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Warning: To Beat Magnus, Tiebreaks May Be Required

Warning: To Beat Magnus, Tiebreaks May Be Required

NathanielGreen
| 18 | Chess Event Coverage

It seems like no one can beat GM Magnus Carlsen these days. In just the last five weeks, he's won the World Cup, the Julius Baer Generations Cup, and the Speed Chess Championship. After advancing in the AI Cup earlier in the day on September 26, he joined up the late Titled Tuesday and finished in... second place. But it took the tiebreak system to finish him off.

Instead, GMs Sergey Drygalov and Aram Hakobyan were the winners of this week's Titled Tuesdays. Drygalov outright won early with 10 points in a field that was missing some regulars who were instead playing the AI Cup, including Carlsen, GM Hikaru Namakura, GM Alireza Firouzja, and others, but also featured several previous Titled Tuesday champions. Hakobyan won late on tiebreaks over Carlsen, with both on 9.5 points.


Early Tournament

Despite some missing big names, a group of 539 players joined the early Titled Tuesday tournament, including several who have won one since 2022, such as GMs Matthias Bluebaum, Daniel Naroditsky, Vugar Rasulov and Gata Kamsky.

Drygalov didn't lose a single game, making draws in rounds two and three ahead of an eight-game win streak to wrap things up. Because the draws came so early, however, he didn't take even a share of the lead in the tournament until round 10. Then, in round 11, Drygalov beat Naroditsky to take sole first place.

Meanwhile, the co-leader through 10 rounds, GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov, lost to GM Sergei Zhigalko, who finished second with the win.

September 26 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number Rk Fed Title Username Name Rating Score Tiebreak 1
1 18 GM @sergoy Sergey Drygalov 2958 10 71
2 37 GM @Zhigalko_Sergei Sergei Zhigalko 2876 9.5 67.5
3 47 GM @moro182 Luca Moroni Jr 2869 9 78.5
4 10 GM @Shield12 Shamsiddin Vokhidov 2989 9 77.5
5 2 GM @Msb2 Matthias Bluebaum 3086 9 75.5
6 43 IM @remi04 Tsvetan Stoyanov 2853 9 72
7 1 GM @DanielNaroditsky Daniel Naroditsky 3139 8.5 79
8 15 GM @vugarrasulov Vugar Rasulov 2956 8.5 76.5
9 19 GM @Denis_Makhnyov Denis Makhnev 2927 8.5 72.5
10 62 FM @Zohid6 Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov 2801 8.5 69
11 12 GM @TigrVShlyape Gata Kamsky 2953 8.5 67.5
12 11 GM @h4parah5 Jaime Santos Latasa 2959 8.5 67
13 67 GM @DuleMudule Igor Miladinovic 2797 8.5 66.5
14 5 GM @Krakozia Denis Khismatullin 3022 8.5 66.5
15 59 IM @AlmasRakhmatullaev Almas Rakhmatullaev 2805 8.5 65.5
16 26 GM @platy3 Alan Pichot 2876 8.5 61
17 102 IM @CSB7 Balázs Csonka 2759 8.5 60.5
18 58 IM @blitzking1729 Srihari L R 2788 8.5 56.5
19 166 GM @astralpulse Alex Goldin 2683 8 70
20 23 FM @artin10862 Artin Ashraf 2887 8 67.5
45 75 GM @ChessQueen Alexandra Kosteniuk 2732 7.5 57

(Full final standings here.)

Drygalov earned $1,000 for his victory, while Zhigalko claimed $750 in second place. GM Luca Moroni Jr finished third for $350, Vokhidov fourth for $200, and Bluebaum fifth for $100. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk scored 7.5/11 and won the $100 women's prize.

Late Tournament

While Hakobyan lost in the fourth round of the late tournament against Moroni, Carlsen appeared to be running away from the late field of 431 after a perfect eight rounds. When Carlsen's run ended in round nine, it was not Hakobyan but instead GM David Paravyan who stopped the streak after Carlsen got his king stuck in the center of the board. Paravyan would finish in third place.

Hakobyan and Carlsen played each other in round 10 and made a draw, their 8.5 points each falling behind Paravyan's 9/10. 

Hakobyan did what Carlsen could not and defeated Paravyan, who was knocked off his perch but still finished in third place. The game ended on time, but Paravyan's queen was trapped.

Carlsen got Zhigalko, who was trying to finish in the top two in both the early and late events. Carlsen, unlike in his game against Paravyan, was sure to keep his king safe this time.

The eight rounds of perfection were only enough in the end for Carlsen to finish in second place. But he's also gotten to enjoy plenty of other wins lately

September 26 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number Rk Fed Title Username Name Rating Score Tiebreak 1
1 7 GM @Njal28 Aram Hakobyan 3097 9.5 78
2 1 GM @MagnusCarlsen Magnus Carlsen 3278 9.5 74.5
3 4 GM @dropstoneDP David Paravyan 3125 9 72.5
4 16 GM @Jospem Jose Martinez 3022 9 67.5
5 13 GM @Oleksandr_Bortnyk Oleksandr Bortnyk 3023 9 62
6 8 GM @Polish_fighter3000 Jan-Krzysztof Duda 3090 9 60.5
7 21 GM @OparinGrigoriy Grigoriy Oparin 2988 8.5 75.5
8 9 GM @mishanick Aleksei Sarana 3092 8.5 73.5
9 41 GM @Zhigalko_Sergei Sergei Zhigalko 2939 8.5 71.5
10 52 GM @mitrabhaa Mitrabha Guha 2862 8.5 67.5
11 30 GM @jcibarra José Ibarra 2957 8.5 66
12 11 GM @SpeedofLight0 Andrew Hong 3041 8.5 65
13 45 FM @Bauman_Guy Konstantin Popov 2875 8 72.5
14 6 GM @FairChess_on_YouTube Dmitry Andreikin 3074 8 69
15 10 IM @0gZPanda Anthony He 3024 8 67
16 2 GM @Hikaru Hikaru Nakamura 3185 8 65
17 67 IM @Nor1lsk Kuzmicz Krystian 2742 8 61.5
18 25 GM @vugarrasulov Vugar Rasulov 2948 8 60.5
19 100 IM @MMSANCHEZ Max Gedajlovic 2715 8 59.5
20 31 GM @nihalsarin Nihal Sarin 3066 8 52
47 164 IM @zajka-molotok Yuliia Osmak 2580 7 59

(Full final standings here.)

Hakobyan won the $1,000 first-place prize for his efforts. Carlsen went home with $750 and Paravyan with $350. Rounding out the top five were GM Jose Martinez, who won $200, and GM Oleksandr Bortnyk, for a $100 prize. IM Yuliia Osmak was the $100 women's prize winner with seven points. 

Titled Tuesday

Titled Tuesday is an 11-round Swiss tournament for titled players hosted by Chess.com. There are two tournaments each week, both on Tuesday: one at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Standard Time and then another 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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