Ukrainian Surprise In Early Titled Tuesday, Eight-Way Tie In Late
Titled Tuesday on April 18 featured several storylines beyond GM Tuan Minh Le winning the early event and GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave winning the late event. GM Igor Kovalenko, who has been on the front lines in Ukraine's attempt to fight off Russia's invasion, finished in third place in the early tournament. Then, in the late tournament, Vachier-Lagrave outlasted an eight-way scrum on nine points, including GM Magnus Carlsen in second and GM Alireza Firouzja in third, to claim victory.
Don't worry.
— GrossLogos (@GmKovalenkoIgor) April 10, 2023
Almost 11 months in the army. more than 150 days in the Donetsk region, and 160 days of daily duty.
But even here I find time to play chess. pic.twitter.com/8wi8RsNuxl
Early Tournament
506 players contested the early tournament, and Le was perfect through nine rounds, reaching 9/9 with this performance:
The bid at perfection ended in round 10, however, with a loss to eventual second-place finisher GM Abhijeet Gupta.
However, after Gupta agreed to a draw with GM Artem Timofeev after one move in the last round, Le was still in prime position to win the event outright, and he beat IM Renato Terry to do just that.
But the highlight of the tournament was Kovalenko.
War is war, and finally managed to play. Defeating Hikaru is my pensioner's dessert! pic.twitter.com/XcBvzMolY0
— GrossLogos (@GmKovalenkoIgor) April 18, 2023
Yes, it's true, he beat Nakamura on the way. With Black, and despite bad pawns early.
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score |
| 1 | 7 | GM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3093 | 10 | |
| 2 | 34 | GM | @abhijeetgupta | Abhijeet Gupta | 2957 | 9.5 | |
| 3 | 44 | GM | @igorkovalenko | Igor Kovalenko | 2943 | 9 | |
| 4 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3200 | 9 | |
| 5 | 68 | GM | @TimofeevAr | Artem Timofeev | 2899 | 9 | |
| 6 | 27 | GM | @BogdanDeac | Bogdan Daniel Deac | 2967 | 9 | |
| 7 | 2 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3111 | 9 | |
| 8 | 39 | IM | @bardiya_Daneshvar | Bardiya Daneshvar | 2949 | 9 | |
| 9 | 29 | IM | @MITerryble | Renato Terry | 2957 | 8.5 | |
| 10 | 25 | GM | @shimastream | Aleksandr Shimanov | 2953 | 8.5 | |
| 11 | 50 | GM | @TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 2898 | 8.5 | |
| 12 | 5 | GM | @GMWSO | Wesley So | 3078 | 8 | |
| 13 | 10 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 3037 | 8 | |
| 14 | 8 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3038 | 8 | |
| 15 | 23 | GM | @viviania | Vasyl Ivanchuk | 2970 | 8 | |
| 16 | 24 | GM | @abhidabhi | Abhimanyu Puranik | 2983 | 8 | |
| 17 | 11 | GM | @mishanick | Alexey Sarana | 3017 | 8 | |
| 18 | 49 | FM | @snowlord | Ivan Yeletsky | 2887 | 8 | |
| 19 | 2 | GM | @BocharovD | Dmitriy Bocharov | 2750 | 8 | |
| 20 | 31 | GM | @Indianlad | S.L. Narayanan | 2939 | 8 | |
| 41 | 161 | GM | @Olga_Girya | Olga Girya | 2658 | 7.5 |
(Full final standings here.)
Le won $1,000 for his first Titled Tuesday victory of 2023 after two the year before. Gupta won $750 in second place. Kovalenko won $350 in third place. Nakamura finished fourth for $200, Timofeev fifth for $100, and GM Olga Girya was the highest-scoring woman in the tournament with 7.5/11, earning $100.
Late Tournament
Vachier-Lagrave jumped out to the late lead among 409 competitors—a group that included five former world number-twos or better in Nakamura, Carlsen, GM Fabiano Caruana, Firouzja, and GM Vladimir Kramnik—by scoring 8.5/9 to begin the event, then held on despite only scoring 0.5/2 at the end of the tournament.
Vachier-Lagrave's early dominance culminated with a four-game win streak against Firouzja, GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac, Caruana, and Nakamura.
However, that run could not survive an encounter with Carlsen.
Suddenly, four players—Vachier-Lagrave, Carlsen, Firouzja, and GM David Paravyan—had 8.5 points. Carlsen vs. Firouzja, of course, was the anticipated world championship matchup that did not happen in 2023, so for now we settle for their highly combative draw here:
Vachier-Lagrave also drew with Paravyan, leaving the seven players on eight points with a chance to catch up. Four of them did: GMs Christopher Yoo, Aram Hakobyan, Dmitry Andreikin, and Raunak Sadhwani. It was enough for Yoo and Hakobyan to join the top five, while in the 8.5 group only Paravyan was unfortunate enough to drop out of the paid positions.
April 18 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score |
| 1 | 5 | GM | @LyonBeast | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 3102 | 9 | |
| 2 | 1 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3221 | 9 | |
| 3 | 7 | GM | @Firouzja2003 | Alireza Firouzja | 3085 | 9 | |
| 4 | 37 | GM | @ChristopherYoo | Christopher Woojin Yoo | 2939 | 9 | |
| 5 | 21 | GM | @Njal28 | Aram Hakobyan | 2996 | 9 | |
| 6 | 32 | GM | @dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 2935 | 9 | |
| 7 | 10 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3039 | 9 | |
| 8 | 17 | GM | @champ2005 | Raunak Sadhwani | 2978 | 9 | |
| 9 | 11 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 3037 | 8.5 | |
| 10 | 16 | GM | @Annawel | Jules Moussard | 2986 | 8.5 | |
| 11 | 2 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3202 | 8.5 | |
| 12 | 12 | GM | @mishanick | Alexey Sarana | 3007 | 8.5 | |
| 13 | 4 | GM | @FabianoCaruana | Fabiano Caruana | 3089 | 8 | |
| 14 | 8 | GM | @Polish_fighter3000 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 3038 | 8 | |
| 15 | 42 | GM | @Matibar | Mateusz Bartel | 2886 | 8 | |
| 16 | 77 | FM | @greekplayer1 | Dimitris Makridis | 2792 | 8 | |
| 17 | 38 | GM | @LastGladiator1 | Aydin Suleymanli | 2896 | 8 | |
| 18 | 43 | GM | @alexrustemov | Alexander Rustemov | 2868 | 8 | |
| 19 | 111 | FM | @Ali_rastbod | Ali Rastbod | 2676 | 8 | |
| 20 | 3 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3083 | 8 | |
| 63 | 89 | GM | @ChessQueen | Alexandra Kosteniuk | 2702 | 6.5 |
(Full final standings here.)
Vachier-Lagrave won the $1,000 first place prize. Carlsen won $750 in second place and Firouzja $350 in third place, Yoo scored $200 in fourth and Hakobyan $100 in fifth. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk won the $100 women's prize for the third time this year, scoring 6.5/11.
Titled Tuesday is a weekly 11-round Swiss tournament for titled players that Chess.com holds twice every Tuesday. The start times are 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.
