Youth Prevails As Pranav, Lazavik Win Titled Tuesday
GM Pranav Venkatesh won the early June 24 edition of Titled Tuesday outright with 10 points, a half-point ahead of the winners of the previous two weeks, GMs Hans Niemann and Magnus Carlsen. It was the 18-year-old's third Titled Tuesday win and first of the year. GM Denis Lazavik, also 18, then won the late edition, also outright on 10 points, but by a full point over six players tied on nine points.
Early Tournament
Pranav, who finished with nine wins and draws in rounds four and eight, was the only player out of 664 to go undefeated. That didn't always look to be the case. Niemann, after making a draw in the second round, then ripped off eight straight victories to reach 9.5/10 and the precipice of a third straight week with a Titled Tuesday win. Niemann's eighth victim in that streak was GM Alireza Firouzja, and it took only 27 moves.
Carlsen, like Niemann, drew his second round game, but his nine-year-old opponent in the game, CM Aarit Kapil, was more newsworthy. Unlike Niemann, Carlsen then lost immediately in the third round. But, like Niemann, he then won eight straight games. (Unlike Niemann, howev—sorry, I got carried away.)
Entering the final round, however, all eyes were on Niemann vs. Pranav. Pranav would dispatch Niemann in one fewer moves than Niemann had needed to win the round before, leapfrogging into first place in the standings. The last five moves featured a decisive tactical barrage.
The tournament wasn't totally decided yet, however. GM Jeffery Xiong, like Pranav, entered the final round with nine points. Unfortunately for Xiong, his opponent was Carlsen, who had found his stride. Their game was still in the balance when Niemann resigned against Pranav, but Carlsen was well on his way to a victory.
Fortunately for Xiong and Firouzja, outside of these setbacks in the final rounds, their performances were good enough to finish in the top five. Meanwhile, IM Polina Shuvalova won the women's prize.
June 24 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | 1st Tiebreak |
| 1 | 6 | GM | @vi_pranav | Pranav V | 3228 | 10 | 76 | |
| 2 | 4 | GM | @HansOnTwitch | Hans Niemann | 3270 | 9.5 | 73.5 | |
| 3 | 2 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3311 | 9.5 | 70 | |
| 4 | 8 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 3152 | 9 | 78.5 | |
| 5 | 3 | GM | @Firouzja2003 | Alireza Firouzja | 3317 | 9 | 76 | |
| 6 | 12 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 3191 | 9 | 76 | |
| 7 | 7 | GM | @Parhamov | Parham Maghsoodloo | 3193 | 9 | 69.5 | |
| 8 | 5 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3233 | 9 | 68 | |
| 9 | 45 | GM | @Alexander_Donchenko | Alexander Donchenko | 3019 | 9 | 66 | |
| 10 | 42 | GM | @penguingm1 | Andrew Tang | 3010 | 9 | 64 | |
| 11 | 21 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3107 | 8.5 | 75.5 | |
| 12 | 105 | IM | @blitzking1729 | Srihari L R | 2896 | 8.5 | 74 | |
| 13 | 17 | GM | @GM_dmitrij | Dmitrij Kollars | 3104 | 8.5 | 71.5 | |
| 14 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3333 | 8.5 | 70.5 | |
| 15 | 9 | GM | @FabianoCaruana | Fabiano Caruana | 3173 | 8.5 | 70.5 | |
| 16 | 22 | GM | @Grandelicious | Nils Grandelius | 3071 | 8.5 | 64.5 | |
| 17 | 64 | GM | @shimastream | Aleksandr Shimanov | 2990 | 8.5 | 63 | |
| 18 | 43 | IM | @monomita | Mayank Chakraborty | 3016 | 8.5 | 60 | |
| 19 | 166 | IM | @Armen_ChessMate | Armen Barseghyan | 2768 | 8.5 | 59.5 | |
| 20 | 60 | GM | @Byniolus | Zbigniew Pakleza | 2969 | 8.5 | 58 | |
| 75 | 148 | IM | @Flawless_Fighter | Polina Shuvalova | 2761 | 7 | 62 |
Prizes: Pranav $1,000, Niemann $750, Carlsen $350, Xiong $200, Firouzja $100, Shuvalova $100.
