Throwback Tuesday? Jobava, Naroditsky Win 2/22/22 Titled Tuesday
GM Baadur Jobava and GM Daniel Naroditsky, some of the earliest winners of Titled Tuesday back in 2014, won Titled Tuesday again on February 22, 2022. Neither player needed the tiebreak system as Jobava had the best score of the day with 10/11, while Naroditsky also won outright, with 9.5/11. The top five in both events was filled with some big names.
Early Tournament
The early (8 a.m. Pacific) tournament was joined by 488 players, including GM Hikaru Nakamura, GM Alexander Grischuk, and GM Vidit Gujrathi, who finished second through fourth with scores of 9.5, 9.5, and 9 points. GM Aleksandar Indjic emerged from a 12-way tie on 8.5/11 to finish in fifth place. Another notable result: WGM Jiner Zhu, one of the top young women in the chess world (despite her current title, she is at least IM strength), finished eighth.
Live broadcast of the early tournament, hosted by WFM Alessia Santeramo.
Jobava, who won the first-ever Titled Tuesday on October 28, 2014, won a chaotic final-round endgame against Indjic to pull off the win this week. It was Jobava's first Titled Tuesday win since 2016.
Hikaru locked up second with a final-round win over GM Nikita Matinian and the tiebreak edge over Grischuk, who had beaten FM Talibov Shiroghlan in the last round.
Zhu's performance included wins over several notable grandmasters, the last of which in round 10 gave her a chance to reach the top five had she won instead of drawn in round 11.
February 22 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 37 | GM | @exoticprincess | Baadur Jobava | 2980 | 10 | 74.5 | |
| 2 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3170 | 9.5 | 66.25 | |
| 3 | 5 | GM | @Grischuk | Alexander Grischuk | 3049 | 9.5 | 62.75 | |
| 4 | 10 | GM | @viditchess | Vidit Gujrathi | 2984 | 9 | 54 | |
| 5 | 44 | GM | @Beca95 | Aleksandar Indjic | 2906 | 8.5 | 60.75 | |
| 6 | 12 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 2969 | 8.5 | 55.75 | |
| 7 | 17 | GM | @Shield12 | Shamsiddin Vokhidov | 2963 | 8.5 | 53.5 | |
| 8 | 95 | WGM | @jinbojinbo | Jiner Zhu | 2828 | 8.5 | 53.25 | |
| 9 | 66 | GM | @Kobalia | Mikhail Kobalia | 2850 | 8.5 | 52.75 | |
| 10 | 117 | GM | @Aygehovit1992 | Nikita Matinian | 2748 | 8.5 | 51.25 | |
| 11 | 36 | GM | @moro182 | Luca Moroni Jr | 2906 | 8.5 | 50.25 | |
| 12 | 16 | GM | @GM_dmitrij | Dmitrij Kollars | 2905 | 8.5 | 49.25 | |
| 13 | 108 | FM | @ShiroglanTalibov | Talibov Shiroghlan | 2753 | 8.5 | 47.75 | |
| 14 | 22 | GM | @champ2005 | Raunak Sadhwani | 2972 | 8.5 | 47.25 | |
| 15 | 30 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 2905 | 8.5 | 45.5 | |
| 16 | 60 | IM | @Abdimalik_Abdisalimov | Abdimalik Abdisalimov | 2876 | 8.5 | 42.75 | |
| 17 | 35 | GM | @joppie2 | Jorden van Foreest | 2947 | 8 | 51 | |
| 18 | 46 | GM | @Zkid | Steven Zierk | 2891 | 8 | 50.75 | |
| 19 | 56 | GM | @igorkovalenko | Igor Kovalenko | 2856 | 8 | 49.5 | |
| 20 | 9 | GM | @Micki-taryan | Haik Martirosyan | 2983 | 8 | 48.5 |
(Full final standings here.)
