IM Yoo Wins October 5 Titled Tuesday

14-year-old IM Christopher Yoo won his first Titled Tuesday this week, scoring 9.5 in the October 5 event to finish in sole first. There was a six-way tie for second place on 9 points out of 11. After tiebreakers were applied, GM Artem Timofeev came in second place, GM Hikaru Nakamura in third, and GM Max Warmerdam in fourth place.

496 players participated this week in Titled Tuesday, which was its typical 11-round Swiss tournament with a 3+1 time control.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_MtvRwT76ELive broadcast of this week’s tournament, hosted by WCM Rebecca Selkirk.

Yoo did not lose a game, drawing in rounds four, eight, and 10 while winning his other eight matchups.

In the 11th round, he needed just 22 moves to defeat GM Aleksandar Indjic, sacrificing a knight for a blistering attack. This win enabled Yoo to leapfrog Indjic in the standings to take the top position. No one else on 8.5/10 entering the final round won their game.

Even one of Yoo’s draws was notable. GM Grigoriy Oparin was the last perfect player, with 7/7 entering the eighth round, and had an advantage on both the board and the clock against Yoo. But the teenager, who spent most of the end of the game with less than two seconds on the clock, held his nerves and his position in what proved to be a major turning point of the event.

Elsewhere in the standings, Warmerdam (the 47th seed in the tournament) used a dominant passed a-pawn to win a rook and defeat the top seed Nakamura in the fourth round. Both ultimately finished in paid positions.

October 5 Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number Rk Fed Title Username Name Rating Score SB Prize

1 14 IM @ChristopherYoo Christopher Woojin Yoo 2974 9.5 58.25 $750

2 27 GM @TimofeevAr Artem Timofeev 2905 9 66.5 $400

3 1 GM @Hikaru Hikaru Nakamura 3186 9 63 $150

4 47 GM @xamax2000 Max Warmerdam 2883 9 59.75 $100

5 26 GM @Shield12 Shamsiddin Vokhidov 2892 9 54.25

6 32 GM @Beca95 Aleksandar Indjic 2890 9 53.5

7 23 IM @wonderfultime Tuan Minh Le 2921 9 53.25

8 16 GM @OparinGrigoriy Grigoriy Oparin 2944 8.5 57

9 8 GM @exoticprincess Baadur Jobava 2940 8.5 55.75

10 57 GM @Gabix_94 Gabor Nagy 2821 8.5 55.25

11 4 GM @Oleksandr_Bortnyk Oleksandr Bortnyk 2997 8.5 55

12 86 GM @VMikhalevski Victor Mikhalevski 2771 8.5 53.75

13 37 GM @vugarrasulov Vugar Rasulov 2837 8.5 51.75

13 82 IM @CSB7 BalÃ¡zs Csonka 2730 8.5 51.75

15 15 GM @rasmussvane Rasmus Svane 2925 8.5 50.25

16 102 FM @PLAYER_2006_M Mukhiddin Madaminov 2718 8.5 49

17 10 GM @GOGIEFF Anton Korobov 2960 8.5 43.5

18 53 IM @Kezin_Roman Kezin Roman 2808 8 47.5

19 11 GM @champ2005 Raunak Sadhwani 2941 8 46.5

20 174 CM @legendisback1
2581 8 46

38 63 IM @nurgyulsalimova Nurgyul Salimova 2788 7.5 39 $100

(Full final standings here.)

IM Salimova won $100 as the top female player. Prizes were back to normal after some unusual circumstances the two previous weeks.

Titled Tuesday is a Swiss tournament for titled players running on Chess.com every week. It starts at 10 a.m. Pacific time/19:00 Central European every Tuesday.