Connect Four! Hikaru Wins 4th Straight Tuesday
On November 19, GM Hikaru Nakamura became the first player ever to win four straight Titled Tuesdays, and nearly became the first to win five in a row and sweep two consecutive weeks. Nakamura was able to just squeak out a win on tiebreaks over GM Magnus Carlsen in the early tournament before he was finally stopped by GM Alireza Firouzja in the late tournament.
Congratulations to @GMHikaru not only for his tournament win, but for being the first player ever to score four #TitledTuesday victories in a row!
— chess24 (@chess24com) November 19, 2024
Magnus Carlsen scored 10/11 as well but had lesser tiebreaks. pic.twitter.com/MyDdRiWLEk
Early Tournament
Although 693 players joined the early tournament, they were once again helpless to stop Nakamura from rising to the top. Sitting on 7.5/8, his ninth round matchup with GM Jeffery Xiong nearly ended before it began, but at the last second Nakamura averted a draw by repetition on move 10. In the endgame they eventually reached, a natural recapture from Xiong stepped into a fork that suddenly ended the competitive part of the game.
It was now time for the Nakamura–Carlsen matchup that is always anticipated when they play in the same tournament. Unfortunately for the audience, they were both more than happy to take a quiet draw in 26 moves. Fortunately for the players, their chances at first place were still alive for both of them.
In the last round, the final results would come down to Nakamura versus GM Alexey Sarana and Carlsen versus GM Ian Nepomniachtchi. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, Nakamura and Carlsen both won. It took 53 moves each, with Nakamura–Sarana ending slightly sooner thanks to Nakamura's efficiency on the clock—he still had 35 seconds left when he delivered checkmate.
Carlsen, meanwhile, won a bit more subtly, establishing pawns on d5 and e5 that soon forced Nepomniachtchi to give up the exchange and, eventually, the game.
Settling in behind them in a clean third was Xiong, who recovered from the loss to Nakamura with two straight wins, the second against GM Matthias Bluebaum. That gave him 9.5 points, the half-point coming with a draw against Carlsen in round six—Xiong holding that draw against Carlsen and dropping the game against Nakamura was one of the key differences between first and second in the tournament.
November 19 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak |
| 1 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3334 | 10 | 77.5 | |
| 2 | 2 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3314 | 10 | 75.5 | |
| 3 | 20 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 3093 | 9.5 | 75.5 | |
| 4 | 7 | GM | @mishanick | Alexey Sarana | 3149 | 9 | 77.5 | |
| 5 | 23 | GM | @bardiya_Daneshvar | Bardiya Daneshvar | 3035 | 9 | 72.5 | |
| 6 | 33 | GM | @Volodar_Murzin | Volodar Murzin | 3005 | 9 | 71 | |
| 7 | 34 | GM | @VladimirKramnik | Vladimir Kramnik | 3002 | 9 | 68 | |
| 8 | 92 | GM | @iwanyu | Alvar Alonso Rosell | 2880 | 9 | 64.5 | |
| 9 | 4 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 3170 | 8.5 | 74.5 | |
| 10 | 12 | GM | @lachesisQ | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 3097 | 8.5 | 73.5 | |
| 11 | 11 | GM | @vi_pranav | Pranav V | 3110 | 8.5 | 72 | |
| 12 | 36 | GM | @lilleper1 | Jonas Bjerre | 2995 | 8.5 | 71.5 | |
| 13 | 6 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3166 | 8.5 | 69 | |
| 14 | 15 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 3066 | 8.5 | 68.5 | |
| 15 | 25 | GM | @ChristopherYoo | Christopher Woojin Yoo | 3042 | 8.5 | 68 | |
| 16 | 30 | IM | @Murad_Ibrahimli | Murad İbrahimli | 2976 | 8.5 | 66.5 | |
| 17 | 9 | IM | @Rud_Makarian | Rudik Makarian | 3064 | 8.5 | 65 | |
| 18 | 66 | IM | @kids2010 | Pawel Sowinski | 2916 | 8.5 | 65 | |
| 19 | 13 | GM | @GMBenjaminBok | Benjamin Bok | 3057 | 8.5 | 55 | |
| 20 | 98 | IM | @chenxiaoyuer | Ryo Chen | 2845 | 8.5 | 53.5 | |
| 86 | 281 | WFM | @Lady_Nika | Veronika Shubenkova | 2603 | 7 | 49 |
(Full final standings here.)
Nakamura won the $1,000 for first place with Carlsen taking the $750 second-place prize. Xiong won $350 in third. Sarana earned $200 in fourth place, GM Bardiya Daneshvar $100 in fifth, and WFM Veronika Shubenkova $100 for the top women's score.
Late Tournament
After his success early, it then looked like Nakamura would steamroll the field of 496 late as well. This despite Firouzja having the game of the week in the sixth round against GM Liem Le. How often do you see a triple piece sacrifice (followed by the quietest of pawn moves when it was possible to capture the queen instead) leading to checkmate?
