Andreikin, Nakamura Once Again Titled Tuesday Victors
GM Hikaru Nakamura nearly swept Titled Tuesday again, tying for first place in both tournaments but only holding better tiebreaks in the late tournament. In the early tournament, he was edged out by GM Dmitry Andreikin on the tiebreaks. Nakamura and Andreikin have now won nearly half of the 28 Titled Tuesday tournaments since February 1 (Nakamura with nine victories and Andreikin four).
Early Tournament
In the early tournament and its 373-player field, Nakamura and Andreikin both won their final four games, keeping pace with each other through a tense last four rounds. In some ways as impressive a performance came from GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov who, despite missing the first round, finished in third with nine points. Several players tied for fourth on 8.5 points, with GM Alexey Sarana and GM Robert Hovhannisyan rounding out the top five after tiebreaks.
Broadcast of the early tournament hosted by FM Anna-Maja Kazarian.
Vokhidov nearly pulled off the unheard-of feat of winning the tournament despite missing a round. He was also a perfect 9/9 in games played until meeting Nakamura in the final game.
Meanwhile, Andreikin's passed c-pawn made the difference in his game against GM Grigoriy Oparin in the last round.
It was only three tiebreak points that gave Andreikin the tournament victory officially.
May 3 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 2 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3058 | 9.5 | 65.25 | |
| 2 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3202 | 9.5 | 62.25 | |
| 3 | 31 | GM | @Shield12 | Shamsiddin Vokhidov | 2915 | 9 | 50 | |
| 4 | 8 | GM | @mishanick | Alexey Sarana | 2989 | 8.5 | 57.5 | |
| 5 | 21 | GM | @Robert_Chessmood | Robert Hovhannisyan | 2936 | 8.5 | 57 | |
| 6 | 3 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3001 | 8.5 | 54.5 | |
| 7 | 29 | GM | @dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 2916 | 8.5 | 54 | |
| 8 | 34 | GM | @vugarrasulov | Vugar Rasulov | 2913 | 8.5 | 51.75 | |
| 9 | 35 | GM | @Alexander_Donchenko | Alexander Donchenko | 2889 | 8.5 | 49.5 | |
| 10 | 33 | GM | @severomorskij | Aleksandr Moiseenko | 2912 | 8.5 | 48.25 | |
| 11 | 16 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 2969 | 8 | 56.25 | |
| 12 | 74 | IM | @josmito10 | Miran Oganian | 2790 | 8 | 50.75 | |
| 13 | 18 | IM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 2945 | 8 | 49.75 | |
| 14 | 19 | GM | @OparinGrigoriy | Grigoriy Oparin | 2940 | 8 | 48.25 | |
| 15 | 55 | GM | @nrvisakh | Visakh NR | 2845 | 8 | 47.5 | |
| 15 | 11 | GM | @BogdanDeac | Bogdan Daniel Deac | 2990 | 8 | 47.5 | |
| 17 | 43 | IM | @Niclox | Nicolás Abarca | 2871 | 8 | 47 | |
| 18 | 28 | GM | @Jumbo | Rinat Jumabayev | 2866 | 8 | 45.5 | |
| 19 | 4 | GM | @Bigfish1995 | Vladimir Fedoseev | 3025 | 8 | 44.5 | |
| 20 | 23 | IM | @vi_pranav | Pranav V | 2889 | 8 | 42.75 | |
| 53 | 231 | GM | @Etoilegeniale | Marie Sebag | 2507 | 7 | 30 |
(Full final standings here.)
Andreikin won $1,000 for first place. Nakamura won $750 for second and Vokhidov $300 for third. Sarana claimed $150 for fourth and Hovhannisyan $100 for fifth, while GM Marie Sebag won $100 for the best score among the women in the field.
