Nakamura Wins July 13 Titled Tuesday

GM Hikaru Nakamura won Titled Tuesday for the second consecutive week, scoring 9.5/11 and finishing ahead of GM Giga Quparadze on tiebreakers. There was a tie for third as both GM Sergei Zhigalko and GM Tamir Nabaty finished with 9/11 and the same tiebreaker score, ahead of GMs Nodirbek Abdusattorov and David Howell.

502 titled players played in this week’s Titled Tuesday, which coincided with the first round of the FIDE World Cup. As usual, the tournament was an 11-round Swiss at a 3+1 time control.

Live broadcast of the tournament, hosted by WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili this week.

Nakamura did not lose a game but was held to a draw by three well-known strong players: IM Minh Le in round five, Quparadze in round eight, and Howell in round 10. Nakamura’s somewhat harder slate of games compared to Quparadze was the difference in the tiebreak.

Nabaty was the last perfect player, with 6/6 entering the seventh round, but that score did not survive the ensuing endgame encounter with Nakamura.

Entering the final round, Quparadze was in the lead by himself, but his game with Abdusattorov ended in a draw. The door was thus open for Nakamura to defeat Winner Stays participant GM Jose Martinez and take the tournament.

A 10th round game between top-20 finishers IM Renato Terry and GM Conrad Holt showed the stress and dangers of blitz. The players were each under 30 seconds by move 30, and the roughly 75 moves in time trouble resulted in a back-and-forth endgame that ultimately ended in lone kings.

July 13 Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number	Rk	Fed	Title	Username	Name	Rating	Score	SB
1	1		GM	@Hikaru	Hikaru Nakamura	3224	9.5	60.25
2	10		GM	@GigaQuparadze	Giga Quparadze	2976	9.5	56.75
3	12		GM	@Zhigalko_Sergei	Sergei Zhigalko	2934	9	63
3	8		GM	@TamirNabaty	Tamir Nabaty	2978	9	63
5	3		GM	@howitzer14	David Howell	3024	9	60
6	7		GM	@ChessWarrior7197	Nodirbek Abdusattorov	2960	9	57
7	20		GM	@dropstoneDP	David Paravyan	2879	8.5	54.5
8	30		IM	@DenLaz	Denis Lazavik	2844	8.5	54.25
9	18		GM	@kirillshevchenko	Kirill Shevchenko	2872	8.5	51.75
10	55		GM	@K_A_S_T_O_R	Rodrigo Vasquez	2784	8.5	50.25
11	5		GM	@Oleksandr_Bortnyk	Oleksandr Bortnyk	2974	8.5	49.5
11	6		IM	@renatoterrylujan	Renato Terry	2960	8.5	49.5
13	11		IM	@ChristopherYoo	Christopher Woojin Yoo	2945	8.5	45.5
14	154		IM	@elohunter1999	Robert Baskin	2590	8	49.5
15	43		GM	@alexrustemov	Alexander Rustemov	2790	8	48
16	139		FM	@eduardoperalta	Eduardo Peralta	2622	8	47.5
16	25		GM	@dretch	Conrad Holt	2862	8	47.5
18	83		FM	@mbojan	Bojan Maksimovic	2694	8	47
19	44		IM	@Rsnr	Arseny Kukhmazov	2769	8	46.5
20	84		FM	@Borsuk_Konstantin	Konstantin Borsuk	2682	8	45.5
20	58		NM	@Leonid_Starozhilov	Leonid Starozhilov	2730	8	45.5

(Full final standings here.)

Nakamura won $750 for the first-place finish, Quparadze received $400 for second place, and the tie for third meant $125 each for Zhigalko and Nabaty. WIM Dolzhykova Kateryna won the $100 prize for top female player.

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