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Titled Tuesday 2025 Starts With A Bang

Titled Tuesday 2025 Starts With A Bang

NathanielGreen
NathanielGreen
Staff
| 11 | Chess Event Coverage

The first Titled Tuesdays of 2025 were held on January 7, and they were doozies, featuring record-level participation, big scores, and stacked podiums... all as players begin to scramble to qualify for the 2025 Speed Chess Championships through the recently announced Titled Tuesday Grand Prix.

GM Jose Martinez scored 10.5/11 early to win the biggest Titled Tuesday since June 16, 2020—881 participants. It was only the second Titled Tuesday to eclipse 800 players since February 2022, when the second tournament each week was added. (The early February 6, 2024 event also cleared 800.) Martinez won by a full point over GMs Anish Giri and Arjun Erigaisi, thus taking a very early lead in the new Titled Tuesday Grand Prix, which gives Martinez a head start in trying to qualify for the 2025 Speed Chess Championship.

GM Grigoriy Oparin then won the late event with 10 points, also good enough for the outright victory as he came out a half-point ahead of GMs David Anton and Magnus Carlsen. Oparin won a field of 665 players, which was the largest Late Titled Tuesday to date and just the second to exceed 600 participants (previously on June 11, 2024).

Two players, Arjun and GM Aleksandra Goryachkina, won prizes in both events.

Early Tournament

Despite the record field, Martinez breezed through, with only a draw in the eighth round against Arjun preventing him from nabbing his second perfect 11 score. Martinez recovered from the setback, such as it was, with three straight wins against GMs Anton Korobov, Nils Grandelius, and Nihal Sarin to conclude the tournament.

Prior to the one draw, Martinez had started on 7/7, getting there with a win with Black over GM Alireza Firouzja in just 30 moves.

Despite his crushing final score, Martinez did not have the tournament locked up until his win over Nihal, who began the final round only half a point out of first place. With no one else in striking distance, a draw was as good as a win for Martinez—but not for Nihal. Martinez took advantage and won in 53 moves.

Giri and Arjun took advantage of Nihal's misfortune and both passed him in the standings. Giri defeated FM Konstantin Popov and Arjun with a victory over GM Andrey Esipenko. Arjun won both more quickly, with just 29 moves, and against the bigger name.

Giri, however, had the best tiebreaks, so his win ultimately earned second place.

Nihal's consolation was a tiebreak performance good enough for fourth place out of an 11-way tie on nine points.

January 7 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)

Rk Seed Fed Title Username Name Rating Score Tiebreak
1 22 GM @Jospem Jose Martinez 3073 10.5 66
2 4 GM @AnishGiri Anish Giri 3163 9.5 80
3 47 GM @GHANDEEVAM2003 Arjun Erigaisi 3040 9.5 77
4 3 GM @nihalsarin Nihal Sarin 3138 9 75.5
5 27 GM @GOGIEFF Anton Korobov 3041 9 75.5
6 25 GM @ChristopherYoo Christopher Woojin Yoo 3031 9 72
7 8 GM @Msb2 Matthias Bluebaum 3121 9 70.5
8 7 GM @vi_pranav Pranav V 3115 9 70
9 11 GM @FairChess_on_YouTube Dmitry Andreikin 3090 9 68.5
10 32 GM @francyIM Francesco Sonis 2964 9 68
11 37 GM @Grandelicious Nils Grandelius 3030 9 68
12 39 FM @Bauman_Guy Konstantin Popov 3025 9 67.5
13 35 GM @OparinGrigoriy Grigoriy Oparin 3073 9 67.5
14 68 IM @Chessmissile07 Suresh Harsh 2958 9 62
15 21 GM @wonderfultime Tuan Minh Le 3051 8.5 76
16 89 IM @TrahtarBelarus Artiom Stribuk 2926 8.5 71.5
17 48 GM @BillieKimbah Maxim Matlakov 2980 8.5 67.5
18 16 GM @BogdanDeac Bogdan Daniel Deac 3062 8.5 67.5
19 9 IM @Rud_Makarian Rudik Makarian 3054 8.5 66.5
20 5 GM @mishanick Aleksei Sarana 3113 8.5 65.5
73 145 GM @Goryachkina Aleksandra Goryachkina 2788 7.5 59.5

(Full final standings.)

Martinez won the first $1,000 prize of the year. Giri took home $750 and Arjun $350, with Nihal earning $200. Korobov won $100 in fifth place, while Goryachkina claimed the first $100 women's prize of the year.

Late Tournament

Like Martinez early, Oparin did not lose a game late, but he did make two draws back-to-back in rounds five and six. And so, whereas Martinez had still been perfect through seven rounds, Oparin was a full point behind Anton and GM Daniel Dardha. Anton and Dardha drew each other in round eight and then lost to Firouzja in consecutive rounds. Dardha, in round nine in particular, stood little chance against a near-flawless performance from Firouzja.

