Niemann And Carlsen Clash In Titled Tuesday
GM Hans Niemann began the early Titled Tuesday on 10/10 on his way to victory by half a point over GM Magnus Carlsen, but Carlsen would take his revenge by winning in the late tournament on 10/11. Each player defeated the other in the 10th round of the tournament he won. GM Hikaru Nakamura, like Carlsen, finished in the top five of both tournaments.
Early Tournament
In the early field of 695, Niemann and Carlsen fought neck-and-neck through the first eight rounds, each scoring every possible point, to set up a showdown in the ninth round. They castled on opposite wings, which almost always foreshadows a tough fight. Carlsen's 26...f4 lost material and, while he was able to hang on for another 25 moves—the computer even seeing a fleeting chance at regaining near-equality on move 43—Niemann's queenside pawns ultimately proved the difference.
Next, Niemann turned his attention to Nakamura, one of six players on 8/9. Niemann had the black pieces this time, but it did not matter, and he won even more quickly and smoothly in another opposite-side castling game.
Niemann now had the chance to match previous accomplishments by Carlsen and Nakamura (and GMs Jose Martinez and Liem Le) and score 11/11. Instead, with Carlsen still in range of first and Niemann only needing a draw to clinch the tournament, Niemann took a nine-move draw. Although that decision cost him a chance at perfection, it turned out to be the right call for him.
That's because Carlsen indeed won in the final game, against GM Jeffery Xiong, and the tiebreak situation would have been unclear at best. Xiong was coming off his own perfect score, 11/11 in last week's Freestyle Friday, and held his own against Carlsen but lost on time in a hopeless-looking ending. (Never get into a land war in Asia or an endgame with Magnus.)
GM Klementy Sychev took sole third with 9.5 points, Nakamura fourth on nine, and GM Zhamsaran Tsydypov fifth. GM Aleksandra Goryachkina won the women's prize.
June 10 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | 1st Tiebreak |
| 1 | 6 | GM | @HansOnTwitch | Hans Niemann | 3254 | 10.5 | 81 | |
| 2 | 2 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3332 | 10 | 81 | |
| 3 | 30 | GM | @Sychev_Klementy | Klementy Sychev | 3058 | 9.5 | 76.5 | |
| 4 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3336 | 9 | 81.5 | |
| 5 | 13 | GM | @Zhuu96 | Zhamsaran Tsydypov | 3141 | 9 | 78 | |
| 6 | 12 | GM | @GHANDEEVAM2003 | Arjun Erigaisi | 3144 | 9 | 74 | |
| 7 | 50 | IM | @scarabee43 | Marco Materia | 3032 | 9 | 72 | |
| 8 | 11 | GM | @Parhamov | Parham Maghsoodloo | 3172 | 9 | 72 | |
| 9 | 25 | GM | @penguingm1 | Andrew Tang | 3059 | 9 | 71 | |
| 10 | 27 | GM | @artooon | Pranesh M | 3076 | 9 | 70.5 | |
| 11 | 10 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 3189 | 8.5 | 78.5 | |
| 12 | 15 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 3129 | 8.5 | 78.5 | |
| 13 | 14 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3128 | 8.5 | 66.5 | |
| 14 | 45 | IM | @MatthewG-p4p | Matvey Galchenko | 2985 | 8.5 | 61 | |
| 15 | 167 | NM | @TrulyHumbledUnderGod | Alexander Heimann | 2751 | 8.5 | 60 | |
| 16 | 37 | IM | @FaustinoOro | Faustino Oro | 3014 | 8.5 | 58.5 | |
| 17 | 16 | GM | @Sargsyan_Shant | Shant Sargsyan | 3084 | 8 | 77 | |
| 18 | 8 | GM | @rpragchess | Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu | 3168 | 8 | 75 | |
| 19 | 24 | GM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3065 | 8 | 72 | |
| 20 | 32 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3025 | 8 | 71.5 | |
| 53 | 134 | GM | @Goryachkina | Aleksandra Goryachkina | 2753 | 7.5 | 58.5 |
Prizes: Niemann $1,000, Carlsen $750, Sychev $350, Nakamura $200, Tsydypov $100, Goryachkina $100.
Late Tournament
Nobody out of 484 players reached 8/8, let alone 10/10, in the late tournament, but Carlsen was in the thick of things again and reached 7/7. He would lose the lead, however, in the eighth round, when taken down by Nakamura. Their games are always tough fights, obviously, and this one was brain-racking enough that Carlsen flagged after just 35 moves, down an exchange and more to come.
But that would end up being Carlsen's only setback of the tournament. After recovering against IM Arash Tahbaz in the ninth round, Carlsen got a rematch against Niemann in the 10th. It was a back-and-forth game with some wild swings in the computer evaluation, but Niemann made the last mistake, falling into a pin despite having 50 seconds on his clock to Carlsen's 10.
Carlsen wasn't out of the woods yet, despite now holding the sole tournament lead on nine points. Three players had 8.5, and another eight had eight points. In Carlsen's last game, against GM Denis Lazavik, there were no wild swings, but things stayed equal for a good amount of time. However, Carlsen was able to activate his rooks against Lazavik's king, and from there, Carlsen converted seemingly effortlessly.
