Terry Time As Peruvian IM Wins Freestyle Friday By Full Point
IM Renato Terry won the first Freestyle Friday of April by a full point, scoring 9.5/11. Even with the FIDE Candidates and the Grenke Chess Festival occurring at the same time, the Freestyle Friday Championship continued apace, and Terry moved into second place on the leaderboard behind only GM Oleksandr Bortnyk. Terry became the first player to win multiple Freestyle Fridays since the Championship began, in what was his fourth Freestyle Friday victory overall.
Bortnyk didn't play this week, but three regulars—Terry, GM Nils Grandelius, and GM Pranesh M—began 4/4. Grandelius and Terry each moved to 5/5, then faced off in round six. A wild sequence on moves 15-20 ended with Grandelius having two bishops and a knight against Terry's queen and extra pawn. But Terry's king was in trouble, and he soon gave up an additional exchange. Grandelius briefly let Terry back into the game, but ultimately held on to move to 6/6, a full point more than anyone else.
Grandelius's first attempt at defending his perfect score came against GM Zhamsaran Tsydypov, who recently won Titled Tuesday, and they could only reach an equal rook endgame. Terry, meanwhile, recovered from his setback to defeat GM Sina Movahed in just 23 moves, making Terry the only player within half a point of Grandelius.
It only took one more round for Terry to get all the way back. He defeated Tsydypov, and while Grandelius obtained a winning ending against Pranesh, he wasn't able to convert it and settled for the draw instead. With Grandelius and Terry on 7/8 entering the second break, five other players were a point behind on 6/8.
When play resumed, Grandelius had White against IM Khuong Duy Dau and Terry Black against IM Faustino Oro. Khuong won dramatically, with a rook sacrifice leading directly to mate.
Soon after, Terry won after a miscalculation by Oro, putting Terry into the sole full-point lead, ahead of Grandelius, Khoung, GM Rinat Jumabayev, and IM Quoc Hy Nguyen. It was Khuong who would take the first shot at clipping Terry's lead, but they played an uneventful draw where neither player had a significant advantage for even one play. That was a better result for Terry, of course, who still led the tournament outright, albeit now by half a point against Nguyen.
They had played all the way back in round three, and so for the second straight week, an 8.5-point victor was a possibility were Terry to lose and Nugyen draw. Terry took White against GM Haik Martirosyan, and Nguyen Black against Jumabayev on 7.5 points. Khuong, also with 7.5, had a relevant game as well with White against Tsydypov.
White got an edge in all three games. Jumabayev won first, and Terry now needed only a draw to clinch the tournament. Khuong won next, and Terry remained in the driver's seat to deliver mate.
Khuong and Jumabayev both scored 8.5 points, with Khuong taking second place on tiebreaks. Pranesh took fourth place. IM Le Thao Nguyen Pham, who defeated Tsydypov in round one, won the women's prize, moving into third in the women's Championship Standings. GM Anna Muzychuk continues to lead those after finishing second among this week's women players.
April 3 Freestyle Friday | Final Standings (Top 25)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | 1st Tiebreak |
| 1 | 4 | IM | @MITerryble | Renato Terry | 2746 | 9.5 | 70 | |
| 2 | 7 | IM | @ChessFighter_2011 | Dau Khuong Duy | 2695 | 8.5 | 69.5 | |
| 3 | 13 | GM | @Jumbo | Rinat Jumabayev | 2639 | 8.5 | 65 | |
| 4 | 6 | GM | @artooon | Pranesh M | 2695 | 8 | 71.5 | |
| 5 | 12 | IM | @FaustinoOro | Faustino Oro | 2637 | 8 | 69 | |
| 6 | 18 | IM | @Carnivoras | Quoc Hy Nguyen | 2554 | 8 | 67.5 | |
| 7 | 37 | IM | @sathvikadiga | Sathvik Adiga | 2413 | 8 | 65 | |
| 8 | 5 | GM | @Grandelicious | Nils Grandelius | 2685 | 7 | 75.5 | |
| 9 | 9 | GM | @BillieKimbah | Maxim Matlakov | 2630 | 7 | 69.5 | |
| 10 | 2 | GM | @Zhuu96 | Zhamsaran Tsydypov | 2733 | 7 | 66 | |
| 11 | 3 | GM | @Micki-taryan | Haik Martirosyan | 2684 | 7 | 59.5 | |
| 12 | 34 | FM | @GM_path | Aldiyar Zhauynbay | 2408 | 7 | 58 | |
| 13 | 41 | GM | @Iskusnyh | Sergei Iskusnyh | 2348 | 7 | 58 | |
| 14 | 29 | CM | @alexboy14 | Oleksii Nakonechnyi | 2410 | 7 | 53.5 | |
| 15 | 1 | GM | @Sina-Movahed | Sina Movahed | 2723 | 6.5 | 73.5 | |
| 16 | 15 | FM | @ilqar_74 | Rustam Rustamov | 2559 | 6.5 | 58 | |
| 17 | 17 | GM | @Gareth-Bale11 | Mamikon Gharibyan | 2517 | 6.5 | 58 | |
| 18 | 43 | NM | @ChosenCheese | Alexander Heimann | 2461 | 6.5 | 53.5 | |
| 19 | 25 | FM | @Bryantman2014 | Seyed Kian Ghoreishi Amiri | 2425 | 6.5 | 50.5 | |
| 20 | 32 | CM | @rostovmaxim | Maxim Borisov | 2389 | 6 | 60 | |
| 21 | 71 | CM | @SuanQuek | Suan Shiau Quek | 1995 | 6 | 57.5 | |
| 22 | 57 | NM | @Itay121 | Itay Sitbon | 2261 | 6 | 55 | |
| 23 | 50 | FM | @F7m_08 | Famil Kishiev | 2363 | 6 | 54 | |
| 24 | 38 | IM | @Fh2411 | Le Thao Nguyen Pham | 2335 | 6 | 51 | |
| 25 | 69 | CM | @Tamizhamudhan2017 | Tamizh Amudhan S | 2377 | 6 | 49 |
Prizes: Terry $400, Khuong $250, Jumabayev $150, Pranesh $100, Le $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.
