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Magnus Magnificent Again In Titled Tuesday
Two weeks after a perfect 11/11 score and one week after finishing in second place twice, GM Magnus Carlsen was back in the Titled Tuesday win column on August 20, taking the late event with 9.5 points. Winning early was GM Jaime Santos, also on 9.5 points, his first win ever in Titled Tuesday. At the same time, GM Jeffery Xiong duplicated Carlsen's feat from last week, finishing runner-up in both events.
Early Tournament
Santos was almost perfect in the 681-player field through 10 rounds, only making a draw in the sixth round against GM Dmitry Andreikin. He won his other nine games, including in the 10th round against GM Tuan Minh Le, who had been the last perfect player (after seven rounds).
Santos now had a chance to run away with the tournament by a wide margin, but to do that, he had to get through GM Hikaru Nakamura. Santos put up a huge fight but ultimately fell in 92 moves, fortunate that tiebreaks still favored him. Santos successfully traded off several pieces, and even after his isolated pawn fell, there were only three pawns left on the board. But Nakamura made them tell.
For Nakamura, the win brought him into third place. In between him and Santos was Xiong, who was the only player not to lose a game. However, three draws from rounds five through eight ultimately squandered his chances at victory. In the final round against Andreikin, Xiong nonetheless secured a knight on c3 and then secured second place, when the knight was about to guide a passed pawn to queening, and Andreikin instead gave up a piece.
Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
1 | 21 | GM | @h4parah5 | Jaime Santos Latasa | 2970 | 9.5 | 72 | |
2 | 7 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 3142 | 9.5 | 70 | |
3 | 2 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3227 | 9.5 | 68.5 | |
4 | 6 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3147 | 9 | 77 | |
5 | 8 | GM | @Javokhir_Sindarov05 | Javokhir Sindarov | 3090 | 9 | 72.5 | |
6 | 41 | GM | @ViIIagra | Cristobal Henriquez | 2917 | 9 | 70.5 | |
7 | 20 | GM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3000 | 9 | 69.5 | |
8 | 53 | GM | @Nitzan_Steinberg | Nitzan Steinberg | 2914 | 9 | 68 | |
9 | 49 | GM | @K_A_S_T_O_R | Rodrigo Vasquez | 2893 | 9 | 63 | |
10 | 4 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 3097 | 8.5 | 68.5 | |
11 | 114 | GM | @Aygehovit1992 | Nikita Matinian | 2777 | 8.5 | 68 | |
12 | 190 | GM | @Ginger_GM | Simon Williams | 2687 | 8.5 | 62.5 | |
13 | 25 | IM | @Kirill_Klukin | Kirill Klukin | 2962 | 8.5 | 62.5 | |
14 | 14 | GM | @Anton_Demchenko | Anton Demchenko | 3016 | 8.5 | 60.5 | |
15 | 31 | IM | @scarabee43 | Marco Materia | 2933 | 8.5 | 58 | |
16 | 316 | FM | @agartha01 | Arda Çamlar | 2597 | 8.5 | 55.5 | |
17 | 37 | FM | @GoltsevDmitry2000 | Goltsev Dmitry | 2871 | 8.5 | 55 | |
18 | 159 | FM | @tuschessCM1 | Svyatoslav Bazakutsa | 2741 | 8 | 75.5 | |
19 | 101 | IM | @BakaPG | Blažo Kalezić | 2795 | 8 | 70.5 | |
20 | 47 | IM | @AlmasRakhmatullaev | Almas Rakhmatullaev | 2920 | 8 | 69.5 | |
92 | 585 | WCM | @bitter-cikolata | Dila Baloglu | 2525 | 7 | 32.5 |
(Full final standings here.)
Santos won $1,000 for his efforts, while Xiong settled for $750 and Nakamura for $350. Six players tied for fourth place, Andreikin having by far the best tiebreaks and thus earning $200, while GM Javokhir Sindarov finished fifth for $100. WCM Dila Baloglu won the women's prize of $100.
Late Tournament
Roles were reversed from last week, when Xiong won late, with Carlsen finishing second. Neither player lost a game in the field of 511, but Xiong put himself in an early hole with a draw in the very first round. Carlsen, meanwhile, started 6/6 and then alternated draws and victories the rest of the way. It was enough to win straight up without tiebreaks, a rarity for a score of 9.5 points.
The decisive round was ultimately the 10th, which began with a three-way tie atop the standings and ended with just Carlsen up there after he defeated Andreikin in an endgame that looked all but drawn until Andreikin erred—imperceptibly to the amateur eye—and Carlsen worked his magic.
