Xiong Wins December 7 Titled Tuesday

GM Jeffery Xiong won his third Titled Tuesday of 2021 on December 7, scoring 10/11. FM Khazar Babazada also made a 10/11 score but finished second on tiebreak; it was his second straight top-three finish. In a rarity, they finished a full point ahead of the field. IM Christopher Yoo and GM Vidit Gujrathi took third and fourth on 9/11 scores, with GM Alexey Kislinsky fifth on tiebreaks.

472 players participated in this Titled Tuesday, which was the normal 11-round Swiss tournament with a 3+1 time control.

The live broadcast of this week’s tournament, hosted by GM Benjamin Bok.

Xiong had a chance at perfection, beginning his tournament with 9/9, including a win over Babazada in round five which turned out to decide the tournament. Xiong ended with two draws in the last two rounds and held on by six tiebreaker points when Babazada caught up.

Babazada, who is only 16, won all his games except for the Xiong encounter. In the final round, Babazada got matched with GM Hikaru Nakamura but emerged victoriously. Nakamura flagged with a bishop that was powerless anyway against Babazada’s three pawns in the final position.

The last game of Xiong’s perfect portion of the tournament, round nine against GM Baadur Jobava, was a strong positional effort. After this point, draws in the final two rounds were good enough for Xiong to win the tournament.

December 7 Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number	Rk	Fed	Title	Username	Name	Rating	Score	SB
1	2		GM	@jefferyx	Jeffery Xiong	3068	10	71.5
2	29		FM	@KhazarBabazada007	Khazar Babazada	2902	10	65.5
3	12		IM	@ChristopherYoo	Christopher Woojin Yoo	2979	9	57.75
4	4		GM	@viditchess	Vidit Gujrathi	3016	9	57.5
5	86		GM	@Alexchess1984	Alexey Kislinsky	2769	9	47.5
6	5		GM	@dropstoneDP	David Paravyan	3020	8.5	63
7	3		GM	@mishanick	Alexey Sarana	3031	8.5	53.25
7	30		GM	@Durarbayli	Vasif Durarbayli	2864	8.5	53.25
9	14		GM	@rasmussvane	Rasmus Svane	2956	8.5	51
10	8		GM	@FairChess_on_YouTube	Dmitry Andreikin	2989	8.5	47.75
11	9		IM	@vi_pranav	Pranav V	2971	8.5	47.5
12	1		GM	@Hikaru	Hikaru Nakamura	3129	8	54
13	6		NM	@Sviridov_Valery	Valery Sviridov	3012	8	51.25
14	20		GM	@exoticprincess	Baadur Jobava	2934	8	50.5
14	37		GM	@dretch	Conrad Holt	2861	8	50.5
16	7		GM	@Chopper1905	Mustafa Yilmaz	2977	8	46.5
17	107		IM	@Undisputed92		2703	8	45.25
18	18		GM	@Oleksandr_Bortnyk	Oleksandr Bortnyk	2934	8	43.5
19	88		IM	@Korchmar_Vasiliy	Vasiliy Korchmar	2732	8	41.5
20	108		FM	@Aradhya2000	Aradhya Garg	2713	8	40
40	201		WFM	@AnastassijaSinitsina	Anastassia Sinitsina	2532	7.5	37.25

(Full final standings here.)

Xiong won $750 for first place and Babazada $400 for second. Yoo took $150 for third place and Vidit $100 for fourth. The $100 prize for the top-finishing female player went to WFM Anastassia Sinitsina, by tiebreak over GM Alexandra Kosteniuk with both on 7.5/11.

Titled Tuesday is a Swiss tournament for titled players, played every Tuesday on Chess.com starting at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time/19:00 Central European.