Nakamura Reclaims Titled Tuesday; Dubov Wins Late, Nearly Sweeps

GM Hikaru Nakamura won the early edition of Titled Tuesday on March 8, scoring 9.5/11 after defeating GM Daniil Dubov in the final round and winning on tiebreaks. Dubov went on to win the late edition and was the only player to reach the top five in both of the day’s events.

Early Tournament

431 players hopped into action for what turned out to be a tightly contested early tournament, as no one led the field by more than half a point after any round. Nakamura drew as early as the first round but remained near the top of the standings, ready to pounce.

Broadcast of the early tournament hosted by NM James Canty III.

Recent winner GM Baadur Jobava was the last perfect player, reaching 6/6 before drawing with Nakamura in round seven. With two rounds left, it was anyone’s tournament to win, with a four-way tie for first between Jobava, Nakamura, Dubov, and GM Vladimir Fedoseev.

While Nakamura and Fedoseev drew, Dubov defeated Jobava to take a half-point tournament lead.

The decisive final-round game between Nakamura and Dubov came down to the infamous endgame of rook, knight and king against rook and king. The computer’s evaluation remained a draw throughout, but after Dubov’s time fell under five seconds on move 47, it eventually ran out on him on move 111. He had effectively played a full game, 64 moves, with a “0+1” time control.

Dubov settled for fourth place on tiebreaks over Jobava and GM Arturs Neiksans. However, his Titled Tuesday was not over, with the late edition to begin roughly three and a half hours later.

March 8 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number	Rk	Fed	Title	Username	Name	Rating	Score	SB
1	1		GM	@Hikaru	Hikaru Nakamura	3108	9.5	67.25
2	7		GM	@Bigfish1995	Vladimir Fedoseev	3000	9.5	62.75
3	17		GM	@GM_dmitrij	Dmitrij Kollars	2950	9.5	54.75
4	5		GM	@Duhless	Daniil Dubov	3022	9	62
5	15		GM	@exoticprincess	Baadur Jobava	2963	9	60.25
6	50		GM	@GMNeiksans	Arturs Neiksans	2841	9	55
7	4		GM	@champ2005	Raunak Sadhwani	3024	8.5	54.25
8	30		GM	@BillieKimbah	Maxim Matlakov	2892	8.5	52.75
9	13		GM	@rasmussvane	Rasmus Svane	2956	8.5	50.25
10	20		GM	@Zhigalko_Sergei	Sergei Zhigalko	2932	8.5	49.75
11	24		GM	@Fandorine	Maksim Chigaev	2877	8.5	48.75
12	10		GM	@Oleksandr_Bortnyk	Oleksandr Bortnyk	2974	8.5	47.25
13	2		GM	@Jospem	Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara	3037	8	52
14	51		IM	@kleinebeer98	Thomas Beerdsen	2833	8	50.5
15	23		GM	@Zkid	Steven Zierk	2903	8	48.5
16	40		FM	@Reader777	Read Samedov	2822	8	48
17	25		GM	@SantoBlue	Vahap Sanal	2891	8	47.25
18	22		GM	@moro182	Luca Moroni Jr	2905	8	46.25
19	154		IM	@viktorskliarov	Viktor Skliarov	2629	8	44.5
20	176		CM	@Makswolf200817	Maksim Volkov	2622	8	43.75
45	79		GM	@ChessQueen	Alexandra Kosteniuk	2709	7	38

(Full final standings here.)

Nakamura won $1,000 for his first-place finish and Fedoseev $750 for second place. GM Dimitrij Kollars took home $300 for third, Dubov $150 for fourth, and Jobava $100 for fifth. The highest-scoring woman was GM Alexandra Kosteniuk, who claimed $100 for her efforts.

Late Tournament

The late tournament featured 263 players and it was even closer than the early tournament. By the time the dust settled, five players tied for first. It was Dubov who had faced the toughest slate to come out ahead of GMs Haik Martirosyan, Praggnanandhaa R, Oleksandr Bortnyk, and Fabiano Caruana. It was almost notable for a different reason, as Praggnanandhaa started with a perfect 9/9 before a late fade.

Broadcast of the early tournament hosted by GM Daniel Naroditsky.

Caruana made the earliest waves when, in round three, it came time for him to execute the notoriously difficult bishop-and-knight checkmate with 11 seconds left on his clock. Even some titled players have trouble with it, but certainly not the world #5.

For much of the tournament, however, it was Praggnanandhaa who was making waves with win after win. In odd-numbered rounds the 16-year-old took down some especially impressive names: Caruana in round five, Dubov in round seven, Nakamura in round nine. The last of these was a sharp and thrilling ride decided in mutual time trouble:

It was not until the 10th round that someone stopped Praggnanandhaa, and the stopper was Martirosyan. The early morning hour in India may have finally gotten to Pragg, with Bortnyk surviving a strong initiative to defeat him in the final round and both players having under three seconds on the clock at one point.

That left the door open for either Dubov or Martirosyan to claim the tournament outright, but they drew their game. Nonetheless, the tiebreaks worked out in Dubov’s favor despite his earlier loss to Praggnanandhaa, while Caruana got the worst of them.

March 8 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number Rk Fed Title Username Name Rating Score SB

1 3 GM @Duhless Daniil Dubov 3039 9 59

2 5 GM @Micki-taryan Haik Martirosyan 3003 9 55

3 18 GM @rpragchess Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu 2947 9 53.5

4 7 GM @Oleksandr_Bortnyk Oleksandr Bortnyk 2989 9 50.75

5 6 GM @FabianoCaruana Fabiano Caruana 2993 9 47

6 13 GM @Beca95 Aleksandar Indjic 2950 8.5 56.25

7 26 GM @ActorXu Yi Xu 2915 8.5 50.25

8 8 GM @dropstoneDP David Paravyan 2968 8.5 49.75

9 138 NM @KroshkaKami Kamila Hryshchenko 2611 8.5 46.25

10 21 GM @Fandorine Maksim Chigaev 2885 8 48.5

11 17 GM @VladDobrov Vladimir Dobrov 2936 8 48.25

12 50 GM @DanielDardha2005 Daniel Dardha 2770 8 47

13 34 GM @platy3 Alan Pichot 2815 8 40

14 171 IM @The_Machine04 Ruben Gideon Köllner 2488 8 39.25

15 35 GM @jcibarra José Carlos Ibarra Jerez 2802 7.5 42.75

15 10 GM @rasmussvane Rasmus Svane 2945 7.5 42.75

17 9 GM @exoticprincess Baadur Jobava 2949 7.5 41.25

18 47 NM @Grandmaster2B Grayson Rorrer 2717 7.5 40.25

19 37 FM @Iball95 V I 2799 7.5 38.75

20 92 WGM @Meri-Arabidze Meri Arabidze 2632 7.5 37.75

(Full final standings here.)

Dubov’s $1,000 prize for his win brought his total on the day to $1,150. Martirosyan picked up $750 for finishing in second, Praggnanandhaa $300 for third, Bortnyk $150 and Caruana $100 for fifth. NM Kamila Hryshchenko of Ukraine finished ninth with 8.5/11, winning the $100 prize for the highest-scoring female player above fellow top-20 finisher WGM Meri Arabidze.

Titled Tuesday is a Swiss tournament held every week by Chess.com. With two events every Tuesday, they begin at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time / 17:00 Central European and 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time / 23:00 Central European.