Carlsen-Nakamura Double Feature In Titled Tuesday

NathanielGreen

Updated: Jul 10, 2024, 8:43 AM | 12 | Chess Event Coverage

GMs Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura won the July 9 editions of Titled Tuesday. It's the fourth time the world's two best blitz chess players have each won one of the Tuesday events, but only the first time this year, last occurring on December 19, 2023.

Carlsen won the early event on 10 points after defeating GM Hans Niemann in the final round. Nakamura then blew away the late field with 10.5 points. Additionally, IM Anna M. Sargsyan swept both women's prizes.

Early Tournament (Carlsen, 10/11)
Late Tournament (Nakamura, 10.5/11)
Titled Cup Standings

Early Tournament

In the field of 706 players, Carlsen and GM Andrey Esipenko both started on 7/7, but would draw their game in the eighth round before Carlsen drew and Esipenko lost in round nine. Now five players shared the lead, but only two of them would win in the 10th round.

Carlsen was one of them, of course, beating 13-year-old GM-elect Ivan Zemlyanskii in 37 moves with the unusual 3.Bc4 in the Sicilian.

The only player to keep up with Carlsen was Niemann, who did so with a win against GM Aleksandar Indjic. It took Niemann a bit longer, 54 moves, but again the result was a White win on time with checkmate imminent.

And so the showdown between these two adversaries was set. Niemann had the advantage of moving first and built up a solid center, but Carlsen found four "only moves" in a stretch of five turns from 19-23, and coasted to victory from there. Niemann played to the bitter end and was checkmated on move 41.

Niemann still finished in third place but was leapfrogged by GM Denis Lazavik who, like Carlsen, won his last two games. A single blunder on move 49 from 12-year-old FM Ethan Vaz dropped a pawn, deciding the game as Lazavik finished an outright second place on 9.5 points.

July 9 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number	Rk	Fed	Title	Username	Name	Rating	Score	Tiebreak 1
1	3		GM	@MagnusCarlsen	Magnus Carlsen	3201	10	72
2	5		GM	@DenLaz	Denis Lazavik	3157	9.5	73.5
3	6		GM	@HansOnTwitch	Hans Niemann	3140	9	74.5
4	7		GM	@Jospem	Jose Martinez	3117	9	73
5	36		CM	@ChessFighter_2011	Dau Khuong Duy	2973	9	68.5
6	2		GM	@GHANDEEVAM2003	Arjun Erigaisi	3177	9	68
7	98		GM	@David_Arutinian	David Arutinian	2865	9	65
8	86		IM	@MetiForce	Mahdi Gholami Orimi	2890	9	63.5
9	13		GM	@champ2005	Raunak Sadhwani	3036	9	61
10	24		GM	@FGHSMN	Bharath Subramaniyam H.	3008	8.5	69
11	40		GM	@Sychev_Klementy	Klementy Sychev	2956	8.5	66.5
12	114		FM	@jumpingknight20	Ethan Vaz	2834	8.5	66.5
13	8		GM	@mishanick	Aleksei Sarana	3113	8.5	66
14	50		GM	@eljanov	Pavel Eljanov	2951	8.5	65
15	45		GM	@nrvisakh	Visakh NR	2931	8.5	64
16	51		FM	@snowlord	Ivan Yeletsky	2930	8.5	63
17	46		GM	@Fandorine	Maksim Chigaev	2932	8.5	60.5
18	70		IM	@Seochesspie	Seo Jungmin	2954	8.5	60.5
19	16		FM	@Prizant_academy	Ivan Zemlyanskii	3003	8	74.5
20	25		GM	@Volodar_Murzin	Volodar Murzin	3001	8	73.5
37	201		IM	@annasargsyan_m	Anna M. Sargsyan	2696	8	54.5

(Full final standings here.)

Carlsen won $1,000 for his efforts while Lazavik earned $750. Niemann claimed $350 in third place, GM Jose Martinez $200 in fourth, and 12-year-old CM Dau Khuong Duy $100 in fifth, while four other players on nine points missed out on the top five by tiebreaks. Sargsyan won the $100 women's prize by scoring eight points.

Late Tournament

For Nakamura, his victory over a field of 520 players was his second straight late event win. After needing tiebreaks last week, this performance was far more dominant, with a sixth-round draw against GM Christopher Yoo the only thing keeping Nakamura from his third perfect score in Titled Tuesday. Instead, he "only" earned his sixth 10.5-point Tuesday.

Because his draw came somewhat early, Nakamura didn't take sole lead of the tournament until his eighth-round win over IM Luke Harmon-Vellotti. Despite having the second move, Nakamura won the game rather easily after Harmon-Vellotti decided not to play the usual 2.exd5 against Nakamura's Scandinavian Defense.

