did that on July 25 by winning his first Freestyle Friday ahead of GMs Jeffery Xiong and Jan-Krzysztof Duda on tiebreaks. The field of 175 players (up 10 from last week) also included GM Magnus Carlsen, who finished fourth, and GMs Nihal Sarin and Daniel Naroditsky just outside the top four. WGM Anna Shukhman won the women's prize.
GM Sina Movahed, who this year has won both his first Freestyle Friday and first Titled Tuesday, started this Friday's event on 7/7 before running into the buzzsaw that was Nepomniachtchi. Note: If you like castling kingside, don't look at the starting position!
Nepomniachtchi, who had lost in round three, was now in a tie for first. One game later, he had the sole lead, achieved during an absolute roller coaster of a 97-move bout with Naroditsky.
Nepomniachtchi would go on to beat Nihal in the 10th round to retain his full-point lead on the field. Behind him were Naroditsky, Xiong, Duda, and GM Grigoriy Oparin. Xiong was the one with the chance to knock Nepomniachtchi down, and he accepted the opportunity once Nepomniachtchi gave up the two bishops.
Nepomniachtchi's standing was ultimately rather safe, however. His first loss came against eventual sixth-place finisher GM Luca Moroni, and he also won games against the fourth-place Carlsen and ninth-place Oparin, indicating just how strong the two-time world championship challenger's tiebreak was.
Xiong, on the other hand, only finished ahead of Duda by a thin tiebreak margin of half a point after Duda defeated Oparin without too much trouble in the final round.
Everyone in the top four has now won at least one Freestyle Friday as Nepomniachtchi became the 18th overall winner.
July 25 Freestyle Friday | Final Standings (Top 25)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | 1st Tiebreak |
| 1 | 3 | GM | @lachesisQ | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 2811 | 9 | 78.5 | |
| 2 | 4 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 2773 | 9 | 71 | |
| 3 | 10 | GM | @Polish_fighter3000 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 2724 | 9 | 70.5 | |
| 4 | 1 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 2810 | 8.5 | 69.5 | |
| 5 | 2 | GM | @nihalsarin | Nihal Sarin | 2805 | 8.5 | 67.5 | |
| 6 | 23 | GM | @moro182 | Luca Moroni Jr | 2598 | 8 | 74.5 | |
| 7 | 20 | GM | @crescentmoon2411 | Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son | 2617 | 8 | 73.5 | |
| 8 | 17 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 2644 | 8 | 73.5 | |
| 9 | 16 | GM | @OparinGrigoriy | Grigoriy Oparin | 2638 | 8 | 68.5 | |
| 10 | 6 | GM | @Sina-Movahed | Sina Movahed | 2749 | 8 | 67 | |
| 11 | 34 | IM | @Legendinunknown | Harshavardhan GB | 2554 | 8 | 67 | |
| 12 | 15 | FM | @artin10862 | Artin Ashraf | 2638 | 8 | 63 | |
| 13 | 36 | GM | @Igor_Janik | Igor Janik | 2508 | 7.5 | 63.5 | |
| 14 | 51 | IM | @chenxiaoyuer | Ryo Chen | 2437 | 7.5 | 61.5 | |
| 15 | 18 | IM | @FaustinoOro | Faustino Oro | 2599 | 7.5 | 60 | |
| 16 | 2 | IM | @splendidkid | Goutham Krishna | 2507 | 7.5 | 57 | |
| 17 | 7 | GM | @vi_pranav | Pranav V | 2723 | 7 | 73.5 | |
| 18 | 13 | GM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 2642 | 7 | 68.5 | |
| 19 | 44 | GM | @chessdjw | Dennis Wagner | 2468 | 7 | 67.5 | |
| 20 | 21 | GM | @bardiya_Daneshvar | Bardiya Daneshvar | 2580 | 7 | 64 | |
| 33 | 62 | WGM | @Speshka | Anna Shukhman | 2353 | 6.5 | 56 |
Prizes: Nepomniachtchi $400, Xiong $250, Duda $150, Carlsen $100, Shukhman $100.
Freestyle Friday is Chess.com's weekly tournament dedicated to Freestyle Chess for titled players. The tournament begins at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Standard Time.
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.
