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Nakamura Extends Titled Cup Lead

Nakamura Extends Titled Cup Lead

NathanielGreen
NathanielGreen
| 15 | Chess Event Coverage

GM Hikaru Nakamura continued his hot start to the year in Titled Tuesday on February 6, finishing third in the early tournament and winning the late tournament, his third win of 2024. The early event was won by Polish GM Kacper Piorun. Both he and Nakamura needed tiebreaks to claim victory.

The Chess Prophet fantasy chess game also debuted and will begin running every Titled Tuesday.

Early Tournament

The early field of 830 players was the first Titled Tuesday to crack 800 since April 6, 2021, and the largest since 875 players joined on August 4, 2020. Piorun was the surprise winner, losing only in the fifth round against GM Bharath Subramaniyam but winning every other game.

That six-game streak to end the tournament did not put Piorun into a tie for first until after the 10th round, when he and three others—GM Christopher Yoo, GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, and IM-elect Sina Movahed—were on nine points each. Three more players were on 8.5 points, and Piorun played and defeated one of them, GM Benjamin Bok.

Yoo, whose only loss was one round before Piorun's, needed only 26 moves to defeat Vachier-Lagrave's Najdorf Sicilian. Due to worse tiebreaks vs. Piorun, it could only take Yoo to second place.

Movahed had the least fortunate final-round pairing of those on nine points: Nakamura. The American's victory in a rook endgame took him to third place and dropped Movahed to 10th.

February 6 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number Rk Fed Title Username Name Rating Score Tiebreak 1
1 116 GM @kpio91 Kacper Piorun 2901 10 77
2 39 GM @ChristopherYoo Christopher Yoo 3011 10 69.5
3 2 GM @Hikaru Hikaru Nakamura 3326 9.5 78
4 51 GM @h4parah5 Jaime Santos 2970 9.5 70
5 4 GM @LyonBeast Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 3158 9 77.5
6 16 GM @FabianoCaruana Fabiano Caruana 3055 9 76
7 50 GM @BillieKimbah Maxim Matlakov 2967 9 75
8 83 IM @yosephtaher Yoseph Theolifus Taher 2913 9 70
9 101 GM @xamax2000 Max Warmerdam 2891 9 69.5
10 23 FM @Sina_Movahed Sina Movahed 3042 9 69
11 64 GM @mitrabhaa Mitrabha Guha 2940 9 68.5
12 59 GM @lilleper1 Jonas Bjerre 2942 9 67.5
13 60 GM @platy3 Alan Pichot 2947 9 59
14 26 GM @GHANDEEVAM2003 Arjun Erigaisi 3037 8.5 77.5
15 27 GM @Denis_Makhnyov Denis Makhnev 3022 8.5 74
16 12 GM @Jospem Jose Martinez 3054 8.5 72
17 44 GM @GMBenjaminBok Benjamin Bok 2985 8.5 70.5
18 7 GM @lachesisQ Ian Nepomniachtchi 3087 8.5 69.5
19 22 GM @shimastream Aleksandr Shimanov 3020 8.5 66.5
20 53 GM @tptagain David Anton 2951 8.5 65.5
24 353 GM @Juwen Ju Wenjun 2634 8.5 58.5

(Full final standings here.)

Piorun claimed the $1,000 prize for first place while Yoo settled for the $750 in second. Nakamura won $350 for third place and GM Jaime Santos Latasa $200 for fourth. The $100 prizes went to Vachier-Lagrave in fifth place and women's World Champion GM Ju Wenjun, who finished 24th for the top women's score.

Late Tournament

The late tournament is now achieving fields that late last year were typical of the early tournament, with 548 playing this week. Nakamura rode a perfect 7/7 start to victory despite two players, GMs Nihal Sarin and Dmitry Andreikin, ultimately catching him in the standings.

Nakamura's one hiccup, which dropped him temporarily into fourth place, came in round nine against Vachier-Lagrave.

