Firouzja's Strong Tuesdays Continue
GM Alireza Firouzja won his third Titled Tuesday in the last two weeks on September 5, taking the late event with a score of 10/11 to follow up his sweep last week. GM Vugar Rasulov took home the early honors, scoring 9.5 points and winning on tiebreaks.
Early Tournament
There were 640 players in this week's early tournament, the most in any one Titled Tuesday this year. Rasulov outlasted a field that included both Firouzja and GM Hikaru Nakamura, and he did it without a single loss.
Three straight wins in rounds eight through 10 were the key for Rasulov, and he achieved them over GMs Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Anton Korobov, and Aleksandr Shimanov. Rasulov found some nice moves in the Duda game before achieving checkmate on the board.
The other wins came after Korobov hung a rook on move 22, and when Shimanov let his last 55 seconds expire on move 24, but they counted all the same.
Rasulov concluded with a 35-move draw against GM Tuan Minh Le, the latter of whom still finished in second place after having won in rounds 7-10. Those wins for Le included Nakamura in round nine and eventual third-place finisher GM Grigoriy Oparin in round 10. The game with Oparin was even most of the way through, until it was decided by a couple of inaccuracies.
Oparin recovered in the final round against GM Anton Demchenko, climbing back into a tie for first after the Rasulov-Le draw, though it was only enough to regain third place.
September 5 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
| 1 | 55 | GM | @vugarrasulov | Vugar Rasulov | 2963 | 9.5 | 76 | |
| 2 | 23 | GM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3025 | 9.5 | 71.5 | |
| 3 | 25 | GM | @OparinGrigoriy | Grigoriy Oparin | 3021 | 9.5 | 71 | |
| 4 | 2 | GM | @nihalsarin | Nihal Sarin | 3142 | 9.5 | 70.5 | |
| 5 | 56 | GM | @tptagain | David Anton | 2943 | 9 | 71 | |
| 6 | 14 | GM | @mishanick | Aleksei Sarana | 3065 | 9 | 67.5 | |
| 7 | 29 | GM | @shimastream | Aleksandr Shimanov | 2981 | 9 | 66.5 | |
| 8 | 48 | GM | @Parhamov | Parham Maghsoodloo | 2951 | 9 | 64.5 | |
| 9 | 22 | GM | @dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 3022 | 9 | 64.5 | |
| 10 | 3 | GM | @Sibelephant | Vladislav Artemiev | 3127 | 8.5 | 77 | |
| 11 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3246 | 8.5 | 74.5 | |
| 12 | 40 | GM | @Anton_Demchenko | Anton Demchenko | 2959 | 8.5 | 73.5 | |
| 13 | 20 | GM | @amintabatabaei | Amin Tabatabaei | 3024 | 8.5 | 71.5 | |
| 14 | 10 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 3069 | 8.5 | 71.5 | |
| 15 | 34 | GM | @Shield12 | Shamsiddin Vokhidov | 2971 | 8.5 | 69.5 | |
| 16 | 4 | GM | @Firouzja2003 | Alireza Firouzja | 3116 | 8.5 | 68 | |
| 17 | 13 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3053 | 8.5 | 67.5 | |
| 18 | 15 | GM | @artooon | Pranesh M | 3052 | 8.5 | 65.5 | |
| 19 | 16 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3040 | 8 | 77.5 | |
| 20 | 11 | GM | @HansOnTwitch | Hans Niemann | 3042 | 8 | 74.5 | |
| 65 | 324 | WFM | @malakismayil | Malak Ismayil | 2553 | 7 | 61 |
(Full final standings here.)
Rasulov's victory earned him $1,000 while Le took home $750 in second place and Oparin $350 in third. GM Nihal Sarin also scored 9.5/11 but finished fourth for $200. The best tiebreaks for the players on nine points went to GM David Anton, who finished fifth for $100. WFM Malak Ismayil won the $100 women's prize.
Late Tournament
Firouzja pretty much cruised to victory in the late tournament, holding the outright lead for the last three rounds, but it wasn't for lack of opposition in the field of 463. Both he and GM Fabiano Caruana were on 7.5/8 points entering the ninth round. Caruana was beginning to get a small pull, but then traded queens at the wrong time, and finally made a losing mistake on move 38.
Caruana had just defeated Nakamura and GM Magnus Carlsen in the previous two rounds, but a third consecutive top-10 player in the world was too much, and he also dropped his last two games to finish in 28th place.
But Firouzja continued his strong performance with a 10th-round win over Nihal, reaching 9.5 points to now lead the event by a full point.
Needing just a draw to lock up the clear-cut tournament win, Firouzja got there in 40 moves against second-place finisher GM Matthias Bluebaum, who ultimately edged out countryman GM Dmitrij Kollars on tiebreaks. Meanwhile, Nihal locked up another fourth-place finish, this time on nine points, with Nakamura in fifth. IM Renato Terry and GM Maxim Matlakov were on the outside looking in with their nine points.
September 5 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
| 1 | 5 | GM | @Firouzja2003 | Alireza Firouzja | 3147 | 10 | 68.5 | |
| 2 | 6 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 3110 | 9.5 | 71 | |
| 3 | 16 | GM | @GM_dmitrij | Dmitrij Kollars | 3063 | 9.5 | 67 | |
| 4 | 3 | GM | @nihalsarin | Nihal Sarin | 3152 | 9 | 73.5 | |
| 5 | 2 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3240 | 9 | 70.5 | |
| 6 | 37 | IM | @MITerryble | Renato Terry | 2939 | 9 | 68 | |
| 7 | 13 | GM | @BillieKimbah | Maxim Matlakov | 3053 | 9 | 67.5 | |
| 8 | 14 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3036 | 8.5 | 70 | |
| 9 | 9 | GM | @Bigfish1995 | Vladimir Fedoseev | 3077 | 8.5 | 69 | |
| 10 | 23 | FM | @Sina_Movahed | Sina Movahed | 2996 | 8.5 | 65.5 | |
| 11 | 48 | GM | @TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 2899 | 8.5 | 65 | |
| 12 | 1 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3238 | 8 | 79 | |
| 13 | 20 | GM | @BogdanDeac | Bogdan Daniel Deac | 3007 | 8 | 73 | |
| 14 | 10 | GM | @mishanick | Aleksei Sarana | 3056 | 8 | 69 | |
| 15 | 40 | GM | @Sanan_Sjugirov | Sanan Sjugirov | 2910 | 8 | 68.5 | |
| 16 | 32 | GM | @Fandorine | Maksim Chigaev | 2936 | 8 | 68.5 | |
| 17 | 28 | IM | @Rud_Makarian | Rudik Makarian | 2955 | 8 | 66 | |
| 18 | 18 | GM | @HansOnTwitch | Hans Niemann | 3012 | 8 | 65.5 | |
| 19 | 22 | GM | @Beca95 | Aleksandar Indjic | 2971 | 8 | 64 | |
| 20 | 4 | GM | @Sibelephant | Vladislav Artemiev | 3093 | 8 | 62.5 | |
| 91 | 104 | GM | @Goryachkina | Aleksandra Goryachkina | 2670 | 6 | 55.5 |
(Full final standings here.)
Firouzja won $1,000 for his efforts. Bluebaum took home $750 and Kollars $350 for their 9.5-point performances. Nihal added another $200 to his docket for the day for a total of $400, while Nakamura brought in $100. GM Aleksandra Goryachkina won the $100 women's prize.
Titled Tuesday is an 11-round Swiss tournament hosted weekly by Chess.com. There are two tournaments every Tuesday, one at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Standard Time, and the other 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.
