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Sevian Wins April Titled Tuesday
Sam Sevian won the largest Titled Tuesday ever with an impressive 9/10 score.

Sevian Wins April Titled Tuesday

SamCopeland
| 65 | Chess.com News

A day earlier, and the numbers would have been suspiciously good, but Titled Tuesday on April 2 was no joke as it set the record for the largest Titled Tuesday ever with 432 titled participants, including Hikaru Nakamura, Alexander Grischuk, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Alireza Firouzja and more.

Perhaps we will see a Titled Tuesday break 500 participants this year?

The event began with some nice tactics as the Bullet Chess Champion qualifier, Firouzja, gave up his queen to conclude round one with a lovely checkmate.

Shortly thereafter, GM Simon Williams (who recently achieved a 5/5 Titled Tuesday start) put a little something in his opponent's pipe to smoke. The finish was everything fans of the Ginger GM could have hoped for

These early smashing successes aside, winning such a packed Titled Tuesday is all about amassing a massive score of at least 8.5/10. Stars like Nakamura, Grischuk, and Nepomniachtchi achieved victories in the first several rounds but then dropped some critical full and half-points to their opponents. One player who knocked off one of these "big three" was Aryan Tari, who defeated Grischuk in the final round to secure a top-10 finish for himself. The ending mate was quite pleasing.

Ultimately, Sam Sevian was the only player to reach a victorious 9/10 points, but his run started quite inauspiciously when he lost in round two after his beautiful attack fell apart. Rh4?? proved a costly step backward when  the computer engine Stockfish's Qg4! would have forced mate.

However, after that early misstep, Sevian compiled a magnificent eight wins in a row with a series of attacking games. Here is a particularly nice victory where being down the exchange was no problem for Sevian, who eventually broke through on the kingside.

April Titled Tuesday | Final Standings

Place Seed Fed Title Username Name Score
1 35 GM Konavets Sam Sevian 9
2 88 GM dreamist Vladimir Zakhartsov 8.5
2 31 GM maloy07 Javohir Sindarov 8.5
4 41 IM GadimbayliA Abdulla Gadimbayli 8
5 63 IM KenanGarayev Kanan Garayev 8
6 191 CM vovachesss Vladimir Mikhailovsky 8
7 53 IM Korchmar_Vasiliy Vasiliy Korchmar 8
7 54 GM GataKamsky1974 Gata Kamsky 8
9 10 GM Micki-taryan Haik Martirosyan 8
10 34 GM AryanTari Aryan Tari 8
11 5 GM lachesisQ Ian Nepomniachtchi 8
12 21 GM RayRobson Ray Robson 8
13 9 GM penguingm1 Andrew Tang 8
14 236 IM Benji93 7.5
15 165 GM SavelijTartakover Dmitry Kryakvin 7.5
16 197 IM Shant_Sargsyan Shant Sargsyan 7.5
17 4 GM 2Vladimirovich90 Dmitry Andreikin 7.5
17 16 GM Annawel Jules Moussard 7.5
19 215 FM mbojan 7.5
20 15 GM Guenplen Boris Grachev 7
21 3 GM Grischuk Alexander Grischuk 7
22 48 GM Amirreza_p amirreza pourramezanali 7
23 80 GM ElGasanov Eldar Gasanov 7
24 101 IM mikhaillushenkov Mikhail Lushenkov 7
25 33 IM champ2005 Raunak Sadhwani 7
26 111 GM dommachess06 Gukesh D 7
27 18 GM Andreikka Andrey Esipenko 7
27 332 FM sere99 Francesco 7
29 14 IM wonderfultime Tuan Minh Le 7
29 102 NM 12teen Janak Awatramani 7
31 211 WIM nurgyulsalimova Nurgyul Salimova 7
32 90 FM JonahWillow Jonah Willow 7
33 68 GM Last7Samurai Cemil Can Ali Marandi 7
34 199 FM djogrodek1 7
35 367 FM VFernandezB Victor Fernández Barrera 7
36 30 IM IMxzh Xu Zhihang 7
36 127 GM Ginger_GM Simon Williams 7
38 124 IM David_ChessMood David Shahinyan 7
39 328 CM stepanosinovsky Stepan Osinovsky 7

For full crosstables and results, go here.

GM Aman Hambleton streamed the event on Chess.com immediately after the PRO Chess League semifinals.

Sevian won $500 for his clear first-place finish while nine players each received an even $100 for splitting the remaining prize money. These were GMs Gata Kamsky, Haik Martirosyan, Arayan Tari, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Ray Robson, Andrew Tang, and IMs Abdulla Gadimbayli, Vasily Korchmar and CM Vladimir Mikhailovsky.

The 2019 U.S. chess champion, Hikaru Nakamura, won the top streamers prize of 20 gifted subs as he garnered a massive audience excited to hear his blitz thoughts.

Watch GM Hikaru Nakamura Titled Tuesday | !bullet | !youtube | from GMHikaru on www.twitch.tv

SamCopeland
NM Sam Copeland

I'm the Head of Community for Chess.com. I earned the National Master title in 2012, and in 2014, I returned to my home state of South Carolina to start Strategery: Chess and Games. In late 2015, I began working for Chess.com and haven't looked back since.

You can find my personal content on Twitch , Twitter , and YouTube where I further indulge my love of chess.

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