Artemiev Wins 3rd Titled Tuesday in 4 Weeks
GM Vladislav Artemiev is having an incredible run in Chess.com's Titled Tuesday blitz events. On March 9, he won his third tournament in four weeks, again as the only player to score 10/11.
This week's Titled Tuesday tournament had a total of 788 participants. It was an 11-round Swiss with a 3+1 time control. Artemiev (@Sibelephant) had previously won on August 18, 2020 as well as on February 16 this year and last week.
Watch the live broadcast above.
This week, Artemiev's start was more impressive than ever as he won his first nine(!) games. That included a win vs. top seed GM Hikaru Nakamura (@Hikaru), whom he faced in round eight.
Nakamura's opening wasn't a success, but he was doing alright again in the early middlegame. It seems the snatch of a pawn on c5 was too risky:
Artemiev's ninth win was against another big star of the game these days: GM Alireza Firouzja (@Firouzja2003). The Russian GM was successful with the Botvinnik System as Firouzja underestimated a pawn push in the center:
Unlike last week, Artemiev didn't stay undefeated this time. His only loss came in round 10 against his compatriot GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (@lachesisQ), when the two Russian stars then shared the lead together with GM Eltaj Safarli of Azerbaijan.
While Nepomniachtchi drew in his last round game with Firouzja (following what was most probably a mouse slip on move two: 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d5), Artemiev finished with a win to clinch the first prize yet again. Safarli missed a nasty double attack over a long distance:
March 16 Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (Top 20)
# | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
1 | 3 | GM | @Sibelephant | Vladislav Artemiev | 3116 | 10 | 67.5 | |
2 | 4 | GM | @lachesisQ | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 3101 | 9.5 | 66 | |
3 | 6 | GM | @Duhless | Daniil Dubov | 3019 | 9.5 | 64.75 | |
4 | 99 | GM | @VitaliyBernadskiy | Vitaliy Bernadskiy | 2786 | 9.5 | 64.5 | |
5 | 51 | GM | @Zhuu96 | Zhamsaran Tsydypov | 2927 | 9.5 | 64.25 | |
6 | 2 | GM | @Firouzja2003 | Alireza Firouzja | 3119 | 9 | 63.75 | |
7 | 35 | GM | @Eltaj_Safarli | Eltaj Safarli | 2924 | 9 | 59 | |
8 | 20 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 2952 | 9 | 58.75 | |
9 | 100 | GM | @chessdjw | Dennis Wagner | 2765 | 9 | 53.5 | |
10 | 247 | IM | @goldihouse | Lars Stark | 2625 | 9 | 50 | |
11 | 15 | IM | @renatoterrylujan | Renato Terry | 2953 | 8.5 | 57.5 | |
12 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3202 | 8.5 | 55.5 | |
13 | 41 | GM | @exoticprincess | Baadur Jobava | 2902 | 8.5 | 54.25 | |
14 | 87 | FM | @Tooweak2slow03 | Bence Leszko | 2797 | 8.5 | 54 | |
15 | 9 | GM | @mishanick | Aleksey Sarana | 2988 | 8.5 | 53.5 | |
16 | 173 | IM | @rquery98 | Rohan Ahuja | 2680 | 8.5 | 52.75 | |
17 | 5 | GM | @howitzer14 | David Howell | 3012 | 8.5 | 52.25 | |
18 | 38 | GM | @Sanan_Sjugirov | Sanan Sjugirov | 2900 | 8.5 | 51.25 | |
19 | 30 | GM | @RD4ever | Rustam Khusnutdinov | 2908 | 8.5 | 49.75 | |
20 | 207 | FM | @PopMilan95 | Milan Popovic | 2673 | 8.5 | 49.5 |
(Full final standings here.)
Artemiev won $750 for first place, Nepomniachtchi $400 for second, GM Daniil Dubov (@Duhless) $150, and GM Vitaliy Bernadskiy (@VitaliyBernadskiy) $100.
The $100 prize for the best female player went to GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (@ChessQueen) who scored 6.5/11.
Titled Tuesday is Chess.com's weekly tournament for titled players. It starts each Tuesday at 10 a.m. Pacific time (19:00 Central Europe).