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Firouzja Dominates Another Busy Tuesday

Firouzja Dominates Another Busy Tuesday

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NathanielGreen
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| 5 | Chess Event Coverage

GM Alireza Firouzja came a ninth-round draw away from the first perfect Titled Tuesday of the year on January 28, settling for a full-point victory on 10.5 points in the third straight early field of over 900 players. In the late event, GM Denis Lazavik took home the first prize with 9.5 points and the tiebreak advantage over GM Jose Martinez. GM Hikaru Nakamura finished in the top 11 in both events and continues to lead the Titled Tuesday Grand Prix standings.

Early Tournament

The final standings may make Firouzja's ride through the field of 946 look easy, but IM Almas Rakhmatullaev matched him game-by-game for 10 rounds. Both started on 8/8, drew with each other in round nine, and won again in round 10. Rakhmatullaev's win in that round came against someone you may have heard of, GM Magnus Carlsen. Neither player was perfect, but Carlsen made the last major error.

Firouzja and Rakhmatullaev's earlier draw and mutual 10th-round victories meant they faced different opponents in the last round—potentially setting up the second-ever tie on 10.5 points (Nakamura and GM Alexander Grischuk did it on May 14 last year).

Firouzja faced Lazavik in the final round and gained some measure of revenge for his loss in December's Champions Chess Tour. 

Rakhmatullaev couldn't keep up, with GM Shant Sargsyan never really giving him a chance to play for a win, eventually taking the endgame.

It was a tough loss for Rakhmatullaev, who still ended up with the better tiebreaks over Firouzja and thus would have won the tournament with another victory in round 11. But that also meant that he easily took second place despite falling into a four-way tie. Sargsyan pulled into fifth, with GM Tuan Minh Le and GM Visakh NR in the two spots ahead of him. IM Polina Shuvalova led all women with 7.5 points.

January 28 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)

Rank Seed Fed Title Username Name Rating Score Tiebreak
1 5 GM @Firouzja2003 Alireza Firouzja 3216 10.5 76.5
2 105 IM @AlmasRakhmatullaev Almas Rakhmatullaev 2959 9.5 78.5
3 38 GM @wonderfultime Tuan Minh Le 3043 9.5 71.5
4 96 GM @nrvisakh Visakh NR 2961 9.5 62
5 27 GM @Sargsyan_Shant Shant Sargsyan 3045 9.5 61.5
6 18 GM @vi_pranav Pranav V 3079 9 77
7 1 GM @Hikaru Hikaru Nakamura 3301 9 77
8 31 GM @OparinGrigoriy Grigoriy Oparin 3033 9 76.5
9 64 GM @lilleper1 Jonas Bjerre 2994 9 75.5
10 86 GM @Eltaj_Safarli Eltaj Safarli 2962 9 72.5
11 16 GM @LiemLe Liem Le 3082 9 70
12 24 GM @vugarrasulov Vugar Rasulov 3053 9 61.5
13 4 GM @DenLaz Denis Lazavik 3181 8.5 81.5
14 49 GM @Vaathi_Coming Aravindh Chithambaram 2999 8.5 73.5
15 97 GM @abhidabhi Abhimanyu Puranik 2924 8.5 73
16 10 GM @NikoTheodorou Nikolas Theodorou 3109 8.5 73
17 8 GM @Msb2 Matthias Bluebaum 3114 8.5 72
18 56 GM @Anton_Demchenko Anton Demchenko 2997 8.5 70.5
19 51 IM @Kacparov Kacper Drozdowski 2972 8.5 70
20 35 GM @tptagain David Anton Guijarro 3025 8.5 69.5
73 138 IM @Flawless_Fighter Polina Shuvalova 2841 7.5 60

(Full final standings.)

Prizes: Firouzja $1,000, Rakhmatullaev $750, Le $350, Visakh $200, Sargsyan $100, Shuvalova $100.

Alas, the 1,000-player milestone still awaits. When that mark is finally hit, the top 30 players will all receive prizes.

Late Tournament

Another 652 players were game for the late tournament. Lazavik, undeterred by the final setback against Firouzja earlier, would go on to win this one as the fourth seed. It wasn't the smoothest of rides, with draws in the first and fourth rounds, and so Lazavik did not enter a share of the lead until after round 10. It came via a victory over GM Jules Moussard, a game hardly in doubt throughout its course.

Martinez and GM Liem Le were the other players to reach 9/10, Martinez doing so with a win over GM Fabiano Caruana.

