French And German GMs Split Tuesday Tournament
GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France and GM Dmitrij Kollars of Germany were the winners of Titled Tuesday on June 20. GM Gata Kamsky, who won one of last week's events, nearly pulled it off again in the early tournament, finishing second behind Vachier-Lagrave on tiebreak score out of the four players on 9.5 points.
Early Tournament
The early field of 541 was packed as usual. Just outside the top five, in the sixth through eighth spots in the final standings, were GMs Hikaru Nakamura, Dmitry Andreikin, and Magnus Carlsen. Also in the top 20 were GMs Alexander Grischuk and Vladimir Kramnik.
Sometimes the aura of these players is quite strong, even to fellow grandmasters. The former world champion Kramnik got a resignation from his opponent in an equal position in round 10.
Through it all, Vachier-Lagrave emerged to win his third Titled Tuesday of the year. His two most difficult wins in terms of strength of opposition were also his most critical of the tournament, starting with a win against Carlsen in round eight.
After Vachier-Lagrave made draws in rounds nine and ten, he faced Grischuk in round 11. Grischuk, like Carlsen, played the French Defense against the Frenchman, but perhaps a different choice was in order.
Despite these games, a decisive contest between Kamsky and GM Pranav V in the final round would have produced a different winner. Kamsky came oh-so-close to taking his second consecutive early tournament after some great defense and counterattack, but under severe time pressure could not find the win, and the players made a draw by repetition. As a result, they settled into second and third place due to the tiebreaks.
June 20 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak |
| 1 | 4 | GM | @LyonBeast | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 3127 | 9.5 | 76.5 | |
| 2 | 16 | GM | @TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 3033 | 9.5 | 75.5 | |
| 3 | 13 | GM | @vi_pranav | Pranav V | 3035 | 9.5 | 70.5 | |
| 4 | 15 | GM | @OparinGrigoriy | Grigoriy Oparin | 3046 | 9.5 | 65 | |
| 5 | 48 | GM | @VerdeNotte | Gawain Jones | 2952 | 9 | 74 | |
| 6 | 2 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3214 | 9 | 71 | |
| 7 | 23 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3001 | 9 | 67 | |
| 8 | 1 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3293 | 8.5 | 75.5 | |
| 9 | 12 | GM | @dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 3029 | 8.5 | 73.5 | |
| 10 | 11 | GM | @Grischuk | Alexander Grischuk | 3047 | 8.5 | 70 | |
| 11 | 9 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 3027 | 8.5 | 68 | |
| 12 | 27 | GM | @Denis_Makhnyov | Denis Makhnev | 2950 | 8.5 | 66.5 | |
| 13 | 29 | GM | @Njal28 | Aram Hakobyan | 2955 | 8.5 | 65.5 | |
| 14 | 6 | GM | @VladimirKramnik | Vladimir Kramnik | 3049 | 8.5 | 65.5 | |
| 15 | 5 | GM | @GM_dmitrij | Dmitrij Kollars | 3050 | 8.5 | 65 | |
| 16 | 32 | GM | @Durarbayli | Vasif Durarbayli | 2930 | 8.5 | 60 | |
| 17 | 20 | GM | @Indianlad | S.L. Narayanan | 2964 | 8.5 | 58.5 | |
| 18 | 25 | IM | @Rud_Makarian | Rudik Makarian | 2958 | 8 | 71 | |
| 19 | 7 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3039 | 8 | 71 | |
| 20 | 28 | IM | @gurelediz | Ediz Gürel | 2965 | 8 | 69 | |
| 44 | 176 | WIM | @Qnmeng | Kaiyu Ning | 2730 | 7.5 | 61 |
(Full final standings here.)
Vachier-Lagrave earned $1,000 for his victory. Kamsky took home $750 in second place and Pranav $350 in third place. GM Grigoriy Oparin also had 9.5 points but finished fourth for $200. The $100 prize winners were GM Gawain Jones in fifth place and WIM Kaiyu Ning as the highest-scoring woman in the tournament.
Late Tournament
Kollars and eventual second-place finisher GM Alireza Firouzja battled in round six, Firouzja winning the game with a Trompowsky Attack.
However, a pair of French Titled Tuesday winners was not to be. From that point forward, Kollars only drew one more game and won the rest. In the final round, he took on Nakamura... and won.
One more player in addition to Kollars and Firouzja finished with the same first-place score. That was GM David Paravyan, who began with the rare 9.5/10, needing just a draw in the last round to lock up first place. Unfortunately, he made a highly unusual oversight in his final-round game against Firouzja and settled for third place.
June 20 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak |
| 1 | 10 | GM | @GM_dmitrij | Dmitrij Kollars | 3064 | 9.5 | 71.5 | |
| 2 | 3 | GM | @Firouzja2003 | Alireza Firouzja | 3147 | 9.5 | 70 | |
| 3 | 7 | GM | @dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 3068 | 9.5 | 64.5 | |
| 4 | 6 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3066 | 9 | 73.5 | |
| 5 | 78 | GM | @Rodalquilar | Leonardo Tristan | 2762 | 9 | 58.5 | |
| 6 | 2 | FM | @tsaruk_maks | Maksim Tsaruk | 2851 | 9 | 49.5 | |
| 7 | 45 | GM | @alexrustemov | Alexander Rustemov | 2895 | 8.5 | 68.5 | |
| 8 | 46 | IM | @KhazarBabazada007 | Khazar Babazada | 2896 | 8.5 | 66 | |
| 9 | 19 | GM | @Njal28 | Aram Hakobyan | 2967 | 8.5 | 65 | |
| 10 | 49 | GM | @sergiochess83 | Sergey Grigoriants | 2861 | 8.5 | 62.5 | |
| 11 | 26 | GM | @Beca95 | Aleksandar Indjic | 2925 | 8.5 | 62 | |
| 12 | 8 | GM | @TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 3025 | 8.5 | 60.5 | |
| 13 | 2 | FM | @Chessmissile07 | Suresh Harsh | 2841 | 8.5 | 53.5 | |
| 14 | 18 | IM | @MITerryble | Renato Terry | 2963 | 8 | 78 | |
| 15 | 13 | GM | @ChristopherYoo | Christopher Woojin Yoo | 3010 | 8 | 75.5 | |
| 16 | 2 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3219 | 8 | 74.5 | |
| 17 | 47 | GM | @dretch | Conrad Holt | 2864 | 8 | 70 | |
| 18 | 30 | GM | @eljanov | Pavel Eljanov | 2908 | 8 | 67 | |
| 19 | 34 | GM | @AryanTari | Aryan Tari | 2908 | 8 | 66.5 | |
| 20 | 38 | GM | @jcibarra | José Ibarra | 2902 | 8 | 66.5 | |
| 35 | 100 | GM | @Goryachkina | Aleksandra Goryachkina | 2688 | 7.5 | 58 |
(Full final standings here.)
Kollars won $1,000 with his first place finish while Firouzja earned $750 in second and Paravyan settled for the $350 third-place prize. GM Jose Martinez, who started on 7/7 but couldn't stop Paravyan, earned $200 in fourth place. GM Leonardo Tristan finished in fifth for $100. GM Aleksandra Goryachkina won another $100 women's prize, her third in the last four weeks and fourth of the year.
Titled Tuesday is a Swiss tournament for Titled Players that is played every week on Chess.com. The two 11-round tournaments running each Tuesday are an early event at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Standard Time, and a later one 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.
