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Tie-tled Tuesday Continues To Draw Crowds

Tie-tled Tuesday Continues To Draw Crowds

NathanielGreen
| 12 | Chess Event Coverage

As Titled Tuesday gets more crowded, with 700+ players in the early tournament and 500+ in the late tournament both of the last two weeks, ties atop the standings seem to be getting more commonplace. GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave emerged from a five-way tie in the early tournament of January 16 to win on tiebreaks, while GM Alexey Sarana won the late tournament ahead of GM Levon Aronian in a more modest two-way tie.

GM Hikaru Nakamura continues to lead the Titled Cup standings in the early going, although second-place Sarana remains close behind.


Early Tournament

With 714 players in the fight early, it was another free-for-all at the top after four players out of 733 tied for the lead last week. Vachier-Lagrave led the first tiebreak score by 2.5 points to claim the victory, with the next three players all half a point within each other. The third-place tie between GM Vladimir Fedoseev and Nakamura even came down to the second tiebreak.

Both Vachier-Lagrave and GM Jose Martinez had been on 7.5 points out of eight when they faced each other in the ninth round. Vachier-Lagrave won to take the inside track on the tournament.

Martinez still managed to finished in second despite the loss—one of just two suffered by anyone in the top five—by winning his final two games. In the final round, while Vachier-Lagrave and Fedoseev were making the infamous "Berlin draw" in order to guarantee at least a tie for first, Martinez defeated GM Vahap Sanal.

Nakamura also defeated GM David Navara in the last round and GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda toppled IM Mukhiddin Madaminov. Nakamura and Duda thus both joined the 9.5-point crew as well.

January 16 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number Rk Fed Title Username Name Rating Score Tiebreak 1
1 6 GM @LyonBeast Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 3158 9.5 79
2 13 GM @Jospem Jose Martinez 3086 9.5 76.5
3 20 GM @Bigfish1995 Vladimir Fedoseev 3080 9.5 76
4 2 GM @Hikaru Hikaru Nakamura 3222 9.5 76
5 15 GM @Polish_fighter3000 Jan-Krzysztof Duda 3097 9.5 73.5
6 4 GM @Firouzja2003 Alireza Firouzja 3142 9 77
7 14 GM @FairChess_on_YouTube Dmitry Andreikin 3109 9 75
8 8 GM @Oleksandr_Bortnyk Oleksandr Bortnyk 3071 9 72.5
9 22 IM @Rud_Makarian Rudik Makarian 3053 9 63.5
10 82 IM @PLAYER_2006_M Mukhiddin Madaminov 2925 8.5 79
11 142 IM @sokidze Ihor Samunenkov 2838 8.5 77
12 11 GM @GMWSO Wesley So 3082 8.5 69.5
13 51 GM @SantoBlue Vahap Sanal 2955 8.5 68.5
14 9 GM @Grischuk Alexander Grischuk 3080 8.5 68
15 27 GM @shimastream Aleksandr Shimanov 3018 8.5 66.5
16 76 GM @jcibarra José Carlos Ibarra Jerez 2885 8.5 66
17 26 GM @sergoy Sergey Drygalov 2985 8.5 64.5
18 28 GM @FormerProdigy David Navara 3022 8.5 64.5
19 24 GM @Njal28 Aram Hakobyan 3006 8.5 57.5
20 21 GM @BogdanDeac Bogdan Daniel Deac 3003 8.5 55.5
73 269 IM @karinachess1 Karina Ambartsumova 2612 7 62.5

(Full final standings here.)

Vachier-Lagrave won $1,000, Martinez $750, Fedoseev $350, Nakamura $200, and Duda $100. IM Karina Ambartsumova claimed the $100 women's prize with seven points.

Late Tournament

There were 506 players in the late field, which continues to draw crowds that the early tournament sometimes didn't reach in past months. Sarana jumped out to a perfect 7/7 start by beating Nakamura in the seventh round.