Lazavik and Martinez played each other in the final round, and their draw opened the door for Le, but he would lose to Nakamura. Still, Le was able to hold fifth place, with GMs Dmitrij Kollars and Sam Sevian coming out ahead of him. Kollars' win in the last round to take third was no fluke.

GM Alexandra Kosteniuk rounded out the prize winners by leading all women with 7.5 points.

January 28 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)

Rank Seed Fed Title Username Name Rating Score Tiebreak
1 4 GM @DenLaz Denis Lazavik 3184 9.5 69.5
2 19 GM @Jospem Jose Martinez 3093 9.5 65.5
3 26 GM @GM_dmitrij Dmitrij Kollars 3039 9 73.5
4 8 GM @Konavets Sam Sevian 3124 9 72
5 13 GM @LiemLe Liem Le 3110 9 71
6 21 GM @rasmussvane Rasmus Svane 3035 9 68
7 18 GM @vugarrasulov Vugar Rasulov 3049 9 66
8 32 GM @DanielNaroditsky Daniel Naroditsky 3120 9 66
9 25 GM @Shankland Sam Shankland 2983 9 63
10 17 GM @BogdanDeac Bogdan Daniel Deac 3073 9 59
11 1 GM @Hikaru Hikaru Nakamura 3262 9 58
12 29 GM @Annawel Jules Moussard 3042 8.5 73.5
13 11 GM @NikoTheodorou Nikolas Theodorou 3116 8.5 72.5
14 80 GM @GMAkobianSTL Varuzhan Akobian 2878 8.5 70
15 22 GM @ChristopherYoo Christopher Woojin Yoo 3032 8.5 69
16 3 GM @HansOnTwitch Hans Niemann 3191 8.5 67
17 15 GM @spicycaterpillar Ray Robson 3065 8.5 66.5
18 89 IM @FontVella8 Daniel Garcia Ramos 2817 8.5 54
19 27 IM @mind1mover Vuk Damjanovic 3023 8 77.5
20 81 IM @Legit Krzysztof Raczek 2849 8 71
44 128 GM @ChessQueen Alexandra Kosteniuk 2738 7.5 63.5

(Full final standings.)

Prizes: Lazavik $1,000, Martinez $750, Kollars $350, Svane $200, Le $100, Kosteniuk $100.

Grand Prix Standings

Not only Nakamura but GM Matthias Bluebaum held onto their top two spots this week, while GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac moved into third.

Rk Username Score Title Name
1 @Hikaru 71.0 GM Hikaru Nakamura
2 @Msb2 69.0 GM Matthias Bluebaum
3 @BogdanDeac 67.5 GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac
4 @tptagain 66.5 GM David Anton Guijarro
5 @NikoTheodorou 65.5 GM Niko Theodorou
6 @jefferyx 62.5 GM Jeffery Xiong
7 @rasmussvane 62.0 GM Rasmus Svane
8 @Kacparov 61.5 GM Kacper Drozdowski

IM Karina Ambartsumova, like Nakamura, held onto her lead in the women's standings, where the top three all held steady.

Rk Username Score Title Name
1 @karinachess1 50.5 IM Karina Ambartsumova
2 @Meri-Arabidze 46.0 IM Meri Arabidze
3 @anasta10 40.5 FM Anastasia Avramidou
4 @rollercoaster29 36.5 WFM Kalyani Sirin
5 @Mirchi_26 34.5 WCM Swara Lakshmi Nair
6 @ChessQueen 32.5 GM Alexandra Kosteniuk
7 @Navyblue1 32.5 NM Guadalupe Montano Vicente
8 @Fh2411 32.0 IM Le Thao Nguyen Pham

Seniors (born 1975 or earlier), youths (born 2009 or later), and girls (born 2005 or later) do not have SCC places on the line, but there will be cash prizes in each of these categories as well. The current leaders are the same as last week:

Seniors: GM Alex Rustemov (@alexrustemov), 56.5 points

Youth: IM Ilan Schnaider (@IlanSchnaider), 53.5 points

Girls: WFM Kalyani Sirin (@rollercoaster29), 36.5 points

Titled Tuesday

Titled Tuesday is Chess.com's weekly tournament for titled players, with two tournaments held each Tuesday. The first tournament begins at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Standard Time, and the second at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time/23:00 Central European/2:30 Indian Standard Time (next day).

NathanielGreen
Nathaniel Green

Nathaniel Green is a staff writer for Chess.com who writes articles, player biographies, Titled Tuesday reports, video scripts, and more. He has been playing chess for about 30 years and resides near Washington, DC, USA.

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