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.