Nakamura, Andreikin Sole Winners In March Titled Tuesday

It was a splendid day to be a Titled Tuesday favorite as top seed GM Hikaru Nakamura claimed sole first place in the late event and second seed GM Dmitry Andreikin garnered his own confident first place in the early event.

As the early event got underway, a few potholes appeared as the tournament self-destructed after round one and had to be restarted.

Adding injury to this insult, commentator GM Simon Williams' coffee machine later gained sentience and attempted an explosive kamikaze attack on Williams. Williams made it; the coffee machine did not.

Skynet in the making?!

Continuing the general confusion and mayhem, the top seed, GM Georg Meier, was toppled in round one by NM Sergey Muha!

Meier demonstrated largess in defeat. While the chat was speculating about the possibility of cheating, he stated that there was nothing untoward. He had simply underestimated his opponent.

Meier demonstrated excellent sportsmanship and zen -- no word yet on his abilities regarding motorcycle maintenance.

Despite these snafus, the event was soon properly underway, and the chess took center stage.

Already in round two, we had two top players matched up as Andreikin was paired against GM Gawain Jones. When in convincing form, Andreikin's play appears inexorable like the tide and gravity. Jones simply never found compensation for a sacrificed pawn.

After winning his first six rounds, Andreikin struck a sour note when apparently promising kingside counterplay against IM Dejan Stojanovski never materialized, and his pawns rapidly fell in the ensuing endgame.

You know what the difference between me and Andreikin is? He makes cufflinks look good!

Sadly, this round also featured a rather disheartening example of technique in the classic endgame of bishop and knight.

With apologies to the players, I present the following example to encourage all to practice their endgame technique. Otherwise hundreds may someday be watching you on Twitch with voices raised 

Another high-rated contender who could never quite get his tournament on track was GM Zviad Izoria who produced a crazy case study in LPDO (Loose Pieces Drop Off) against GM Valery Aveskulov. Neither could quite make sense of the chaos when suddenly Izoria lost on time!

Although Meier wasn't able to add to his record six Titled Tuesday victories today, he did close the tournament with a nice run that included a pretty strike against GM Jose Ibarra Jerez.

Given his slip against Stojanovski, Andreikin's clear victory was not guaranteed entering his last round game against FM Renato Lujan. However, Andreikin soon wrapped up that game and the early event with an assertive display of kingside fireworks.

Titled Tuesday, Early Event | Final Standings (6.5 Points And Up)

Early Event Chess.com V3 Crosstables

The late event was hosted by GM and Chessbrah Eric Hansen — the world's highest rated Eric, but not the world's highest rated Hansen.

Despite Hansen's self-admission that he couldn't bring the funny like regular commentator, IM Danny Rensch, Hansen's commentary received rave reviews for being concise, instructive, and ridiculously fast and accurate.

Watch live video from Chess onwww.twitch.tv

As usual, the late event had fewer entrants, but that did not diminish the fun. The Americas-friendly time pulled in loads of U.S. and Canadian favorites and streaming heroes like IMs John Bartholomew and Aman Hambleton.

Reminder: tune in TONIGHT at 6:45 pm CST to watch me play Titled Tuesday on @chesscom! Will be a blast! https://t.co/X4ezdm8y5F #TeamScandi

— John Bartholomew (@fins0905) March 1, 2016

The top seed in the late event was blitz legend, GM Hikaru Nakamura. Nakamura's entry is always a joy for the spectators, but it must induce migraines for the other competitors.

Even when Nakamura's position is objectively difficult, his competitors must always tread cautiously. Nakamura demonstrated this by tripping up both GM Conrad Holt and GM Daniel Naroditsky from losing positions in the early rounds.

Nakamura presumably expounding on something deep like Machiavelli — he has managed to be both loved and feared!

Andreikin was also back and pleading for an increase in allowance. He demonstrated flawless attacking technique as he stripped away protections for both his opponent's king and queen with nice sacrificial play.

The eventual second-place finisher, Holt, was in great form all day long. His most hilarious moment was his first round knight journey against NM StoneFacedTerminal. Find the win!

Nakamura proved his humanity with a couple of comfortable draws in rounds four and six against IM Minh Tran and Andreikin. However, he then picked up a deadly head of steam with a nice mating finish in round seven against GM Grigor Grigorov.

Nakamura continued strongly and won his last two games to comfortably wrap up first place a half-point ahead of Holt.

Sole fifth-place finisher, GM Daniel Naroditsky, put together a couple of lovely mating positions. We can go ahead and chuck these right into Tactics Trainer. 

Naroditsky is well-versed in the art of checkmate.

Titled Tuesday, Early Event | Final Standings (6.5 Points And Up)

Late Event Chess.com V3 Crosstables

For clear first place finishes, Andreikin and Nakamura each collected $500. In the early event, Gjurathi, Tranh, and Keklowski each collected $150 while Dlugy, Aveskulov, Lujan, and Meier split fifth and earned $12.50.

In the late event, Holt won $250 for clear second place. Andreikin and Ibarra each won $100 (for a total of $600 for Andreikin) while Naroditsky collected $50 for fifth place.

The next Titled Tuesday tournaments will take place on Tuesday, April 5 at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Pacific time. See you then!