Nakamura Returns To Titled Tuesday, Splits Week With Abdusattorov
World Rapid Champion GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov won the early edition of Titled Tuesday while GM Hikaru Nakamura, who did not play last week, won the late tournament. Both players took their tournament outright with a score of 10/11. It was also a rare Titled Tuesday where no player finished in the top five in both events.
Early Tournament
385 players contested the first tournament of the day and Abdusattorov lost to none of them, only drawing twice. IM Tuan Minh Le placed sole second a half-point behind on 9.5/11 and a half-point ahead of the three players.
Broadcast of the early tournament hosted by FM James Canty III.
Abdusattorov has won Titled Tuesday before, taking it down on June 1, 2021. A common theme in both victories was needing to get through Nakamura, back then in the 11th round but this time in a scrappy round-eight game:
Abdusattorov won two further games against tough opponents right after that, GMs Alexey Sarana and Oleskandr Bortnyk, before drawing GM Jeffery Xiong to protect his tournament lead. The win against Sarana was wild, with Sarana leading for much of the time, then Abdusattorov missing a checkmate before winning a rook ending.
Le also didn't lose a single game, but had one extra draw compared to Abdusattorov. He rode his London System to a clean round-10 win over GM Maxim Matlakov.
April 12 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 17 | GM | @ChessWarrior7197 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | 3032 | 10 | 71.5 | |
| 2 | 16 | IM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 2989 | 9.5 | 56.75 | |
| 3 | 23 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 2923 | 9 | 59.75 | |
| 4 | 9 | GM | @Andreikka | Andrey Esipenko | 2999 | 9 | 56 | |
| 5 | 32 | GM | @Sanan_Sjugirov | Sanan Sjugirov | 2923 | 9 | 52.5 | |
| 6 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3191 | 8.5 | 55.25 | |
| 7 | 5 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 3035 | 8.5 | 54 | |
| 8 | 24 | GM | @BillieKimbah | Maxim Matlakov | 2951 | 8.5 | 53.5 | |
| 8 | 20 | IM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 2946 | 8.5 | 53.5 | |
| 10 | 18 | GM | @Shield12 | Shamsiddin Vokhidov | 2951 | 8.5 | 51.75 | |
| 11 | 13 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara | 2945 | 8.5 | 45.75 | |
| 12 | 15 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 2965 | 8 | 56.5 | |
| 13 | 3 | GM | @mishanick | Alexey Sarana | 3056 | 8 | 55.75 | |
| 14 | 8 | GM | @Grischuk | Alexander Grischuk | 3001 | 8 | 55 | |
| 15 | 31 | GM | @Beca95 | Aleksandar Indjic | 2896 | 8 | 49 | |
| 16 | 84 | FM | @suyu28 | Suyog Wagh | 2754 | 8 | 47.75 | |
| 17 | 4 | GM | @Duhless | Daniil Dubov | 3051 | 8 | 46 | |
| 18 | 29 | GM | @Zkid | Steven Zierk | 2911 | 8 | 45.5 | |
| 19 | 52 | GM | @platy3 | Alan Pichot | 2832 | 7.5 | 48.75 | |
| 20 | 49 | FM | @frederiksvane | Frederik Svane | 2818 | 7.5 | 47.75 | |
| 40 | 92 | GM | @Vanina1989 | Valentina Gunina | 2726 | 7 | 40 |
(Full final standings here.)
Abdusattorov earned $1,000 for the tournament victory while Le won $750 for taking second place. GM Matthias Bluebaum won $300 after finishing third on tiebreaks ahead of GMs Andrey Esipenko and Sanan Sjugirov. Esipenko earned $150 for fourth place and Sjugirov $100 for fifth. GM Valentina Gunina also won $100, the prize for the highest-scoring woman in the field, on 7/11.
Late Tournament
Nakamura won the late tournament by a full point out of 257 players, with several big names tying for second place on nine points: GMs Fabiano Caruana, Daniil Dubov, and Xiong.
Broadcast of the late tournament hosted by GM Benjamin Bok.
Despite his bigger tournament win compared to Abdusattorov, Nakamura lost a game, which happened in round five. However, he was perfect in all other rounds, with big wins over Caruana in round eight, GM Aryan Tari in round 10, and GM Dmitry Andreikin in the finale.
The turning point of the tournament was the Nakamura-Caruana game, which turned Caruana's perfect 7/7 start into a tie for first.
They both won their ninth and tenth games, but then Xiong came in and defeated Caruana in the last round while Nakamura was checkmating Andreikin.
Xiong joined Caruana and Dubov in a tie for second, but Caruana's strong start also meant he'd faced the toughest opponents, so he finished second on tiebreaks. Caruana's sixth-round win over GM Kirill Alekseenko ended in a fairly amusing position: Caruana cornering his own queen on h1 to win a piece.
Don't let all these super grandmasters intimidate you, though. They're human just like us.
April 12 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3191 | 10 | 61 | |
| 2 | 10 | GM | @FabianoCaruana | Fabiano Caruana | 3015 | 9 | 62 | |
| 3 | 7 | GM | @Duhless | Daniil Dubov | 3051 | 9 | 55 | |
| 4 | 8 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 3035 | 9 | 54.75 | |
| 5 | 29 | GM | @AryanTari | Aryan Tari | 2904 | 8.5 | 50.25 | |
| 6 | 14 | GM | @BillieKimbah | Maxim Matlakov | 2951 | 8.5 | 44.75 | |
| 7 | 5 | GM | @mishanick | Alexey Sarana | 3056 | 8.5 | 41.75 | |
| 8 | 24 | GM | @Beca95 | Aleksandar Indjic | 2896 | 8 | 47.5 | |
| 9 | 7 | GM | @shimastream | Alex Shimanov | 2900 | 8 | 47 | |
| 10 | 25 | GM | @K_A_S_T_O_R | Rodrigo Vasquez | 2896 | 8 | 45.25 | |
| 11 | 4 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3076 | 8 | 43 | |
| 12 | 103 | FM | @Tobias_Koelle | Tobias Kölle | 2646 | 8 | 42 | |
| 13 | 30 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 2893 | 8 | 40.75 | |
| 14 | 11 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 2965 | 8 | 40.5 | |
| 15 | 22 | GM | @rasmussvane | Rasmus Svane | 2914 | 7.5 | 48.75 | |
| 16 | 3 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3040 | 7.5 | 45.5 | |
| 17 | 17 | GM | @TenisMaster | Yuniesky Quesada | 2926 | 7.5 | 42 | |
| 18 | 19 | GM | @dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 2926 | 7.5 | 39 | |
| 19 | 31 | GM | @Experience_Chess | Valery Kazakouski | 2855 | 7.5 | 37.25 | |
| 20 | 48 | GM | @ActorXu | Xu Yi | 2808 | 7.5 | 36.75 | |
| 25 | 77 | GM | @ChessQueen | Alexandra Kosteniuk | 2676 | 7 | 38.75 |
(Full final standings here.)
Nakamura won $1,000 while Caruana settled for $750. Dubov earned $300 for third place, Xiong $150 for fourth, and Tari $100 for fifth. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk scored 7/11 and won the $100 prize with the highest score among the women in the field.
Titled Tuesday is the tournament Chess.com holds every week for titled players. Every Tuesday, two separate 11-round Swiss tournaments start at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time/17:00 Central European and 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.