Xiong, meanwhile, defeated Nakamura much more bluntly in an... Advance French? (Some would say there's no such thing as an advanced French Defense.)
After the dust had cleared, three players on eight points had become Carlsen alone on nine. Xiong remained behind the proverbial eight-ball because of his early draw, but now he got a one-on-one showdown with Carlsen for a chance at taking the tournament.
But Magnus needing only a draw with White—no one besides Xiong was even a half-point back of him—is a tough situation for any grandmaster to face. Despite castling on opposite sides, which often leads to fireworks, Xiong was unable to get even the beginnings of an attack going, and a quiet 47-move repetition ended his chances.
August 20 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
1 | 1 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3266 | 9.5 | 76 | |
2 | 5 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 3142 | 9 | 77 | |
3 | 4 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3147 | 9 | 74.5 | |
4 | 3 | GM | @SpeedofLight0 | Andrew Hong | 3165 | 9 | 73 | |
5 | 2 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3227 | 9 | 73 | |
6 | 9 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 3102 | 9 | 71.5 | |
7 | 84 | GM | @KNVB | Aman Hambleton | 2797 | 9 | 66 | |
8 | 8 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3146 | 9 | 64 | |
9 | 13 | GM | @ChristopherYoo | Christopher Woojin Yoo | 3025 | 8.5 | 74 | |
10 | 72 | IM | @DrKerfuffle | Nicolás Abarca | 2836 | 8.5 | 68 | |
11 | 38 | GM | @Durarbayli | Vasif Durarbayli | 2883 | 8.5 | 65.5 | |
12 | 11 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3085 | 8.5 | 63 | |
13 | 32 | FM | @ELECTRODYNAMIC_DRACULA | Havard Haug | 2917 | 8.5 | 62.5 | |
14 | 39 | GM | @GMKrikor | Krikor Sevag Mekhitarian | 2875 | 8.5 | 56.5 | |
15 | 16 | IM | @MITerryble | Renato Terry | 3018 | 8 | 77 | |
16 | 26 | GM | @DanielDardha2005 | Daniel Dardha | 2950 | 8 | 76.5 | |
17 | 40 | GM | @TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 2910 | 8 | 73.5 | |
18 | 12 | GM | @jcibarra | José Carlos Ibarra Jerez | 3034 | 8 | 73.5 | |
19 | 23 | GM | @sergiochess83 | Sergey Grigoriants | 2954 | 8 | 67.5 | |
20 | 21 | IM | @Kirill_Klukin | Kirill Klukin | 2962 | 8 | 67 | |
70 | 231 | WGM | @Atousa | Atousa Pourkashiyan | 2552 | 7 | 49.5 |
(Full final standings here.)
Carlsen won $1,000, recovering from a disappointing earlier showing. Xiong took home another $750 for a total of $1,500 on the day. Andreikin also returned to the top five, this time winning $350 in third for an overall $550 payday, while GM Andrew Hong finished fourth for $200. The $100 prizes were a family affair: Nakamura finished fifth (totaling $450 in both tournaments), and WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan won the women's prize a few weeks after their first wedding anniversary.
Titled Cup Standings
Carlsen became the second player to reach 190 points in the standings, and it seems unlikely that anyone will join him and Nakamura there. Xiong and Andreikin are lurking half a point below fifth place. The women's standings saw no changes in the top five this week.
Open
# | Username | Score | Player |
1 | @Hikaru | 198.5 | GM Hikaru Nakamura |
2 | @MagnusCarlsen | 190.0 | GM Magnus Carlsen |
3 | @Polish_fighter3000 | 185.5 | GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda |
4 | @mishanick | 185.0 | GM Alexey Sarana |
5 | @Jospem | 183.5 | GM Jose Martinez |
Women
# | Username | Score | Player |
1 | @ChessQueen | 141.0 | GM Alexandra Kosteniuk |
2-t | @Goryachkina | 140.5 | GM Aleksandra Goryachkina |
2-t | @Flawless_Fighter | 140.5 | IM Polina Shuvalova |
4 | @Meri-Arabidze | 137.5 | IM Meri Arabidze |
5 | @karinachess1 | 135.5 | IM Karina Ambartsumova |
Other Category Leaders
Juniors: GM Denis Lazavik (182.0 points)
Seniors: GM Gata Kamsky (169.0 points)
Girls: WCM Veronika Shubenkova (115.0 points)
The Titled Cup fantasy game Chess Prophet continues as well. Current standings can be found here. (Login required.)
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).