Nakamura Wins July 6 Titled Tuesday
GM Hikaru Nakamura returned to the top of Titled Tuesday this week, winning outright with a score of 10/11. GM Parham Maghsoodloo, coming off a win in the Round of 16 in the Junior Speed Chess Championship, scored 9.5/11 for second place. Five players tied at 9/11, with GM Gata Kamsky having the top tiebreaker for a third-place finish followed by GM Dmitry Andreikin in fourth. GMs Daniil Dubov, Artur Gabrielian, and Baadur Jobava also scored 9/11.
514 titled players played in this week's Titled Tuesday. The tournament was the typical 11-round Swiss, with a 3+1 time control.
The live broadcast of the tournament, which was hosted by IM Kostya Kavutskiy this week.
After eight rounds there was a logjam of players at 7/8, but only Nakamura won his games in all three of the remaining rounds.
Of four players who reached 8/9, only Andreikin made 9/10, setting up the final round bout with Nakamura. In a back-and-forth battle Nakamura emerged victorious after Andreikin faced serious time trouble and eventually flagged.
The only player who ultimately stood between Nakamura and perfection was a familiar face, GM Alexander Grischuk, who won as Black in round six. In round seven, Grischuk and GM Alexander Zubov drew to end each other's perfect starts as the last players on 6/6.
The second-place finisher was not among those players tied for first through eight rounds. Maghsoodloo won his last four games, including against Zubov in the final round, to leapfrog into second. His win the round prior, over GM Daniel Naroditsky, was a nailbiter.
Round eight was notable not just for producing the several-way tie at 7/8, but also for Nakamura's win over Zubov in a 100-move middlegame.
July 6 Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3188 | 10 | 70 | |
| 2 | 15 | GM | @Parhamov | Parham Maghsoodloo | 2955 | 9.5 | 57.25 | |
| 3 | 29 | GM | @TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 2889 | 9 | 58 | |
| 4 | 9 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3002 | 9 | 56.25 | |
| 5 | 4 | GM | @Duhless | Daniil Dubov | 3040 | 9 | 54.25 | |
| 6 | 41 | GM | @Gabrielian_Artur | Artur Gabrielian | 2832 | 9 | 51 | |
| 7 | 21 | GM | @exoticprincess | Baadur Jobava | 2910 | 9 | 46 | |
| 8 | 6 | GM | @Alexander_Zubov | Alexander Zubov | 3016 | 8.5 | 54.5 | |
| 9 | 30 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 2875 | 8.5 | 50 | |
| 10 | 52 | GM | @bocah_sakit | Novendra Priasmoro | 2813 | 8.5 | 49.5 | |
| 11 | 33 | IM | @swimmerchess | Siva Mahadevan | 2875 | 8.5 | 49.25 | |
| 12 | 35 | GM | @RD4ever | Rustam Khusnutdinov | 2865 | 8.5 | 47.25 | |
| 13 | 16 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 2923 | 8.5 | 47 | |
| 14 | 7 | GM | @Grischuk | Alexander Grischuk | 3006 | 8 | 59.75 | |
| 15 | 26 | GM | @hanzo_hasashi1 | Nodirbek Yakubboev | 2899 | 8 | 50.75 | |
| 16 | 19 | GM | @VincentKeymer | Vincent Keymer | 2876 | 8 | 48.25 | |
| 17 | 84 | IM | @SaraBlackPanther | Bibisara Assaubayeva | 2717 | 8 | 47.5 | |
| 18 | 2 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3052 | 8 | 47 | |
| 19 | 25 | GM | @Alexsur1981 | Aleksei Pridorozhni | 2873 | 8 | 46.5 | |
| 20 | 20 | IM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 2889 | 8 | 45.5 | |
| 20 | 74 | IM | @RovenVogel17 | Roven Vogel | 2732 | 8 | 45.5 | |
| 20 | 47 | GM | @VladDobrov | Vladimir Dobrov | 2794 | 8 | 45.5 |
(Full final standings here.)
Nakamura took home the $750 first-place prize and Maghsoodloo $400 for second place, with Kamsky earning $150 in third place and Andreikin $100 for fourth. IM Bibisara Assaubayeva finished 17th with 8/11 to take the $100 prize for the top female player for the second straight week.
Titled Tuesday is a weekly tournament held on Chess.com for titled players. It starts at 10 a.m. Pacific time/19:00 Central European every Tuesday.
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.
