Underdog And Favorite Win Tuesday Tournaments
Titled Tuesday on July 19 was won by FM Abtin Atakhan and GM Dmitry Andreikin. The latter tournament ended in a four-way tie on first after Andreikin defeated GM Daniel Naroditsky in the final round, and Andreikin's tiebreaks barely won out over second-place Naroditsky's.
Andreikin has now won seven Titled Tuesdays since February. The only player with more, GM Hikaru Nakamura, was the only player to finish in the top five in both of this week's events.
Early Tournament
The win for Atakhan, a 17-year-old FIDE Master, out of a field of 342 players, came as a shock. The last time a non-GM took Titled Tuesday was November 30 of last year, when Russian NM Valery Sviridov won. But Sviridov's FIDE ratings are 200-300 points higher than Atakhan's.
It was actually a win in the final round over the upcoming winner Andreikin that ended up deciding the tournament in Atakhan's favor.
Second-place GM Aram Hakobyan, who recently qualified for the Knockout round of the Chess.com Global Championship, was the only player to defeat Atakhan on Tuesday. That game came all the way back in round three.
July 19 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 64 | FM | @atbenina64 | Abtin Atakhan | 2779 | 9.5 | 52.5 | |
| 2 | 12 | GM | @Njal28 | Aram Hakobyan | 2978 | 9 | 63 | |
| 3 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3165 | 9 | 58.75 | |
| 4 | 7 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3009 | 9 | 54 | |
| 5 | 23 | GM | @amintabatabaei | Amin Tabatabaei | 2931 | 9 | 52.75 | |
| 6 | 11 | IM | @MITerryble | Renato Terry | 2978 | 8.5 | 56.75 | |
| 7 | 3 | GM | @mishanick | Alexey Sarana | 3038 | 8.5 | 54 | |
| 8 | 2 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3127 | 8.5 | 52.25 | |
| 9 | 22 | GM | @Nitzan_Steinberg | Nitzan Steinberg | 2903 | 8.5 | 46.75 | |
| 10 | 33 | GM | @TimofeevAr | Artem Timofeev | 2844 | 8.5 | 46.5 | |
| 11 | 84 | FM | @KononenkoD | Dmitry Kononenko | 2690 | 8.5 | 40.25 | |
| 12 | 10 | GM | @OparinGrigoriy | Grigoriy Oparin | 2991 | 8 | 50.5 | |
| 13 | 42 | FM | @Iball95 | Vakhlamov Igor | 2819 | 8 | 50.25 | |
| 14 | 8 | GM | @dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 2971 | 8 | 48.25 | |
| 15 | 5 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3014 | 8 | 48 | |
| 16 | 6 | GM | @Duhless | Daniil Dubov | 2998 | 8 | 46.75 | |
| 17 | 44 | IM | @nikitakhoroshev | Nikita Khoroshev | 2795 | 8 | 46.5 | |
| 18 | 9 | IM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 2982 | 8 | 46.25 | |
| 19 | 74 | IM | @leejunhyeok | Jun Hyeok Lee | 2693 | 7.5 | 45.5 | |
| 20 | 66 | IM | @Legendinunknown | Harshavardhan GB | 2720 | 7.5 | 45 | |
| 25 | 100 | WGM | @Meri-Arabidze | Meri Arabidze | 2647 | 7.5 | 36.75 |
(Full final standings here.)
Atakhan claimed $1,000 for the win while Hakobyan earned $750 in second place. Nakamura won $300 in third and GM Jose Martinez $150 in fourth place, after each won an event last Tuesday. The $100 prizes went to GM Amin Tabatabaei for fifth place and WGM Meri Arabidze for the highest score among women, 7.5/11.
Late Tournament
Nobody completely differentiated themselves in the late tournament out of the field of 261. Halfway through, there were already no perfect players after Nakamura and GM Eric Hansen drew their round-six game. Hansen took the sole lead after defeating Andreikin in round seven.
In the next three rounds, however, Naroditsky emerged in the lead after defeating Hansen, GM Oleksandr Bortnyk, and Nakamura in succession. Impressively, Naroditsky's best-played game of the three came against Nakamura.
The streak guaranteed Naroditsky a share of first place entering the final round, which is what happened after he encountered Andreikin.
Not only were four players now tied on nine points, but their tiebreak scores were all very close, with only a half-point separating first and second and less than two points between first and fourth. Ultimately, however, it was enough for Andreikin to claim the victory in the tournament.
July 19 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 2 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3130 | 9 | 55 | |
| 2 | 3 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3156 | 9 | 54.5 | |
| 3 | 7 | GM | @OparinGrigoriy | Grigoriy Oparin | 3016 | 9 | 54 | |
| 4 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3165 | 9 | 53.75 | |
| 5 | 22 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 2910 | 8.5 | 60.5 | |
| 6 | 24 | IM | @Bulldog167 | Leon Livaic | 2852 | 8.5 | 52.75 | |
| 7 | 9 | GM | @dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 2978 | 8.5 | 50.75 | |
| 8 | 13 | GM | @erichansen | Eric Hansen | 2947 | 8 | 56.5 | |
| 9 | 8 | IM | @MITerryble | Renato Terry | 2976 | 8 | 49 | |
| 10 | 6 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 2993 | 8 | 46 | |
| 10 | 82 | IM | @atigerman | Nail Bashirli | 2684 | 8 | 46 | |
| 12 | 112 | GM | @gmcorrales | Fidel Corrales Jimenez | 2813 | 8 | 43 | |
| 13 | 42 | FM | @sofaceindisguise | Dmitry Tatarinov | 2741 | 8 | 41.5 | |
| 14 | 36 | IM | @ckgchess | Cem Kaan Gokerkan | 2801 | 8 | 37.5 | |
| 15 | 47 | IM | @Legendinunknown | Harshavardhan GB | 2737 | 7.5 | 39.25 | |
| 16 | 48 | FM | @peonrojo150 | Gonzalo Navarrete | 2701 | 7.5 | 38.75 | |
| 17 | 55 | GM | @GMRafpig | Rafael Leitao | 2689 | 7.5 | 37.25 | |
| 18 | 37 | NM | @Abund | Yuan Qingyu | 2810 | 7.5 | 36 | |
| 19 | 21 | GM | @MrTattaglia | Kozak Adam | 2866 | 7.5 | 32.25 | |
| 20 | 23 | GM | @alexrustemov | Alexander Rustemov | 2824 | 7 | 39 | |
| 48 | 49 | FM | @Roachelley | Rochelle Wu | 2658 | 6 | 25.25 |
(Full final standings here.)
Andreikin won $1,000 for the victory while Naroditsky settled for $750 for second place. Oparin won $300 in third. Nakamura's $150 for fourth place gave him $450 on the day. GM Sergei Zhigalko finished fifth for $100 while FM Rochelle Wu won the $100 women's prize with 6/11.
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.
