Khusnutdinov Wins November 9 Titled Tuesday
In the most active Titled Tuesday since August, GM Rustam Khusnutdinov took home the victory with a 9.5/11 score, winning on the tiebreak system over second-place finisher GM Dmitrij Kollars. In a logjam on 9 points out of 11, two well-known GMs took third and fourth place on the tiebreaks: Baadur Jobava and Alexander Grischuk, respectively.
538 players participated in this week's Titled Tuesday, as usual, an 11-round Swiss tournament with a 3+1 time control. It was the most players in a Titled Tuesday since August 31.
Live broadcast of this week's tournament, hosted by WCM Rebecca Selkirk.
The lead changed hands several times in the mid-to-late rounds: Kollars was the last perfect player, on 7/7, but lost in round eight to GM Hikaru Nakamura, who took the tournament lead on 7.5/8. Nakamura drew with Jobava the next round, however, allowing several players to catch up with him with two rounds to go.
After nine rounds the tournament was wide open with five players tied for first on 8/9, but Khusnutdinov was the only of them to win in round 10 (against GM Aryan Tari), establishing himself as the favorite entering the last round of play.
Khusnutdinov quickly drew in the final round with fellow Kazakh GM Denis Makhnev, leaving him to watch two other players on 8.5/10 who could catch up. Kollars did so with a win over GM Jose Martinez. However, Khusnutdinov's tiebreaks were much better.
The other relevant game featured two Speed Chess Championship (SCC) competitors. Grischuk (who will face GM Nihal Sarin in the SCC on Thursday) stopped Nakamura to reach nine points, while Nakamura stayed at 8.5 points and finished 10th. Nakamura plays GM Peter Svidler in the SCC on Friday.
The top two finishers Khusnutdinov and Kollars had something in common: losses to Nakamura, who ultimately had to play all of the top five finishers. Third-place Jobava was actually the only undefeated player in the tournament, scoring +7 =4.
November 9 Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB | Prize |
| 1 | 30 | GM | @RD4ever | Rustam Khusnutdinov | 2937 | 9.5 | 61 | $750 | |
| 2 | 23 | GM | @GM_dmitrij | Dmitrij Kollars | 2954 | 9.5 | 54.5 | $400 | |
| 3 | 15 | GM | @exoticprincess | Baadur Jobava | 2963 | 9 | 66 | $150 | |
| 4 | 2 | GM | @Grischuk | Alexander Grischuk | 3045 | 9 | 60.75 | $100 | |
| 5 | 17 | GM | @Denis_Makhnyov | Denis Makhnev | 2958 | 9 | 60.5 | ||
| 6 | 56 | GM | @K_A_S_T_O_R | Rodrigo Vasquez | 2846 | 9 | 59.5 | ||
| 7 | 46 | FM | @Vugar_Manafov | Vugar Manafov | 2863 | 9 | 58.5 | ||
| 8 | 25 | GM | @Parhamov | Parham Maghsoodloo | 2953 | 9 | 56 | ||
| 9 | 24 | GM | @AryanTari | Aryan Tari | 2941 | 9 | 52.5 | ||
| 10 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3270 | 8.5 | 64 | ||
| 11 | 57 | GM | @GMCarlosAObregon | Carlos Andres Obregón | 2825 | 8.5 | 52.25 | ||
| 12 | 41 | GM | @Zkid | Steven Zierk | 2863 | 8.5 | 51.75 | ||
| 13 | 12 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 2947 | 8.5 | 48.5 | ||
| 14 | 98 | IM | @jacky72 | Mihnea Costachi | 2758 | 8.5 | 47.75 | ||
| 15 | 43 | GM | @nrvisakh | Visakh NR | 2840 | 8.5 | 47.5 | ||
| 16 | 18 | IM | @swimmerchess | Siva Mahadevan | 2932 | 8 | 59 | ||
| 17 | 49 | IM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 2862 | 8 | 53.75 | ||
| 18 | 22 | IM | @Murad_Ibrahimli | Murad İbrahimli | 2902 | 8 | 52.75 | ||
| 19 | 35 | GM | @Harsha_Bharathakoti | Harsha Bharathakoti | 2883 | 8 | 52.25 | ||
| 20 | 63 | GM | @alexrustemov | Alexander Rustemov | 2790 | 8 | 50.25 | ||
| 20 | 11 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara | 2962 | 8 | 50.25 | ||
| 82 | 252 | WCM | @Lady_Nika | Veronika Shubenkova | 2514 | 7 | 30 | $100 |
(Full final standings here.)
WCM Veronika Shubenkova won the $100 prize for the highest-scoring female player.
Titled Tuesday is a weekly Swiss tournament for titled players on Chess.com. It starts at 10 a.m. Pacific time/19:00 Central European every Tuesday.
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.
