Mamedyarov, Bortnyk Latest Tuesday Winners

NathanielGreen

May 17, 2023, 9:01 AM | 10 | Chess Event Coverage

GMs Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Oleksandr Bortnyk found the keys to victory in Titled Tuesday on May 16. Mamedyarov won on tiebreaks over GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Nitzan Steinberg, while Bortnyk won outright by half a point over GM Matthias Bluebaum.

Early Tournament (Mamedyarov)
Late Tournament (Bortnyk )

Early Tournament

580 players tried their hand at the day's first tournament, the highest participant count in Titled Tuesday since January 10. Interestingly, none of the three players who tied for first on 9.5 points played against each other.

After the last two perfect players, GMs Tuan Minh Le and Daniil Dubov, drew their seventh-round game, the standings were a mess, with a six-way tie for first. Mamedyarov was one of them but lost to Le in the eighth round.

From there, Mamedyarov never lost again. Entering the final round, he faced GM Aleksandr Lenderman, who by then was the sole leader with nine points.

Nakamura, meanwhile, hit a rough patch in rounds five and six, scoring only 0.5/2 in that frame. But he was perfect outside of it, including wins in the final five rounds, concluding with a victory over GM Parham Maghsoodloo.

Maghsoodloo, who, after nine rounds, had been the sole leader with 8.5 points, wound up in 10th place.

May 16 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number	Rk	Fed	Title	Username	Name	Rating	Score	Tiebreak
1	6		GM	@Azerichess	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	3075	9.5	77.5
2	1		GM	@Hikaru	Hikaru Nakamura	3237	9.5	72.5
3	47		GM	@Nitzan_Steinberg	Nitzan Steinberg	2932	9.5	61.5
4	12		GM	@Jospem	Jose Martinez	3026	9	73.5
5	35		GM	@AlexanderL	Aleksandr Lenderman	2968	9	72
6	58		GM	@platy3	Alan Pichot	2899	9	67.5
7	43		FM	@snowlord	Ivan Yeletsky	2928	9	65
8	19		GM	@Zhigalko_Sergei	Sergei Zhigalko	2989	9	60
9	21		GM	@amintabatabaei	Amin Tabatabaei	2979	8.5	75
10	26		GM	@Parhamov	Parham Maghsoodloo	2974	8.5	74
11	22		GM	@wonderfultime	Tuan Minh Le	2983	8.5	72.5
12	46		GM	@VincentKeymer	Vincent Keymer	2913	8.5	68
13	42		GM	@DrVelja	Velimir Ivic	2918	8.5	64.5
14	10		GM	@mishanick	Alexey Sarana	3006	8.5	62.5
15	17		GM	@DenLaz	Denis Lazavik	2992	8.5	61
16	49		GM	@sergoy	Sergey Drygalov	2908	8.5	60
17	41		GM	@TenisMaster	Yuniesky Quesada	2914	8.5	52.5
18	85		GM	@Cayse	Martyn Kravtsiv	2827	8	72.5
19	11		GM	@GHANDEEVAM2003	Arjun Erigaisi	3021	8	72
20	55		GM	@Durarbayli	Vasif Durarbayli	2883	8	69.5
52	112		GM	@Vanina1989	Valentina Gunina	2787	7	71

(Full final standings here.)

Mamedyarov earned $1,000 for his victory. Nakamura finished in second on the tiebreak for the second tournament in a row, winning another $750. Steinberg won $350 in third place. GM Jose Martinez climbed all the way into fourth with the best tiebreaks on nine points, winning $200, while Lenderman settled for fifth place and $100. GM Valentina Gunina won the $100 women's prize with seven points out of 11.

Late Tournament

The second tournament saw 449 players join, also a strong number. Unlike in the earlier tournament, one player jumped out into the lead and held it the rest of the way.

That was Bortnyk, who began a perfect 7/7 before making draws in rounds eight and 10. In between, he defeated GM Fabiano Caruana in round nine with a checkmate on the board after 43 moves.

Bortnyk's round-eight draw had come against Bluebaum, and they were tied again in the 10th round: Bluebaum joined a share of first with a 20-move miniature as Black against IM Sebastian Mihajlov.

Bluebaum went on to be held to a draw against third-place GM Aram Hakobyan in the final round, and Bortnyk ensured the result would not come down to a tiebreak score with his 11th-round victory.

The tournament victory was also Bortnyk's ninth top-five finish of the year in Titled Tuesday, more than anyone in 2023 to date except Nakamura.

May 16 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number	Rk	Fed	Title	Username	Name	Rating	Score	Tiebreak
1	9		GM	@Oleksandr_Bortnyk	Oleksandr Bortnyk	3047	10	69.5
2	8		GM	@Msb2	Matthias Bluebaum	3038	9.5	67.5
3	14		GM	@Njal28	Aram Hakobyan	2999	9	73.5
4	7		GM	@FairChess_on_YouTube	Dmitry Andreikin	3036	9	73
5	2		GM	@DanielNaroditsky	Daniel Naroditsky	3173	9	70
6	56		IM	@Eduard_Limonov	Yaroslav Remizov	2837	9	69.5
7	3		GM	@FabianoCaruana	Fabiano Caruana	3096	8.5	75
8	38		IM	@c63_amg	Artiom Samsonkin	2854	8.5	63.5
9	32		GM	@VladimirKramnik	Vladimir Kramnik	2883	8.5	61
10	26		GM	@sergiochess83	Sergey Grigoriants	2902	8.5	61
11	13		GM	@Zhigalko_Sergei	Sergei Zhigalko	2984	8.5	60.5
12	23		GM	@Azeryahu	Gyula Pap	2923	8.5	59
13	12		IM	@Rud_Makarian	Rudik Makarian	2980	8	79.5
14	34		GM	@jefferyx	Jeffery Xiong	2886	8	73.5
15	29		GM	@Durarbayli	Vasif Durarbayli	2902	8	71
16	10		GM	@mishanick	Alexey Sarana	3003	8	68.5
17	6		GM	@Jospem	Jose Martinez	3004	8	68.5
18	99		IM	@CaptainCasanova	Sebastian Mihajlov	2732	8	67.5
19	36		GM	@iturrizaga	Eduardo Iturrizaga	2878	8	67
20	45		GM	@krzyzan94	Marcin Krzyżanowski	2826	8	64.5
69	108		WGM	@Meri-Arabidze	Meri Arabidze	2637	6.5	59

(Full final standings here.)

Bortnyk won $1,000 for his efforts. Bluebaum claimed $750. Only three of the four players on nine points could place, and they were Hakobyan in third for $350, GM Dmitry Andreikin in fourth for $200, and GM Daniel Naroditsky in fifth for $100. WGM Meri Arabidze won the $100 women's prize with 6.5/11.

Chess.com hosts Titled Tuesday, an 11-round Swiss tournament, for titled players every week. Each Tuesday there are two tournaments, which begin at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time/17:00 Central European and 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time/23:00 Central European.

Nathaniel Green

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.

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