Nakamura In Norway Wins Another Tournament
After the young GM Pranesh M won the early Titled Tuesday on June 6, a more familiar face won the late tournament despite playing in Norway Chess earlier in the day: GM Hikaru Nakamura. It was actually Nakamura's first win in the event since April 25, but his 53rd overall in an 11-round Titled Tuesday.
Early Tournament
Pranesh's score of 9.5/11 was enough to win outright in the field of 473. As well as he played, he needed some help in the last round to not only win, but win without a tiebreak on that many points.
After 10 rounds, the joint-leaders were GMs Jose Martinez and Nihal Sarin on nine points, with Pranesh, GM Kirill Shevchenko and GM Aleksandr Lenderman behind them on 8.5 points. The matchups were Shevchenko vs. Lenderman, Pranesh vs. Nihal, and Martinez vs. GM Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Shevchenko and Lenderman made a 43-move draw, while Nepomniachtchi kept Martinez off the scoreboard in a c3 Sicilian.
Those two results gave Pranesh the opportunity to pass everyone by defeating Nihal, which is what Pranesh did.
Ultimately, seven players on nine points, including two with better tiebreaks than Pranesh, ended the tournament looking up at him in the standings.
June 6 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak |
| 1 | 13 | GM | @artooon | Pranesh Munirethinam | 3018 | 9.5 | 69.5 | |
| 2 | 5 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3085 | 9 | 72.5 | |
| 3 | 11 | GM | @Njal28 | Aram Hakobyan | 3000 | 9 | 71.5 | |
| 4 | 14 | GM | @kirillshevchenko | Kirill Shevchenko | 3007 | 9 | 68.5 | |
| 5 | 1 | GM | @nihalsarin | Nihal Sarin | 3256 | 9 | 68 | |
| 6 | 29 | IM | @Reader777 | Read Samadov | 2935 | 9 | 67.5 | |
| 7 | 20 | GM | @AlexanderL | Aleksandr Lenderman | 2968 | 9 | 64 | |
| 8 | 3 | GM | @lachesisQ | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 3113 | 9 | 61 | |
| 9 | 10 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3035 | 8.5 | 68.5 | |
| 10 | 8 | GM | @dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 3046 | 8.5 | 65.5 | |
| 11 | 2 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3113 | 8.5 | 65.5 | |
| 12 | 19 | GM | @BogdanDeac | Bogdan Daniel Deac | 2978 | 8.5 | 64.5 | |
| 13 | 25 | GM | @jcibarra | José Carlos Ibarra Jerez | 2969 | 8 | 75 | |
| 14 | 27 | GM | @Elsa167 | Leon Livaic | 2900 | 8 | 67.5 | |
| 15 | 18 | GM | @rasmussvane | Rasmus Svane | 2964 | 8 | 66.5 | |
| 16 | 54 | GM | @Mikhail_Bryakin | Mikhail Bryakin | 2810 | 8 | 66.5 | |
| 17 | 44 | IM | @demon64fields | Oleg Vastrukhin | 2847 | 8 | 65 | |
| 18 | 94 | FM | @Aradhya2000 | Aradhya Garg | 2737 | 8 | 63.5 | |
| 19 | 22 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 2914 | 8 | 61.5 | |
| 20 | 105 | FM | @Daffidollchess2 | Amilal Munkhdalai | 2715 | 8 | 60 | |
| 26 | 116 | IM | @Flawless_Fighter | Polina Shuvalova | 2657 | 8 | 56 |
(Full final standings here.)
Pranesh won $1,000 for his efforts. Despite the last round loss, Martinez finished in second for $750. GM Aram Hakobyan in third won $350, Shevchenko in fourth $200, and Nihal in fifth $100. IM Polina Shuvalova finished 26th on eight points to win the $100 women's prize.
Late Tournament
Nakamura's armageddon victory at Norway Chess served as somewhat of a warmup for the blitz that is Titled Tuesday. Perhaps needing an adjustment period, he lost in the first round, but afterward scored a perfect 10/10 to outlast the 404-player field by a full point.
Losing in the first round of a Swiss tournament is not an ideal strategy, but it did allow Nakamura to avoid playing the top of the standings for much of the tournament, and his tiebreak score was lower than several players he finished ahead of on points. That said, by the final round, to establish his dominance he did need to get through Nepomniachtchi. They played a pretty weird King's Gambit.
As in the earlier tournament, second place was decided by tiebreaks out of several players on nine points. GM Jose Ibarra emerged from the group this time, after winning in the 10th round despite starting with 1...f6 as Black against GM Bogdan Daniel Deac.
June 6 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak |
| 1 | 2 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3216 | 10 | 62.5 | |
| 2 | 27 | GM | @jcibarra | José Ibarra | 2969 | 9 | 74.5 | |
| 3 | 22 | IM | @Rud_Makarian | Rudik Makarian | 2989 | 9 | 72.5 | |
| 4 | 20 | GM | @rasmussvane | Rasmus Svane | 2964 | 9 | 65.5 | |
| 5 | 28 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 2933 | 9 | 60.5 | |
| 6 | 13 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3035 | 9 | 58.5 | |
| 7 | 4 | GM | @lachesisQ | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 3113 | 8.5 | 74 | |
| 8 | 11 | GM | @dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 3046 | 8.5 | 72.5 | |
| 9 | 26 | GM | @Durarbayli | Vasif Durarbayli | 2943 | 8.5 | 72 | |
| 10 | 17 | IM | @Mykola-Bortnyk | Mykola Bortnyk | 2974 | 8.5 | 71 | |
| 11 | 5 | GM | @GM_dmitrij | Dmitrij Kollars | 3096 | 8.5 | 64.5 | |
| 12 | 102 | IM | @Lennis93 | Lennis Martinez | 2705 | 8.5 | 57.5 | |
| 13 | 12 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 3031 | 8 | 75 | |
| 14 | 9 | GM | @Polish_fighter3000 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 3044 | 8 | 71 | |
| 15 | 45 | GM | @vladislavkovalev | Vladislav Kovalev | 2913 | 8 | 70.5 | |
| 16 | 68 | GM | @ChessSkool | Peter Prohaszka | 2775 | 8 | 69 | |
| 17 | 6 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3085 | 8 | 68.5 | |
| 18 | 133 | GM | @STARMATEcc | Richard Bitoon | 2657 | 8 | 65 | |
| 19 | 37 | GM | @Elsa167 | Leon Livaic | 2900 | 8 | 62 | |
| 20 | 111 | GM | @ENajer77 | Evgeniy Najer | 2778 | 8 | 60.5 | |
| 24 | 112 | GM | @Goryachkina | Aleksandra Goryachkina | 2659 | 8 | 48 |
(Full final standings here.)
Nakamura won the $1,000 first place prize with Ibarra taking $750 for second place. IM Rudik Makarian finished in third for $350. GM Rasmus Svane finished in fourth place for $200 and GM Jeffery Xiong in fifth for $100, with GM Aleksandra Goryachkina scoring eight points to finish in 24th and win the $100 women's prize.
Titled Tuesday is a weekly 11-round Swiss tournament held weekly for titled players on Chess.com. Two tournaments run every Tuesday, the first at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time/17:00 Central European and the other at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time/23:00 Central European.
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.
