Sam Sevian won the largest Titled Tuesday ever with an impressive 9/10 score.

Sevian Wins April Titled Tuesday

NM SamCopeland

Updated: Apr 10, 2019, 5:14 PM | 65 | Chess.com News

A day earlier, and the numbers would have been suspiciously good, but Titled Tuesday on April 2 was no joke as it set the record for the largest Titled Tuesday ever with 432 titled participants, including Hikaru Nakamura, Alexander Grischuk, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alireza Firouzja and more.

Perhaps we will see a Titled Tuesday break 500 participants this year?

As the kids would say, this #TitledTuesday lineup is lit!

I think just a few strong players are competing... maybe a couple... maybe. pic.twitter.com/DeaGooz3Cj
— Daniel Rensch (@DanielRensch) April 2, 2019

The event began with some nice tactics as the Bullet Chess Champion qualifier, Firouzja, gave up his queen to conclude round one with a lovely checkmate.

Shortly thereafter, GM Simon Williams (who recently achieved a 5/5 Titled Tuesday start) put a little something in his opponent's pipe to smoke. The finish was everything fans of the Ginger GM could have hoped for

These early smashing successes aside, winning such a packed Titled Tuesday is all about amassing a massive score of at least 8.5/10. Stars like Nakamura, Grischuk, and Nepomniachtchi achieved victories in the first several rounds but then dropped some critical full and half-points to their opponents. One player who knocked off one of these "big three" was Aryan Tari, who defeated Grischuk in the final round to secure a top-10 finish for himself. The ending mate was quite pleasing.

Ultimately, Sam Sevian was the only player to reach a victorious 9/10 points, but his run started quite inauspiciously when he lost in round two after his beautiful attack fell apart. Rh4?? proved a costly step backward when the computer engine Stockfish's Qg4! would have forced mate.

However, after that early misstep, Sevian compiled a magnificent eight wins in a row with a series of attacking games. Here is a particularly nice victory where being down the exchange was no problem for Sevian, who eventually broke through on the kingside.

April Titled Tuesday | Final Standings

Place	Seed	Fed	Title	Username	Name	Score
1	35		GM	Konavets	Sam Sevian	9
2	88		GM	dreamist	Vladimir Zakhartsov	8.5
2	31		GM	maloy07	Javohir Sindarov	8.5
4	41		IM	GadimbayliA	Abdulla Gadimbayli	8
5	63		IM	KenanGarayev	Kanan Garayev	8
6	191		CM	vovachesss	Vladimir Mikhailovsky	8
7	53		IM	Korchmar_Vasiliy	Vasiliy Korchmar	8
7	54		GM	GataKamsky1974	Gata Kamsky	8
9	10		GM	Micki-taryan	Haik Martirosyan	8
10	34		GM	AryanTari	Aryan Tari	8
11	5		GM	lachesisQ	Ian Nepomniachtchi	8
12	21		GM	RayRobson	Ray Robson	8
13	9		GM	penguingm1	Andrew Tang	8
14	236		IM	Benji93		7.5
15	165		GM	SavelijTartakover	Dmitry Kryakvin	7.5
16	197		IM	Shant_Sargsyan	Shant Sargsyan	7.5
17	4		GM	2Vladimirovich90	Dmitry Andreikin	7.5
17	16		GM	Annawel	Jules Moussard	7.5
19	215		FM	mbojan		7.5
20	15		GM	Guenplen	Boris Grachev	7
21	3		GM	Grischuk	Alexander Grischuk	7
22	48		GM	Amirreza_p	amirreza pourramezanali	7
23	80		GM	ElGasanov	Eldar Gasanov	7
24	101		IM	mikhaillushenkov	Mikhail Lushenkov	7
25	33		IM	champ2005	Raunak Sadhwani	7
26	111		GM	dommachess06	Gukesh D	7
27	18		GM	Andreikka	Andrey Esipenko	7
27	332		FM	sere99	Francesco	7
29	14		IM	wonderfultime	Tuan Minh Le	7
29	102		NM	12teen	Janak Awatramani	7
31	211		WIM	nurgyulsalimova	Nurgyul Salimova	7
32	90		FM	JonahWillow	Jonah Willow	7
33	68		GM	Last7Samurai	Cemil Can Ali Marandi	7
34	199		FM	djogrodek1		7
35	367		FM	VFernandezB	Victor Fernández Barrera	7
36	30		IM	IMxzh	Xu Zhihang	7
36	127		GM	Ginger_GM	Simon Williams	7
38	124		IM	David_ChessMood	David Shahinyan	7
39	328		CM	stepanosinovsky	Stepan Osinovsky	7

For full crosstables and results, go here.

GM Aman Hambleton streamed the event on Chess.com immediately after the PRO Chess League semifinals.

Sevian won $500 for his clear first-place finish while nine players each received an even $100 for splitting the remaining prize money. These were GMs Gata Kamsky, Haik Martirosyan, Arayan Tari, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Ray Robson, Andrew Tang, and IMs Abdulla Gadimbayli, Vasily Korchmar and CM Vladimir Mikhailovsky.

The 2019 U.S. chess champion, Hikaru Nakamura, won the top streamers prize of 20 gifted subs as he garnered a massive audience excited to hear his blitz thoughts.

Watch GM Hikaru Nakamura Titled Tuesday | !bullet | !youtube | from GMHikaru on www.twitch.tv

NM Sam Copeland

I'm the VP of Chess and Community for Chess.com. I earned the National Master title in 2012, and in 2014, I returned to my home state of South Carolina to start Strategery: Chess and Games. In late 2014, I began working for Chess.com and haven't looked back since.

You can find my personal content on Twitch , Twitter , and YouTube where I further indulge my love of chess.

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