Late Tournament
Of the 474 players in the late event, two managed to get through without a loss. Lazavik, as Pranav had, made two draws, although they came in rounds eight and 10. GM Fabiano Caruana was the other player not to lose a game, but he only won one of his last five, with draws in all the others. The two faced off in the eighth round, with Caruana ending Lazavik's perfect 7/7 start.
Yet Lazavik never lost the sole lead after scoring those first seven points. In the ninth round, he picked up where he had left off, despite the always-difficult GM Hikaru Nakamura matchup. As engines are bound to do when Black selects the King's Indian Defense, Stockfish liked White's position out of the opening, but Lazavik kept fighting, eventually turned the tide, and delivered checkmate on move 80.
Caruana also won in the ninth round, against GM Oleksandr Bortnyk, but it turned out to be his last victory of the tournament.
After 10 rounds, Lazavik found himself in a similar position as Niemann earlier, up half a point on the field and needing a win to clinch victory. But where Niemann was unable to clinch, Lazavik was, largely thanks to a faster finger than his opponent, 2024 World Rapid Champion GM Volodar Murzin. Lazavik still had 12 seconds left when Murzin lost on time in a position the computer figured as equal.
Despite their losses highlighted here, Bortnyk and Nakamura wound up with enough points and tiebreaks to finish top five along with GM Parham Maghsoodloo, while GM Tan Zhongyi finished 26th and won the women's prize. Bortnyk finished third after beating Niemann in the last game, thanks to an extra pawn out of the opening that he was able to convert.
June 24 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | 1st Tiebreak |
| 1 | 7 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 3191 | 10 | 77 | |
| 2 | 8 | GM | @FabianoCaruana | Fabiano Caruana | 3173 | 9 | 84.5 | |
| 3 | 14 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3107 | 9 | 75.5 | |
| 4 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3333 | 9 | 75 | |
| 5 | 6 | GM | @Parhamov | Parham Maghsoodloo | 3193 | 9 | 72 | |
| 6 | 9 | GM | @PursuitOfHappyness2 | Abhimanyu Mishra | 3136 | 9 | 70.5 | |
| 7 | 12 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 3123 | 9 | 66 | |
| 8 | 15 | GM | @Volodar_Murzin | Volodar Murzin | 3074 | 8.5 | 76.5 | |
| 9 | 32 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3021 | 8.5 | 71.5 | |
| 10 | 49 | GM | @DarkAlekhine | Stamatis Kourkoulos-Arditis | 2932 | 8.5 | 70 | |
| 11 | 86 | GM | @Elsa167 | Leon Livaic | 2858 | 8.5 | 62.5 | |
| 12 | 11 | GM | @sergoy | Sergey Drygalov | 3114 | 8 | 73 | |
| 13 | 24 | GM | @Sanan_Sjugirov | Sanan Sjugirov | 3014 | 8 | 72.5 | |
| 14 | 42 | IM | @Szparu | Miłosz Szpar | 2958 | 8 | 70.5 | |
| 15 | 21 | GM | @rasmussvane | Rasmus Svane | 3017 | 8 | 67.5 | |
| 16 | 3 | GM | @HansOnTwitch | Hans Niemann | 3270 | 8 | 67.5 | |
| 17 | 20 | GM | @SantoBlue | Vahap Sanal | 3024 | 8 | 67 | |
| 18 | 67 | GM | @Igor_Lysyj | Igor Lysyj | 2874 | 8 | 64.5 | |
| 19 | 31 | IM | @mbojan | Bojan Maksimović | 2964 | 8 | 62.5 | |
| 20 | 37 | GM | @Fandorine | Maksim Chigaev | 2969 | 8 | 61.5 | |
| 26 | 117 | GM | @daika91 | Zhongyi Tan | 2789 | 7.5 | 73 |
Prizes: Lazavik $1,000, Caruana $750, Bortnyk $350, Nakamura $200, Maghsoodloo $100, Tan $100.
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.
