Carlsen Returns To Crush Titled Tuesday
GM Magnus Carlsen rejoined the Titled Tuesday winners column on May 9, his first time since November of last year. He scored 10 points to clear the rest of the early tournament field by a full point. GM Alexey Sarana won the late tournament, scraping by GM Hikaru Nakamura on tiebreaks.
Early Tournament
The early field of 497 was somewhat limited by Grand Chess Tour activities, but Carlsen and Nakamura were both here battling it out in Titled Tuesday. Carlsen started on a perfect 7/7 before he was finally held to a draw by GM Oleksandr Bortnyk in round eight.
In round nine, the matchup everyone was waiting for arrived: Nakamura took White against Carlsen as Black. After a cheeky opening from both players, the former-by-choice world champion won in 53 moves.
With that, Carlsen reached a score of 8.5/9, giving him the lead after Bortnyk had lost to eventual second-place finisher GM Matthias Bluebaum in the same round.
In the 10th round, Carlsen and Bluebaum made a draw, Carlsen retaining his half-point lead on the field. That margin only grew when Carlsen won his game in the last round, while no one directly behind him did.
Draw with White and win with Black: an unusual way Carlsen took the tournament home in the last four rounds. And when it had concluded, the Chess.com Global Blitz Leaderboard displayed Nakamura in first, by the razor-thinnest possible margin.
May 9 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak |
| 1 | 2 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3267 | 10 | 77.5 | |
| 2 | 4 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 3053 | 9 | 75 | |
| 3 | 9 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3039 | 9 | 74.5 | |
| 4 | 36 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 2920 | 9 | 68 | |
| 5 | 43 | GM | @DrVelja | Velimir Ivic | 2903 | 9 | 67 | |
| 6 | 26 | GM | @AlexanderL | Aleksandr Lenderman | 2929 | 9 | 62 | |
| 7 | 3 | IM | @Sokoloco | Yahli Sokolovsky | 2856 | 9 | 57 | |
| 8 | 16 | IM | @MITerryble | Renato Terry | 2990 | 8.5 | 72.5 | |
| 9 | 27 | GM | @VladimirKramnik | Vladimir Kramnik | 2924 | 8.5 | 71 | |
| 10 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3267 | 8.5 | 70 | |
| 11 | 29 | IM | @demon64fields | Oleg Vastrukhin | 2927 | 8.5 | 64 | |
| 12 | 34 | GM | @TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 2893 | 8.5 | 59.5 | |
| 13 | 17 | GM | @mishanick | Alexey Sarana | 2967 | 8 | 73 | |
| 14 | 64 | GM | @Peng_Li-Min | Li Min Peng | 2811 | 8 | 72 | |
| 15 | 46 | GM | @Alexander_Donchenko | Alexander Donchenko | 2864 | 8 | 71.5 | |
| 16 | 59 | GM | @ColErranMorad | Maxim Rodshtein | 2843 | 8 | 70.5 | |
| 17 | 21 | GM | @shimastream | Aleksandr Shimanov | 2936 | 8 | 70 | |
| 18 | 35 | GM | @TenisMaster | Yuniesky Quesada | 2892 | 8 | 68.5 | |
| 19 | 50 | GM | @GMKrikor | Krikor Sevag Mekhitarian | 2840 | 8 | 68 | |
| 20 | 33 | GM | @mitrabhaa | Mitrabha Guha | 2899 | 8 | 67.5 | |
| 47 | 125 | GM | @Olga_Girya | Olga Girya | 2652 | 7 | 66 |
(Full final standings here.)
Carlsen's victory earned him $1,000. Bluebaum barely took second on tiebreaks, gaining him $750 while Bortnyk took home $350. GMs Sergei Zhigalko and Velimir Ivic rounded out the top five for $200 and $100, respectively. GM Olga Girya won the women's prize on 7/11 points, earning $100.
Late Tournament
399 players contested the late field, Nakamura and Carlsen both returning. Carlsen's bid at the sweep fell short in 13th place, in part because Nakamura won their rematch—by flag in an equal endgame in the 10th round. Once again, the opening moves were a little... strange.
An encounter a full five rounds earlier, however, ended up being the key game of the tournament. Sarana defeated Nakamura after establishing a mighty center in just seven moves, one which produced the decisive passed pawn.
Despite that, by the time the final round began, Nakamura's win over Carlsen had given him the outright lead, with Sarana and GM Jose Martinez a half-point behind. Nakamura and Martinez decided to make a draw in five moves, but that gave Sarana the window he needed. After 63 moves with Black against GM Shant Sargsyan, Sarana was one move from promoting a pawn and won, just like against Nakamura earlier.
With that, Sarana had done just enough to break up the possibility of Carlsen and Nakamura sharing Titled Tuesday for the second time.
May 9 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak |
| 1 | 17 | GM | @mishanick | Alexey Sarana | 3023 | 9.5 | 77.5 | |
| 2 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3269 | 9.5 | 76 | |
| 3 | 10 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3051 | 9 | 75.5 | |
| 4 | 7 | GM | @GM_dmitrij | Dmitrij Kollars | 3043 | 9 | 70.5 | |
| 5 | 20 | IM | @Rud_Makarian | Rudik Makarian | 2964 | 9 | 69 | |
| 6 | 9 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3035 | 9 | 67 | |
| 7 | 8 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3043 | 8.5 | 67.5 | |
| 8 | 15 | IM | @MITerryble | Renato Terry | 2991 | 8.5 | 65.5 | |
| 9 | 27 | GM | @ChristopherYoo | Christopher Woojin Yoo | 2931 | 8.5 | 64 | |
| 10 | 33 | GM | @platy3 | Alan Pichot | 2867 | 8.5 | 61.5 | |
| 11 | 14 | GM | @Sargsyan_Shant | Shant Sargsyan | 2997 | 8 | 73 | |
| 12 | 30 | GM | @jcibarra | José Carlos Ibarra Jerez | 2919 | 8 | 71 | |
| 13 | 2 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3244 | 8 | 69 | |
| 14 | 24 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 2932 | 8 | 67.5 | |
| 15 | 96 | GM | @gahryman | Meilis Annaberdiev | 2702 | 8 | 66 | |
| 16 | 28 | GM | @AryanTari | Aryan Tari | 2892 | 8 | 65.5 | |
| 17 | 85 | IM | @Coachpoker | Alexey Averjanov | 2727 | 8 | 63.5 | |
| 18 | 310 | NM | @PushingpawnsNYC | Shawn Martinez | 2368 | 8 | 58.5 | |
| 19 | 111 | FM | @benny_aizenberg | Benny Aizenberg | 2679 | 8 | 57.5 | |
| 20 | 93 | FM | @mr_gustavo | Jakub Seemann | 2704 | 8 | 56.5 | |
| 41 | 98 | WGM | @Meri-Arabidze | Meri Arabidze | 2676 | 7 | 61.5 |
(Full final standings here.)
Sarana won $1,000 for his efforts while Nakamura settled for $750. Martinez had the best third-place tiebreaks, winning $350, while GM Dmitrij Kollars won $200 and IM Rudik Makarian $100 behind him. WGM Meri Arabize was the $100 women's prize winner with seven points.
Titled Tuesday is an 11-round Swiss tournament Chess.com hosts every week for titled players. There are two tournaments every Tuesday, beginning at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time/17:00 Central European and 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time/23:00 Central European.
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.