Meanwhile, Oparin kept winning, and by the final round, Oparin and Firouzja were tied with nine points, with four players half a point behind them. As thanks for taking care of Anton and Dardha, Oparin rewarded Firouzja by knocking him out of the top five—no one has ever denied that Titled Tuesday is a cutthroat affair!


Even Carlsen, who had just recently agreed to share a major blitz title with GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, was not so compromising now, defeating him in the last round after threatening a smothered mate. It didn't help Nepomniachtchi that he posted a knight on c5 and, quite soon thereafter, lost that very piece.

With the win, Carlsen moved into a tie for second, but after tiebreaks, it was not good enough to outperform Anton in the final standings. The Spaniard also won his final game, against GM Matthias Bluebaum, while Dardha, who had done his part with a win over Carlsen in round seven, was able to maintain fourth place with a final-round win over GM Daniel Naroditsky. 

January 7 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)

Rk Seed Fed Title Username Name Rating Score Tiebreak
1 27 GM @OparinGrigoriy Grigoriy Oparin 3073 10 76
2 35 GM @tptagain David Anton Guijarro 3043 9.5 74.5
3 2 GM @MagnusCarlsen Magnus Carlsen 3256 9.5 73.5
4 34 GM @DanielDardha2005 Daniel Dardha 3053 9 73
5 29 GM @GHANDEEVAM2003 Arjun Erigaisi 3040 9 71.5
6 4 GM @HansOnTwitch Hans Niemann 3239 9 70
7 3 GM @Firouzja2003 Alireza Firouzja 3210 9 70
8 44 GM @Cayse Martyn Kravtsiv 2993 9 68.5
9 72 GM @moro182 Luca Moroni Jr 2937 9 63.5
10 15 GM @LOVEVAE Wei Yi 3103 8.5 75
11 101 GM @Rodalquilar Leonardo Tristan 2850 8.5 72.5
12 62 GM @SantoBlue Vahap Sanal 2933 8.5 71
13 10 GM @lachesisQ Ian Nepomniachtchi 3124 8.5 70.5
14 6 GM @Msb2 Matthias Bluebaum 3121 8.5 70.5
15 92 FM @Shemka2006 Nikita Shemyakinskiy 2854 8.5 66
16 28 FM @rezamahdavi2008 Reza Mahdavi 3010 8.5 66
17 60 GM @h4parah5 Jaime Santos Latasa 2939 8.5 65
18 20 GM @BogdanDeac Bogdan Daniel Deac 3062 8.5 53
19 7 GM @mishanick Aleksei Sarana 3113 8 75.5
20 14 GM @DanielNaroditsky Daniel Naroditsky 3092 8 75
51 103 GM @Goryachkina Aleksandra Goryachkina 2788 7.5 60.5

(Full final standings.)

Oparin won $1,000 for his efforts, while Anton earned $750 and Carlsen $350. Dardha won $200, Arjun returned to the top five for another $100 (reaching $450 total), and Goryachkina swept the women's prizes for $100 in this tournament and $200 overall.

Grand Prix Standings

Every player's 10 best Titled Tuesday performances from January 7 through May 27 will count toward qualification for the Speed Chess Championship. Oparin and Arjun have taken the top two spots early on, but there are a total of eight SCC spots available.

Rk Username Score Title Name
1 @OparinGrigoriy 19 GM Grigoriy Oparin
2 @GHANDEEVAM2003 18.5 GM Arjun Erigaisi
3 @tptagain 17.5 GM David Anton Guijarro
4 @Msb2 17.5 GM Matthias Bluebaum
5 @Jospem 17 GM Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara
6 @FairChess_on_YouTube 17 GM Dmitry Andreikin
7 @moro182 17 GM Luca Jr Moroni
8 @BogdanDeac 17 GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac

In the women's standings, which also have eight Women's Speed Chess Championship spots on the line, Goryachkina is in the lead.

Rk Username Score Title Name
1 @Goryachkina 15 GM Aleksandra Goryachkina
2 @Fh2411 12.5 IM Le Thao Nguyen Pham
3 @karinachess1 12 IM Karina Ambartsumova
4 @Lady_Nika 11 WFM Veronika Shubenkova
5 @Mirchi_26 10 WCM Swara Lakshmi Nair
6 @Mumtozbegim 9.5 WCM Mumtozbegim Mansurova
7 @diamonds13 9 WIM Ekaterini Pavlidou
8 @Atousa 9 WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan

Seniors (born 1975 or earlier), youths (born 2009 or later), and girls (born 2005 or later) do not have SCC places on the line, but there will be cash prizes in each of these categories as well. The current leaders are:

Seniors: GM Alex Rustemov (@alexrustemov), 15.5 points

Youth: FM Felix Antonio Ilinca Ilinca (@IMchanged), 16.0 points

Girls: WFM Veronika Shubenkova (@Lady_Nika), 11.0 points

Titled Tuesday

Titled Tuesday is Chess.com's weekly tournament for titled players, with two tournaments held each Tuesday. The first tournament begins at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Standard Time, and the second at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time/23:00 Central European/2:30 Indian Standard Time (next day).

NathanielGreen
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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