The game between the other two players who entered the last round on 8.5 points, Iran's GMs Sina Movahed and Parham Maghsoodloo, went much more quickly despite both players having a chance to win.
Nakamura had lost to Maghsoodloo in round 10, but covered in round 11 to beat GM Abhimanyu Mishra (in a rather less dramatic game than Movahed-Maghsoodloo) and finish third.
GM Alireza Firouzja finished a surprisingly quiet fourth, with GM Alexander Moskalenko fifth and WGM Rochelle Wu taking the women's prize.
June 10 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | 1st Tiebreak |
| 1 | 2 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3332 | 10 | 75.5 | |
| 2 | 9 | GM | @Sina-Movahed | Sina Movahed | 3181 | 9.5 | 72 | |
| 3 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3336 | 9 | 74.5 | |
| 4 | 3 | GM | @Firouzja2003 | Alireza Firouzja | 3292 | 9 | 70 | |
| 5 | 43 | GM | @Alexander_Moskalenko | Alexander Moskalenko | 2969 | 9 | 63 | |
| 6 | 12 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 3129 | 9 | 62 | |
| 7 | 7 | GM | @Parhamov | Parham Maghsoodloo | 3172 | 8.5 | 71 | |
| 8 | 25 | GM | @BogdanDeac | Bogdan Daniel Deac | 3084 | 8.5 | 70.5 | |
| 9 | 6 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 3189 | 8.5 | 69 | |
| 10 | 10 | GM | @GHANDEEVAM2003 | Arjun Erigaisi | 3144 | 8.5 | 59.5 | |
| 11 | 27 | GM | @sergoy | Sergey Drygalov | 3051 | 8.5 | 59 | |
| 12 | 4 | GM | @HansOnTwitch | Hans Niemann | 3254 | 8 | 74.5 | |
| 13 | 15 | GM | @lachesisQ | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 3116 | 8 | 74.5 | |
| 14 | 29 | IM | @scarabee43 | Marco Materia | 3032 | 8 | 72.5 | |
| 15 | 17 | GM | @Andreikka | Andrey Esipenko | 3098 | 8 | 71 | |
| 16 | 21 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3088 | 8 | 70.5 | |
| 17 | 22 | GM | @PursuitOfHappyness2 | Abhimanyu Mishra | 3089 | 8 | 70.5 | |
| 18 | 65 | GM | @Byniolus | Zbigniew Pakleza | 2916 | 8 | 70 | |
| 19 | 18 | GM | @Sanan_Sjugirov | Sanan Sjugirov | 3095 | 8 | 65 | |
| 20 | 67 | IM | @Szparu | Miłosz Szpar | 2878 | 8 | 61 | |
| 57 | 214 | WGM | @Roachelley | Rochelle Wu | 2579 | 7 | 52.5 |
Prizes: Carlsen $1,000, Movahed $750, Nakamura $350, Firouzja $200, Moskalenko $100, Wu $100. Daily totals: Carlsen $1,750, Nakamura $550.
Grand Prix Qualifiers
The Titled Tuesday Grand Prix concluded on May 27. Congratulations to the Speed Chess Championship qualifiers!
SCC qualifiers:
| Rk | Username | Score | Title | Name |
| 1 | @MagnusCarlsen | 98.5 | GM | Magnus Carlsen |
| 2 | @Hikaru | 95.0 | GM | Hikaru Nakamura |
| 3 | @LiemLe | 93.0 | GM | Liem Le |
| 4 | @GHANDEEVAM2003 | 93.0 | GM | Arjun Erigaisi |
| 5 | @DenLaz | 92.5 | GM | Denis Lazavik |
| 6 | @Jospem | 92.0 | GM | Jose Martinez |
| 7 | @wonderfultime | 92.0 | GM | Tuan Minh Le |
| 8 | @HansOnTwitch | 92.0 | GM | Hans Niemann |
Women's SCC qualifiers:
| Rk | Username | Score | Title | Name |
| 1 | @ChessQueen | 74.5 | GM | Alexandra Kosteniuk |
| 2 | @Flawless_Fighter | 72.5 | IM | Polina Shuvalova |
| 3 | @Goryachkina | 72.0 | GM | Aleksandra Goryachkina |
| 4 | @karinachess1 | 70.5 | IM | Karina Ambartsumova |
| 5 | @Meri-Arabidze | 69.0 | IM | Meri Arabidze |
| 6 | @Sanyura | 68.0 | WGM | Aleksandra Maltsevskaya |
| 7 | @anasta10 | 68.0 | FM | Anastasia Avramidou |
| 8 | @jinbojinbo | 67.0 | GM | Jiner Zhu |
Seniors (born 1975 or earlier), juniors (born 2009 or later), and girls (born 2005 or later) did not have SCC places on the line, but there were cash prizes in each of these categories. The winners were:
Seniors: GM Alexei Shirov (@AlexeiShirov), 83.5 points (won $2,500)
Youth: GM Andy Woodward (@Philippians46), 86.5 points (won $2,500)
Girls: WGM Anna Shukhman (@speshka), 66.5 points (won $1,000)
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).
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.
