Maghsoodloo Wins August 24 Titled Tuesday

GM Parham Maghsoodloo won Titled Tuesday this week with a 9.5/11 score, beating out second-place IM Minh Le and third-place GM Rustam Khusnutdinov on tiebreakers. GM Dmitry Andreikin finished fourth on 9/11. Maghsoodloo previously won Titled Tuesday on October 13, 2020.

After last week’s 11/11, GM Hikaru Nakamura won his first six games this week, for an 18-game Titled Tuesday winning streak including the last round on August 10.

530 titled players participated this week. The tournament was the usual 11-round Swiss format under a 3+1 time control.

Live broadcast of this week’s tournament, hosted by NM James Canty III.

In round seven, Nakamura met Maghsoodloo. Up a piece for three pawns and low on time in the ending, Maghsoodloo converted. The win gave him the last perfect score of the tournament, although Maghsoodloo fell to GM Vladimir Fedoseev the next round, ending the chance of Titled Tuesday seeing a second straight perfect score.

By the final round, Maghsoodloo was a half-point ahead of the field and took a draw with Andreikin. After tiebreakers, Maghsoodloo’s 9.5 was enough for first and Andreikin had the best performance among those with 9/11.

The tournament victor’s last win, in round 10, came against GM Raunak Sadhwani in a theoretically drawn ending but one that is always difficult for the player without the extra piece to hold.

On his way to second place, Minh Le also had to get through Nakamura. Without a chance at winning the tournament, Nakamura went with the fan-pleasing 2.Ke2 for the final round game.

But the wildest game of the week, and in Titled Tuesday overall for some time, was played between FM Pedro Martinez and IM Greg Shahade in round eight.

August 24 Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number	Rk	Fed	Title	Username	Name	Rating	Score	SB
1	14		GM	@Parhamov	Parham Maghsoodloo	2979	9.5	59
2	13		IM	@wonderfultime	Tuan Minh Le	2972	9.5	58.5
3	28		GM	@RD4ever	Rustam Khusnutdinov	2901	9.5	57.25
4	3		GM	@FairChess_on_YouTube	Dmitry Andreikin	3054	9	67
5	31		FM	@honestgames	Egor Lashkin	2871	9	59
6	30		GM	@exoticprincess	Baadur Jobava	2900	9	57.75
7	7		GM	@champ2005	Raunak Sadhwani	2991	9	56.25
8	24		GM	@Arseniy_Nesterov	Arseniy Nesterov	2890	8.5	57.75
9	413		GM	@Tom_19881106		2881	8.5	57.25
10	37		GM	@Sanan_Sjugirov	Sanan Sjugirov	2867	8.5	55.75
11	15		GM	@Zhigalko_Sergei	Sergei Zhigalko	2930	8.5	51.75
12	35		GM	@moro182	Luca Moroni Jr	2858	8.5	51.25
13	10		GM	@rpragchess	Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu	2968	8.5	51
14	16		GM	@rasmussvane	Rasmus Svane	2914	8.5	49.25
15	38		GM	@Zkid	Steven Zierk	2862	8.5	46.75
16	8		GM	@mishanick	Aleksey Sarana	2971	8.5	45.75
17	1		GM	@Hikaru	Hikaru Nakamura	3202	8	55.5
18	5		GM	@Konavets	Sam Sevian	2975	8	53
19	74		FM	@Witik	Vjacheslav Weetik	2747	8	48.5
20	23		GM	@TimofeevAr	Artem Timofeev	2886	8	47.5

(Full final standings here.)

Maghsoodloo won $750 for his victory. Minh Le took home $400 for second place. The $150 for third went to Khusnutdinov and Andreikin won $100 for fourth place. The $100 prize to the highest-scoring woman went to WGM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya, who went 8/11 to tie for 24th.

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