Sarana only scored half a point in his next two games, but then finished things off with two more wins against GM David Paravyan and Fedoseev. Meanwhile, Aronian, who was upset in round three by GM David Gavrilescu and then made a draw in round six, won his last five games to join Sarana on 9.5 total points.

But the two never faced each other, and with one round left, it was GM Arjun Erigaisi who led the tournament. However, he faced Aronian and lost.

Aronian's win not only helped him leapfrog Arjun, but helped Sarana as well, and while the tiebreak scores were close in the early tournament, Sarana easily had better marks than Aronian. 

January 16 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number Rk Fed Title Username Name Rating Score Tiebreak 1
1 10 GM @mishanick Aleksei Sarana 3110 9.5 76.5
2 5 GM @LevonAronian Levon Aronian 3111 9.5 64.5
3 24 GM @GHANDEEVAM2003 Arjun Erigaisi 3025 9 78.5
4 7 GM @FairChess_on_YouTube Dmitry Andreikin 3109 9 76
5 20 GM @iturrizaga Eduardo Iturrizaga 3027 9 59
6 23 GM @jefferyx Jeffery Xiong 3012 9 58.5
7 9 GM @Grischuk Alexander Grischuk 3080 9 56
8 12 GM @Bigfish1995 Vladimir Fedoseev 3080 8.5 75.5
9 8 GM @Polish_fighter3000 Jan-Krzysztof Duda 3097 8.5 74.5
10 1 GM @Hikaru Hikaru Nakamura 3222 8.5 73
11 22 GM @dropstoneDP David Paravyan 3024 8.5 71
12 31 GM @Angry_Twin Andrey Drygalov 2976 8.5 70
13 25 GM @ChristopherYoo Christopher Yoo 2994 8.5 67
14 32 GM @Sebastian Leinier Dominguez 2998 8.5 66
15 15 GM @Msb2 Matthias Bluebaum 3031 8.5 60
16 114 GM @GMAkobianSTL Varuzhan Akobian 2751 8.5 57.5
17 26 GM @rasmussvane Rasmus Svane 2983 8 73.5
18 39 GM @AntonSmirnov Anton Smirnov 2962 8 72.5
19 55 GM @Sargsyan_Shant Shant Sargsyan 2895 8 70
20 91 FM @GoltsevDmitry2000 Goltsev Dmitry 2784 8 66
82 118 GM @Goryachkina Aleksandra Goryachkina 2683 6.5 56.5

(Full final standings here.)

Sarana won $1,000 and Aronian $750. Arjun held onto third place for a $350 prize, while GM Dmitry Andreikin and GM Eduardo Iturrizaga rounded out the top five for $200 and $100, respectively. GM Aleksandra Goryachkina won the $100 women's prize with 6.5 points.

Titled Cup Standings

The top three leaders in the open standings and top four in the women's remain unchanged. 

Open

# Username Score Player
1 @Hikaru 45.0 GM Hikaru Nakamura
2 @mishanick 44.0 GM Alexey Sarana
3 @dropstoneDP 41.5 GM David Paravyan
4 @Msb2 40.0 GM Matthias Bluebaum
5 @Zhigalko_Sergei 39.5 GM Sergei Zhigalko

Women

# Username Score Player
1 @Goryachkina 33.0 GM Aleksandra Goryachkina
2 @karinachess1 29.5 IM Karina Ambartsumova
3 @jinbojinbo 27.5 GM Jiner Zhu
4 @anasta10 25.0 FM Anastasia Avramidou
5 @sansanathalia 21.0 WFM Megan Althea Paragua

Other Category Leaders

Juniors: CM Artem Bardyk (32.0 points)

Seniors: GM Alex Rustemov (36.5 points)

Girls: WFM Megan Althea Paragua (21.0 points)

Titled Tuesday


Titled Tuesday is Chess.com's weekly tournament for titled players, with two tournaments held each Tuesday. The first tournament begins at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Standard Time, and the second at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time/23:00 Central European/2:30 Indian Standard Time (next day).

NathanielGreen
Nathaniel Green

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.

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