Tomashevsky, Oparin Win November Titled Tuesday

Two Russians topped Chess.com's November Titled Tuesday with performances of 8.5/10 each. GM Evgeny Tomashevsky (@EvgenyT), known as "The Professor" for his solidity, glasses, and demeanor, and Grigory Oparin (@OparinGrigoriy), one of Russia's rising talents. Each reached a score of 8.5/10, enough lift them above the rest of the field. This was Tomashevsky's first Titled Tuesday win and Oparin's second.

A field of 313 titled players participated in the event, making it the third-largest Titled Tuesday in our records.

Unfortunately, the 10-0 performance scored by username danyuffa was deemed ineligible for prizes. That account has since been closed and disqualified from the event.

Tomashevsky won many nice games, but the author's favorite was this spectacular duel where he promoted a queen and immediately sacrificed it to avoid mate and launch a counterattack.

Even positional masters employ fireworks at times. | Photo: Maria Emelianova, Chess.com.

Tomashevsky got a little bit lucky in this later game when his opponent could have pushed his h-pawn through to promotion.

However, Tomashevsky's luck ran out against another positional "professor" when he forfeited on time against GM Pavel Eljanov (@eljanov) in a winning position. Both players were surprisingly low on time in a positional middlegame.

Oparin achieved several nice breakthroughs in his games. Perhaps the most interesting and instructive was his game against GM Alexey Sarana (@mishanick) where he sacrificed many pawns to assure that his b- and h-pawns could not be stopped.

At 21, Oparin still has a lot of improvement ahead. | Photo: Maria Emelianova, Chess.com.

Many elite blitz chess players competed but did not quite make it into the prizes at the end. One such player was the Speed Chess Championship semifinalist Jan-Krzysztof Duda (@PolishFighter_3000) who continually played sharp and exciting chess, including winning this fork-filled game.

Jan-Krystzof Duda. 

GM Alireza Firouzja (@Firouzja2003), one of the best blitz chess players on site, has never really put together a convincing Titled Tuesday run. This event, he both won and lost many exciting games. Here is one amusing miniature where he sacked and sacked his way to a quick Sicilian checkmate.

Thanks to all the players for competing in another exciting Titled Tuesday! Perhaps in December, Magnus Carlsen and Fabiano Caruana will be freed from the pressures of classical chess draws and be in the mood for some exciting blitz chess. 

Final Standings | November Titled Tuesday

Complete cross tables and games are available here.

Commentary was provided on twitch.tv/chess. It was without a doubt the worst commentary thus far provided in Titled Tuesday. 

Watch November Titled Tuesday with host NM Sam Copeland from Chess on www.twitch.tv

Tomashevsky and Oparin each received $450 for their shared victory. GMs Gawain Jones (@verdenotte), Raud Mamedov (@muisback), Conrad Holt (@dretch), Maxim Lugovskoy @(Lugovskoy_Maxim), and Eljanov split third place and all won $100.

GM Robert Hess (@RLH2) won this month's streamers' prize, 20 subs that were given to his audience. Those who can't get enough of Hess should be sure to tune in to the official world championship coverage on Chess.com/TV where Hess is co-commentating with IM Daniel Rensch.

Watch Titled Tuesday! from gmhess on www.twitch.tv