After that, it was smooth sailing for Nakamura. He defeated GM Arjun Erigaisi in round nine and GM David Anton in round 10, ballooning his lead to a full point as the final round began. GM Fabiano Caruana was his opponent, and had a chance to take a share of the lead.

The game was a 61-move battle in which Caruana's ambitious 15th move didn't quite pay off. Still, Nakamura had to win the game three times in a tricky endgame. Caruana's 53.Nf2 was the final blow to his chances.

With the final result, Caruana fell to sixth place, while Nakamura put together his 15th Titled Tuesday win of the year and 60th of the two-a-day era.

July 9 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number	Rk	Fed	Title	Username	Name	Rating	Score	Tiebreak 1
1	1		GM	@Hikaru	Hikaru Nakamura	3236	10.5	69.5
2	116		IM	@vellottiwizard	Luke Harmon-Vellotti	2796	9.5	79.5
3	3		GM	@GHANDEEVAM2003	Arjun Erigaisi	3180	9	76
4	31		GM	@Fandorine	Maksim Chigaev	2949	9	71
5	10		GM	@Javokhir_Sindarov05	Javokhir Sindarov	3067	8.5	72.5
6	2		GM	@FabianoCaruana	Fabiano Caruana	3173	8.5	72.5
7	28		GM	@ChessLover0108	Mahammad Muradli	2952	8.5	72
8	19		GM	@OparinGrigoriy	Grigoriy Oparin	3024	8.5	69
9	13		GM	@champ2005	Raunak Sadhwani	3045	8.5	67.5
10	8		GM	@DanielNaroditsky	Daniel Naroditsky	3122	8.5	64
11	12		GM	@Oleksandr_Bortnyk	Oleksandr Bortnyk	3055	8.5	62.5
12	26		IM	@Seochesspie	Seo Jungmin	2931	8.5	61.5
13	24		GM	@TigrVShlyape	Gata Kamsky	2978	8.5	49.5
14	4		GM	@SpeedofLight0	Andrew Hong	3118	8	76.5
15	44		IM	@MetiForce	Mahdi Gholami Orimi	2908	8	74
16	14		GM	@tptagain	David Anton Guijarro	3040	8	73
17	23		GM	@VladimirKramnik	Vladimir Kramnik	2985	8	68.5
18	5		GM	@Jospem	Jose Martinez	3089	8	66
19	41		GM	@Igor_Janik	Igor Janik	2888	8	65
20	30		FM	@Bauman_Guy	Konstantin Popov	2927	8	64.5
45	115		IM	@annasargsyan_m	Anna M. Sargsyan	2706	7.5	54.5

(Full final standings here.)

Nakamura won the $1,000 first-place prize while Harmon-Vellotti claimed second place and $750. Arjun finished third for $350 and GM Maksim Chigaev fourth for $200. In a relative rarity, 8.5 points was good enough for fifth place, which went to GM Javokhir Sindarov for $100. With 7.5 points, Sargsyan won another $100 women's prize, for $200 on the day.

Titled Cup Standings

Nakamura is three more 10.5-point performances from an unthinkable 200 points in the Titled Cup standings, and given he has five already, he is actually on pace to pull it off. Meanwhile we are down to five points of separation between first and fifth in the women's standings, with only one point different between first-place GM Alexandra Kosteniuk and second-place GM Aleksandra Goryachkina. Despite her sweep this week, Sargsyan has only played 18 events so far and currently ranks 15th.

Open

#	Username	Score	Player
1	@Hikaru	198.5	GM Hikaru Nakamura
2	@Polish_fighter3000	185.0	GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda
3	@mishanick	184.5	GM Alexey Sarana
4	@Jospem	181.5	GM Jose Martinez
5	@wonderfultime	180.5	GM Tuan Minh Le
4	@FairChess_on_YouTube	180.5	GM Dmitry Andreikin

Women

#	Username	Score	Player
1	@ChessQueen	139.5	GM Alexandra Kosteniuk
2	@Goryachkina	138.5	GM Aleksandra Goryachkina
3-t	@Meri-Arabidze	136.5	IM Meri Arabidze
3-t	@Flawless_Fighter	136.5	IM Polina Shuvalova
5	@karinachess1	134.5	IM Karina Ambartsumova

Other Category Leaders

Juniors: GM Denis Lazavik (180.0 points)

Seniors: GM Gata Kamsky (167.5 points)

Girls: WCM Veronika Shubenkova (113.5 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).

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.