Late Tournament
Tiebreaks were hugely important in divvying up the prize money for the 260-player late tournament after there was a five-way tie for first place on nine points out of 11. Nakamura, despite a loss and two draws in the first nine rounds, won with the best of the tiebreak scores. GMs Aram Hakobyan, Daniil Dubov, Jeffery Xiong, and Matthias Bluebaum settled for lesser cash amounts.
Broadcast of the late tournament hosted by GM Daniel Naroditsky.
Andreikin's bid at trying to win both of the day's tournaments took an early hit in round two after his upset loss to IM Emin Ohanyan. Andreikin eventually recovered enough to finish in 10th.
Despite a round-five loss to GM Hrant Melkumyan and draws in rounds seven and nine, Nakamura kept lurking with the help of an artistic checkmate in the eighth round.
Dubov and GM Jose Martinez entered the penultimate 10th round with 8/9 but played to a 28-move draw. While that kept them in the lead, it also allowed Hakobyan to join them and opened up the tournament for the eventual five-way finish. And when GM Sergei Zhigalko dropped his previously winning endgame to Nakamura, the most dangerous player in the field took advantage.
In round 11, Dubov and Hakobyan were both content to draw in four moves. Martinez, meanwhile, would win the tournament outright with a victory. Instead, Nakamura delivered a clutch win and then ended up with the best tiebreaks in the field. Martinez was left with a tough-luck sixth-place result.
May 3 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3202 | 9 | 62.25 | |
| 2 | 9 | GM | @Njal28 | Aram Hakobyan | 2999 | 9 | 57.5 | |
| 3 | 7 | GM | @Duhless | Daniil Dubov | 3001 | 9 | 57.25 | |
| 4 | 4 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 3051 | 9 | 53.5 | |
| 5 | 10 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 2969 | 9 | 52 | |
| 6 | 19 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara | 2949 | 8.5 | 52.5 | |
| 7 | 26 | IM | @sergoy | Sergey Drygalov | 2909 | 8.5 | 45.5 | |
| 8 | 15 | GM | @VincentKeymer | Vincent Keymer | 2933 | 8 | 43.5 | |
| 9 | 33 | GM | @shimastream | Alex Shimanov | 2864 | 8 | 43 | |
| 10 | 2 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3058 | 8 | 42.75 | |
| 11 | 23 | GM | @dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 2916 | 8 | 42.25 | |
| 12 | 46 | IM | @mbojan | Bojan Maksimović | 2782 | 8 | 41.5 | |
| 13 | 8 | GM | @BogdanDeac | Bogdan Daniel Deac | 2990 | 8 | 40.25 | |
| 14 | 21 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 2923 | 8 | 33.5 | |
| 15 | 41 | FM | @honestgames | Egor Lashkin | 2825 | 8 | 32.5 | |
| 16 | 14 | GM | @penguingm1 | Andrew Tang | 2950 | 7.5 | 53.5 | |
| 17 | 16 | GM | @Hrant_ChessMood | Hrant Melkumyan | 2935 | 7.5 | 42.75 | |
| 18 | 27 | FM | @liczner | Lukasz Licznerski | 2873 | 7.5 | 40.75 | |
| 18 | 37 | GM | @VerdeNotte | Gawain Jones | 2850 | 7.5 | 40.75 | |
| 20 | 39 | GM | @TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 2825 | 7.5 | 37.75 | |
| 20 | 92 | GM | @GasconChess-YouTube | Jose Rafael Gascon D. | 2613 | 7.5 | 37.75 | |
| 38 | 175 | IM | @Valeron87 | Sabrina Vega | 2493 | 7 | 28.5 |
(Full final standings here.)
The $1,000 Nakamura earned for his victory gave him a total on the day of $1,750. Hakobyan won $750 with Dubov claiming $300, Xiong $150, and Bluebaum $100. IM Sabrina Vega took home the $100 top woman prize.
Titled Tuesday is a tournament held every week by Chess.com for titled players on Chess.com. Each Tuesday there are two tournaments, both an 11-round Swiss, which start 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.