Vachier-Lagrave then beat GM Andrew Hong in round 10 but, as in the early tournament, could not wrap things up in round 11. This time, Nihal won after Vachier-Lagrave missed his 14th move.

Andreikin for his part beat GM Daniel Naroditsky, ending the tournament on a four-game winning streak, but his earlier results helped leave him behind in the tiebreak scoring. Instead, Nakamura won his last two games and edged out Nihal on tiebreaks.

Nakamura's final win came against GM Harsha Bharathakoti. Nakamura made things interesting with a novel exchange sacrifice in a familiar opening, which worked out.

February 6 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number Rk Fed Title Username Name Rating Score Tiebreak 1
1 1 GM @Hikaru Hikaru Nakamura 3323 9.5 75
2 6 GM @nihalsarin Nihal Sarin 3137 9.5 74
3 14 GM @FairChess_on_YouTube Dmitry Andreikin 3077 9.5 65
4 4 GM @LyonBeast Maxime Vachier-Lagrave 3171 9 73
5 18 GM @SpeedofLight0 Andrew Hong 3052 9 66
6 15 GM @Polish_fighter3000 Jan-Krzysztof Duda 3054 8.5 76
7 31 GM @jefferyx Jeffery Xiong 3007 8.5 73.5
8 51 GM @Harsha_Bharathakoti Harsha Bharathakoti 2936 8.5 73
9 39 GM @Zhigalko_Sergei Sergei Zhigalko 2961 8.5 67.5
10 5 GM @Konavets Sam Sevian 3119 8.5 67
11 52 GM @KuzubovYuriy Yuriy Kuzubov 2915 8.5 65.5
12 78 GM @GadimbayliA Abdulla Gadimbayli 2854 8.5 62
13 8 GM @Oleksandr_Bortnyk Oleksandr Bortnyk 3079 8.5 61.5
14 85 GM @iwanyu Alvar Alonso Rosell 2866 8.5 60
15 44 FM @dmitrijiIM Dmitry Rostovtsev 2935 8.5 56
16 30 GM @GMBenjaminBok Benjamin Bok 2999 8 75.5
17 2 GM @DanielNaroditsky Daniel Naroditsky 3195 8 74
18 10 GM @GMWSO Wesley So 3082 8 74
19 86 GM @dretch Conrad Holt 2860 8 71.5
20 27 GM @igorkovalenko Igor Kovalenko 3003 8 68.5
56 157 IM @karinachess1 Karina Ambartsumova 2682 7 67.5

(Full final standings here.)

Nakamura won another $1,000 to reach $1,350 on the day. Nihal won $750 in second place and Andreikin $350 in third. Vachier-Lagrave finished fourth for $200 and a daily total of $300 after his fifth-place finish earlier. Hong won the fifth-place prize in this event for $100, and IM Karina Ambartsumova won the $100 women's prize. 

Titled Cup Standings

While Nakamura extended his lead in the Titled Cup, there have been some shifts elsewhere in the top five, with GM David Paravyan now in second place. Ambartsumova leads the women's standings for the second straight week, with no changes in the top five.

Open

# Username Score Player
1 @Hikaru 101.0 GM Hikaru Nakamura
2 @dropstoneDP 92.0 GM David Paravyan
3 @Zhigalko_Sergei 87.0 GM Sergei Zhigalko
4 @mishanick 85.5 GM Alexey Sarana
5 @Jospem 85.5 GM Jose Martinez
4 @jcibarra 85.5 GM Jose Ibarra

Women

# Username Score Player
1 @karinachess1 67.0 IM Karina Ambartsumova
2 @Goryachkina 59.0 GM Aleksandra Goryachkina
3 @Sanyura 51.5 IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya
4 @jinbojinbo 40.5 GM Zhu Jiner
5 @anasta10 40.0 FM Anastasia Avramidou

Other Category Leaders

Juniors: CM Artem Bardyk (67.0 points)

Seniors: GM Alex Rustemov (76.0 points)

Girls: WCM Veronika Shubenkova (37.5 points each)

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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