Nakamura, Niemann Nab Titled Tuesday Triumphs

GM Hikaru Nakamura won his second straight late Titled Tuesday event after GM Hans Niemann claimed the early tournament on May 31. Niemann was also a Titled Tuesday victor back on February 15.

This week, one player also placed top five in both events—GM Dmitry Andreikin scored a combined 19/22 and did not lose a single game.

Early Tournament

The early tournament was joined by 377 players and underwent a few lead changes. Andreikin started a perfect 7/7, including a win over eventual tournament champion Niemann in round six.

Andreikin didn’t actually lose a game in the tournament, but he made a draw in every one of the last four rounds. The draws were enough to tie for second (fourth after tiebreaks) but not to win the day.

It was GM Baadur Jobava in the tournament lead with a 9/10 score entering the 11th round, but Niemann had a chance to leapfrog him in their direct encounter, and that’s what happened.

May 31 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number	Rk	Fed	Title	Username	Name	Rating	Score	SB
1	22		GM	@HansOnTwitch	Hans Niemann	2965	9.5	60.5
2	25		GM	@OparinGrigoriy	Grigoriy Oparin	2932	9	59
3	11		GM	@viditchess	Vidit Gujrathi	2992	9	58
4	8		GM	@FairChess_on_YouTube	Dmitry Andreikin	3070	9	57.75
5	13		GM	@Oleksandr_Bortnyk	Oleksandr Bortnyk	3012	9	57.5
6	64		GM	@vladislavkovalev	Vladislav Kovalev	2857	9	52
7	4		GM	@exoticprincess	Baadur Jobava	3041	9	51.5
8	38		GM	@platy3	Alan Pichot	2854	9	47.5
9	80		GM	@Vanina1989	Valentina Gunina	2787	8.5	53.75
10	10		GM	@Duhless	Daniil Dubov	2982	8.5	52.75
11	24		GM	@Sanan_Sjugirov	Sanan Sjugirov	2946	8.5	45.25
12	53		GM	@ActorXu	Xu Yi	2845	8	51.5
13	62		FM	@ymoy	Vadym Petrovskyi	2819	8	48.5
14	44		GM	@Durarbayli	Vasif Durarbayli	2877	8	46.5
15	19		GM	@Zhigalko_Sergei	Sergei Zhigalko	2939	8	45.5
16	1		GM	@Hikaru	Hikaru Nakamura	3173	8	44
17	35		GM	@Harsha_Bharathakoti	Harsha Bharathakoti	2872	8	43.5
18	65		GM	@K_A_S_T_O_R	Rodrigo Vasquez	2834	8	41.25
19	37		IM	@vi_pranav	Pranav V	2869	8	40.75
20	9		GM	@daro94	Dariusz Swiercz	2939	8	40.5
20	41		GM	@Vaathi_Coming	Aravindh Chithambaram	2873	8	40.5
22	91		GM	@chito89	Axel Bachmann	2779	8	35

(Full final standings here.)

Niemann won $1,000 for his efforts. GM Grigoriy Oparin took home $750 for second place and GM Vidit Gujrathi won $300 in third, while Andreikin earned $150 for fourth and GM Oleksandr Bortnyk $100 for fifth. Finishing in ninth place on 8.5/11 was GM Valentina Gunina, who won $100 as the top-scoring woman.

Late Tournament

With 307 players, the late event saw its largest participation since February. As he did last week, Nakamura won with a score of 10/11. This time he was joined at the top by Andreikin, but tiebreaks favored Nakamura. Neither player lost a single game.

They were the last two perfect players, with 6/6, and continued to share the lead after drawing each other in round seven. Nakamura separated himself with a win in the ninth round over Bortnyk, as Andreikin drew with GM Eric Hansen.

That round ended up making just enough difference that Nakamura ended the tournament with a marginally higher tiebreak despite making a 51-move draw with GM Alexey Sarana in the last round, even as Andreikin defeated GM Jose Carlos Ibarra to rejoin the tie for first.

No one else finished within a half-point of the two most successful Titled Tuesday players of 2022.

May 31 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number Rk Fed Title Username Name Rating Score SB

1 1 GM @Hikaru Hikaru Nakamura 3173 10 73.25

2 5
GM @FairChess_on_YouTube Dmitry Andreikin 3070 10 72.25

3 25 GM @DrVelja Velimir Ivic 2973 9 54

4 58 IM @Bulldog167 Leon Livaic 2851 9 47.5

5 9 GM @mishanick Alexey Sarana 2982 8.5 56

6 22 GM @erichansen Eric Hansen 2949 8.5 53

7 46 GM @AlexeiShirov Alexei Shirov 2848 8.5 51.25

8 28 GM @TigrVShlyape Gata Kamsky 2906 8.5 47

9 29 GM @Msb2 Matthias Bluebaum 2917 8.5 45.5

10 8 GM @Oleksandr_Bortnyk Oleksandr Bortnyk 3012 8 49.25

11 47 GM @K_A_S_T_O_R Rodrigo Vasquez 2834 8 46.5

12 34 GM @jcibarra José Carlos Ibarra Jerez 2877 8 44.5

13 65 FM @MarcoRiehle Marco Riehle 2818 8 42.75

14 20
GM @Sanan_Sjugirov Sanan Sjugirov 2946 8 42.25

15 24 GM @Angry_Twin Andrey Drygalov 2921 8 40.5

16 18 GM @Zhigalko_Sergei Sergei Zhigalko 2939 7.5 45.5

17 17
GM @Anton_Demchenko Anton Demchenko 2936 7.5 45.25

18 127
IM @Flawless_Fighter Polina Shuvalova 2651 7.5 44.25

19 63 IM @Niclox Nicolás Abarca 2766 7.5 43.75

20 14 GM @champ2005 Raunak Sadhwani 2979 7.5 42

(Full final standings here.)

Nakamura won the first-place prize of $1,000. Andreikin won $750 for a total of $900 on the day. GM Velimir Ivic took home $300 for third place and IM Leon Livaic $150 for fourth. The $100 prizes went to fifth-place Sarana and IM Polina Shuvalova in 18th place, the highest rank among the women in the tournament.