Xiong Wins May 25 Titled Tuesday
GM Jeffery Xiong won the May 25 Titled Tuesday tournament outright with a score of 10/11, his second win in as many months. GM Vladimir Dobrov finished second with 9.5/11 on a tiebreak over third-place GM Salem Saleh after both won in the final round, while fourth place went to GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov with the best tiebreak out of five players on 9/11.
592 titled players participated in this week's Titled Tuesday tournament, with players like GM Hikaru Nakamura playing in the FTX Crypto Cup. As usual, this week's Titled Tuesday was an 11-round Swiss with a 3+1 time control.
The live broadcast of the tournament, hosted this week by IM Kostya Kavutskiy.
Xiong survived an early scare in round two against FM Emin Ohanyan, trailing at one point by two pawns without compensation (after prior complications on moves 11-15), but used Ohanyan's time trouble and a promotion tactic to pull out the win.
For the second straight week, a mate-in-one was missed by both players in a game. GM Steven Zierk had just defeated Xiong on time in round five to reach 5/5 when he missed a chance out of the opening for a win against GM Raunak Sadhwani, who went on to win and reached 8/8 in the tournament before finishing fifth.
The round nine encounter between Xiong and Sadhwani was the turning point of the event. Xiong broke through in the endgame with the nice shot 34...Nxb3 to take the win.
With two more wins in the final two rounds, Xiong wrapped up a nearly flawless tournament victory. His only loss, in round five, came on time in an equal rook endgame. Second-place Dobrov did not lose a single game, scoring +8 =3.
May 25 Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 4 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 3020 | 10 | 68.5 | |
| 2 | 41 | GM | @VladDobrov | Vladimir Dobrov | 2885 | 9.5 | 65 | |
| 3 | 1 | GM | @Arabicfalcon | Salem AR Saleh | 3011 | 9.5 | 62.75 | |
| 4 | 14 | GM | @ChessWarrior7197 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | 2957 | 9 | 62.75 | |
| 5 | 6 | GM | @champ2005 | Raunak Sadhwani | 3002 | 9 | 59.5 | |
| 6 | 21 | GM | @Beca95 | Aleksandar Indjic | 2939 | 9 | 58 | |
| 7 | 29 | IM | @ChristopherYoo | Christopher Woojin Yoo | 2885 | 9 | 52.75 | |
| 8 | 24 | GM | @rpragchess | Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu | 2912 | 9 | 51.5 | |
| 9 | 10 | GM | @Alexander_Zubov | Alexander Zubov | 2974 | 8.5 | 58.25 | |
| 10 | 43 | GM | @TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 2844 | 8.5 | 55.75 | |
| 11 | 13 | GM | @mishanick | Aleksey Sarana | 2959 | 8.5 | 55.25 | |
| 12 | 54 | GM | @Gabrielian_Artur | Artur Gabrielian | 2787 | 8.5 | 53.25 | |
| 13 | 9 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 2983 | 8.5 | 49.25 | |
| 14 | 18 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 2922 | 8.5 | 46.75 | |
| 15 | 46 | GM | @nrvisakh | Visakh NR | 2839 | 8.5 | 44 | |
| 16 | 34 | GM | @Alexsur1981 | Aleksei Pridorozhni | 2862 | 8 | 53.5 | |
| 17 | 5 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara | 2964 | 8 | 51.5 | |
| 18 | 86 | GM | @Dyadya81 | Gevorg Harutjunyan | 2731 | 8 | 50.5 | |
| 19 | 127 | FM | @Kretov_Evgenij | Evgenij Kretov | 2680 | 8 | 49.5 | |
| 19 | 57 | IM | @Semen_Khanin | Semen Khanin | 2793 | 8 | 49.5 |
(Full final standings here.)
Xiong won $750 for first place, Dobrov $400 for second, Saleh $150 for third, and Abdusattorov $100 for fourth. The $100 prize for the top female player went to GM Aleksandra Goryachkina, who finished with 7/11 and a better tiebreak than GM Alexandra Kosteniuk by just a quarter-point.
Titled Tuesday is Chess.com's weekly tournament for titled players. It starts each Tuesday at 10 a.m. Pacific time (19:00 Central Europe).
