Throwback Tuesday? Jobava, Naroditsky Win 2/22/22 Titled Tuesday

GM Baadur Jobava and GM Daniel Naroditsky, some of the earliest winners of Titled Tuesday back in 2014, won Titled Tuesday again on February 22, 2022. Neither player needed the tiebreak system as Jobava had the best score of the day with 10/11, while Naroditsky also won outright, with 9.5/11. The top five in both events was filled with some big names.

Early Tournament

The early (8 a.m. Pacific) tournament was joined by 488 players, including GM Hikaru Nakamura, GM Alexander Grischuk, and GM Vidit Gujrathi, who finished second through fourth with scores of 9.5, 9.5, and 9 points. GM Aleksandar Indjic emerged from a 12-way tie on 8.5/11 to finish in fifth place. Another notable result: WGM Jiner Zhu, one of the top young women in the chess world (despite her current title, she is at least IM strength), finished eighth.

Live broadcast of the early tournament, hosted by WFM Alessia Santeramo.

Jobava, who won the first-ever Titled Tuesday on October 28, 2014, won a chaotic final-round endgame against Indjic to pull off the win this week. It was Jobava’s first Titled Tuesday win since 2016.

Hikaru locked up second with a final-round win over GM Nikita Matinian and the tiebreak edge over Grischuk, who had beaten FM Talibov Shiroghlan in the last round.

Zhu’s performance included wins over several notable grandmasters, the last of which in round 10 gave her a chance to reach the top five had she won instead of drawn in round 11.

February 22 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number	Rk	Fed	Title	Username	Name	Rating	Score	SB
1	37		GM	@exoticprincess	Baadur Jobava	2980	10	74.5
2	1		GM	@Hikaru	Hikaru Nakamura	3170	9.5	66.25
3	5		GM	@Grischuk	Alexander Grischuk	3049	9.5	62.75
4	10		GM	@viditchess	Vidit Gujrathi	2984	9	54
5	44		GM	@Beca95	Aleksandar Indjic	2906	8.5	60.75
6	12		GM	@Oleksandr_Bortnyk	Oleksandr Bortnyk	2969	8.5	55.75
7	17		GM	@Shield12	Shamsiddin Vokhidov	2963	8.5	53.5
8	95		WGM	@jinbojinbo	Jiner Zhu	2828	8.5	53.25
9	66		GM	@Kobalia	Mikhail Kobalia	2850	8.5	52.75
10	117		GM	@Aygehovit1992	Nikita Matinian	2748	8.5	51.25
11	36		GM	@moro182	Luca Moroni Jr	2906	8.5	50.25
12	16		GM	@GM_dmitrij	Dmitrij Kollars	2905	8.5	49.25
13	108		FM	@ShiroglanTalibov	Talibov Shiroghlan	2753	8.5	47.75
14	22		GM	@champ2005	Raunak Sadhwani	2972	8.5	47.25
15	30		GM	@Zhigalko_Sergei	Sergei Zhigalko	2905	8.5	45.5
16	60		IM	@Abdimalik_Abdisalimov	Abdimalik Abdisalimov	2876	8.5	42.75
17	35		GM	@joppie2	Jorden van Foreest	2947	8	51
18	46		GM	@Zkid	Steven Zierk	2891	8	50.75
19	56		GM	@igorkovalenko	Igor Kovalenko	2856	8	49.5
20	9		GM	@Micki-taryan	Haik Martirosyan	2983	8	48.5

(Full final standings here.)

Jobava won $1,000, Nakamura $750, Grischuk $300, Vidit $150, and Indjic $100 for their respective finishes, with Zhu taking $100 as the highest-scoring woman in the field

Late Tournament

327 players joined the late (2 p.m. Pacific) tournament. As in the early tournament, the top five was filled with well-known players, not just Naroditsky: GM Gawain Jones finished second, GM Daniil Dubov third, GM Raunak Sadhwani fourth, and GM Jose Martinez finished in fifth place.

Live broadcast of the late tournament, hosted by GM Benjamin Bok.

Jobava made a very strong bid at sweeping both events today, beginning the late event with 6.5/7 after a seventh-round win over Nakamura (his second of the day, after round four in the previous tournament), before finishing in eighth place on 8.5/11.

Instead, Naroditsky came through, just as he did in the third Titled Tuesday ever, held December 30, 2014. And his path this week went through Jobava, in a back-and-forth round 10 affair. Naroditsky also survived extreme time trouble, moving with less than a second remaining at one point, to take a strong tournament lead.

After that victory, Danya was a full point ahead of everyone in the field except Jones. Thus Naroditsky only needed a draw against Jones to clinch the tournament, which he obtained. There ended up being a four-way tie for second place on nine points, with Nakamura, GM Jorden van Foreest, and Jobava just outside the top five with 8.5 points.

February 22 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number Rk Fed Title Username Name Rating Score SB

1 1 GM @DanielNaroditsky Daniel Naroditsky 3162 9.5 60

2 57 GM @VerdeNotte Gawain Jones 2887 9 57.75

3 10 GM @Duhless Daniil Dubov 3012 9 56.5

4 20 GM @champ2005 Raunak Sadhwani 2972 9 55.75

5 21 GM @Jospem Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara 2955 9 54.25

6 2 GM @Hikaru Hikaru Nakamura 3170 8.5 64

7 22 GM @joppie2 Jorden van Foreest 2947 8.5 51.25

8 17 GM @exoticprincess Baadur Jobava 2980 8.5 47.25

9 9 GM @FairChess_on_YouTube Dmitry Andreikin 2988 8 50.5

10 13 GM @Micki-taryan Haik Martirosyan 2983 8 50

11 8 GM @BogdanDeac Bogdan Daniel Deac 3002 8 49.5

12 50 GM @Igrok3069 Alexey Dreev 2866 8 48.25

13 31 GM @Sanan_Sjugirov Sanan Sjugirov 2906 8 45.75

14 44 IM @MITerryble Renato Terry 2876 8 45

15 24 GM @Fandorine Maksim Chigaev 2912 8 44.5

16 12 GM @mishanick Alexey Sarana 2981 8 44.25

17 39 GM @Infernal_XaM Pavel Ponkratov 2883 8 43.75

18 42 IM @Rsnr Arseny Kukhmazov 2855 8 42

19 25 GM @rasmussvane Rasmus Svane 2914 8 40.75

20 33 GM @abhijeetgupta Abhijeet Gupta 2905 7.5 48

32 128 WGM @Sanyura Aleksandra Maltsevskaya 2622 7 36.5

(Full final standings here.)

Naroditsky won the $1,000 for first place, followed by Jones with $750, Dubov $300, Sadhwani $150, and Martinez $100. The $100 prize for best female player went to WGM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya.

Titled Tuesday is Chess.com’s weekly tournament, with two tournaments held each Tuesday. The tournaments are Swiss events which start at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time/17:00 Central European and 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time/23:00 Central European.