Jobava won $1,000, Nakamura $750, Grischuk $300, Vidit $150, and Indjic $100 for their respective finishes, with Zhu taking $100 as the highest-scoring woman in the field
Late Tournament
327 players joined the late (2 p.m. Pacific) tournament. As in the early tournament, the top five was filled with well-known players, not just Naroditsky: GM Gawain Jones finished second, GM Daniil Dubov third, GM Raunak Sadhwani fourth, and GM Jose Martinez finished in fifth place.
Live broadcast of the late tournament, hosted by GM Benjamin Bok.
Jobava made a very strong bid at sweeping both events today, beginning the late event with 6.5/7 after a seventh-round win over Nakamura (his second of the day, after round four in the previous tournament), before finishing in eighth place on 8.5/11.
Instead, Naroditsky came through, just as he did in the third Titled Tuesday ever, held December 30, 2014. And his path this week went through Jobava, in a back-and-forth round 10 affair. Naroditsky also survived extreme time trouble, moving with less than a second remaining at one point, to take a strong tournament lead.
After that victory, Danya was a full point ahead of everyone in the field except Jones. Thus Naroditsky only needed a draw against Jones to clinch the tournament, which he obtained. There ended up being a four-way tie for second place on nine points, with Nakamura, GM Jorden van Foreest, and Jobava just outside the top five with 8.5 points.
February 22 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 1 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3162 | 9.5 | 60 | |
| 2 | 57 | GM | @VerdeNotte | Gawain Jones | 2887 | 9 | 57.75 | |
| 3 | 10 | GM | @Duhless | Daniil Dubov | 3012 | 9 | 56.5 | |
| 4 | 20 | GM | @champ2005 | Raunak Sadhwani | 2972 | 9 | 55.75 | |
| 5 | 21 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara | 2955 | 9 | 54.25 | |
| 6 | 2 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3170 | 8.5 | 64 | |
| 7 | 22 | GM | @joppie2 | Jorden van Foreest | 2947 | 8.5 | 51.25 | |
| 8 | 17 | GM | @exoticprincess | Baadur Jobava | 2980 | 8.5 | 47.25 | |
| 9 | 9 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 2988 | 8 | 50.5 | |
| 10 | 13 | GM | @Micki-taryan | Haik Martirosyan | 2983 | 8 | 50 | |
| 11 | 8 | GM | @BogdanDeac | Bogdan Daniel Deac | 3002 | 8 | 49.5 | |
| 12 | 50 | GM | @Igrok3069 | Alexey Dreev | 2866 | 8 | 48.25 | |
| 13 | 31 | GM | @Sanan_Sjugirov | Sanan Sjugirov | 2906 | 8 | 45.75 | |
| 14 | 44 | IM | @MITerryble | Renato Terry | 2876 | 8 | 45 | |
| 15 | 24 | GM | @Fandorine | Maksim Chigaev | 2912 | 8 | 44.5 | |
| 16 | 12 | GM | @mishanick | Alexey Sarana | 2981 | 8 | 44.25 | |
| 17 | 39 | GM | @Infernal_XaM | Pavel Ponkratov | 2883 | 8 | 43.75 | |
| 18 | 42 | IM | @Rsnr | Arseny Kukhmazov | 2855 | 8 | 42 | |
| 19 | 25 | GM | @rasmussvane | Rasmus Svane | 2914 | 8 | 40.75 | |
| 20 | 33 | GM | @abhijeetgupta | Abhijeet Gupta | 2905 | 7.5 | 48 | |
| 32 | 128 | WGM | @Sanyura | Aleksandra Maltsevskaya | 2622 | 7 | 36.5 |
(Full final standings here.)
Naroditsky won the $1,000 for first place, followed by Jones with $750, Dubov $300, Sadhwani $150, and Martinez $100. The $100 prize for best female player went to WGM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya.
Titled Tuesday is Chess.com's weekly tournament, with two tournaments held each Tuesday. The tournaments are Swiss events which 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.