Still, Firouzja was not in the lead because of a draw back in round three. Meanwhile, Nakamura's win with Black against GM Oleksandr Bortnyk brought him to a perfect 8/8 score.
At that point, Firouzja had apparently had enough. Five straight wins entering the ninth round had put him in position to overtake Nakamura, which he did with a steady endgame performance.
Now in the driver's seat, Firouzja won again in the 10th round, while Nakamura could only make a draw. With one round remaining, Firouzja could do no worse than tie for first. That ended up transpiring, as GM Daniel Naroditsky toppled Firouzja while Nakamura and IM Milosz Szpar defeated GMs Pranav V and Dmitry Andreikin, respectively.
While Naroditsky's win wasn't enough to knock Firouzja—whose tiebreaks survived the setback—out of first place, it was enough to earn Naroditsky the paid position of fifth place and offered the extremely rare sight of Firouzja getting checkmated on the board.
November 19 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak |
| 1 | 2 | GM | Firouzja2003 | Alireza Firouzja | 3248 | 9.5 | 78.5 | |
| 2 | 1 | GM | Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3332 | 9.5 | 74.5 | |
| 3 | 51 | IM | Szparu | Milosz Szpar | 2959 | 9.5 | 73 | |
| 4 | 14 | IM | Rud_Makarian | Rudik Makarian | 3071 | 9 | 72 | |
| 5 | 3 | GM | DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3125 | 9 | 68 | |
| 6 | 13 | GM | Shankland | Sam Shankland | 3038 | 9 | 66 | |
| 7 | 8 | GM | Andreikka | Andrey Esipenko | 3135 | 9 | 64.5 | |
| 8 | 10 | GM | jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 3091 | 9 | 64.5 | |
| 9 | 29 | GM | Sanan_Sjugirov | Sanan Sjugirov | 2995 | 8.5 | 70.5 | |
| 10 | 20 | GM | gena217 | Guillermo Vazquez | 3034 | 8.5 | 63.5 | |
| 11 | 28 | GM | rasmussvane | Rasmus Svane | 2969 | 8.5 | 54 | |
| 12 | 26 | GM | jcibarra | Jose Carlos Ibarra Jerez | 3013 | 8 | 72 | |
| 13 | 18 | GM | ChristopherYoo | Christopher Woojin Yoo | 3036 | 8 | 72 | |
| 14 | 9 | GM | FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3094 | 8 | 71 | |
| 15 | 23 | IM | Kacparov | Kacper Drozdowski | 3011 | 8 | 68.5 | |
| 16 | 25 | GM | VladimirKramnik | Vladimir Kramnik | 3016 | 8 | 67.5 | |
| 17 | 31 | GM | Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3000 | 8 | 67.5 | |
| 18 | 41 | GM | Zkid | Steven Zierk | 2914 | 8 | 67.5 | |
| 19 | 7 | GM | vi_pranav | Pranav V | 3108 | 8 | 67 | |
| 20 | 32 | GM | Genghis_K | Federico Perez Ponsa | 2996 | 8 | 64.5 | |
| 58 | 131 | IM | karinachess1 | Karina Ambartsumova | 2668 | 7 | 49.5 |
(Full final standings here.)
Firouzja won the $1,000 first-place prize while Nakamura had to "settle" for $750 in second place, $1,750 on the day, and $3,750 in the past two weeks. Szpar earned the $350 prize for third place, IM Rudik Makarian $200 for fourth, and Naroditsky the $100 for fifth. IM Karina Ambartsumova barely won the $100 women's prize, one spot ahead of IM Le Thao Nguyen Pham.
Titled Cup Standings
Carlsen was able to gain half a point on Nakamura in the overall standings, but still has five points to make up with just 12 tournaments remaining.
Open
| # | Username | Score | Player |
| 1 | @Hikaru | 200.5 | GM Hikaru Nakamura |
| 2 | @MagnusCarlsen | 195.5 | GM Magnus Carlsen |
| 3-t | @Polish_fighter3000 | 188.0 | GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda |
| 3-t | @jefferyx | 188.0 | GM Jeffery Xiong |
| 5 | @mishanick | 187.5 | GM Alexey Sarana |
Women
| # | Username | Score | Player |
| 1 | @Goryachkina | 143.5 | GM Aleksandra Goryachkina |
| 2-t | @ChessQueen | 143.0 | GM Alexandra Kosteniuk |
| 2-t | @Flawless_Fighter | 143.0 | IM Polina Shuvalova |
| 4-t | @karinachess1 | 139.0 | IM Karina Ambartsumova |
| 4-t | @annasargsyan_m | 139.0 | IM Anna M. Sargsyan |
Other Category Leaders
Juniors: GM Denis Lazavik (185.0 points)
Seniors: GM Gata Kamsky (171.0 points)
Girls: WCM Veronika Shubenkova (124.0 points)
The Titled Cup fantasy game Chess Prophet continues as well. Current standings can be found here. (Login required.)
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).
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.
