Xiong Wins December 7 Titled Tuesday
GM Jeffery Xiong won his third Titled Tuesday of 2021 on December 7, scoring 10/11. FM Khazar Babazada also made a 10/11 score but finished second on tiebreak; it was his second straight top-three finish. In a rarity, they finished a full point ahead of the field. IM Christopher Yoo and GM Vidit Gujrathi took third and fourth on 9/11 scores, with GM Alexey Kislinsky fifth on tiebreaks.
472 players participated in this Titled Tuesday, which was the normal 11-round Swiss tournament with a 3+1 time control.
The live broadcast of this week's tournament, hosted by GM Benjamin Bok.
Xiong had a chance at perfection, beginning his tournament with 9/9, including a win over Babazada in round five which turned out to decide the tournament. Xiong ended with two draws in the last two rounds and held on by six tiebreaker points when Babazada caught up.
Babazada, who is only 16, won all his games except for the Xiong encounter. In the final round, Babazada got matched with GM Hikaru Nakamura but emerged victoriously. Nakamura flagged with a bishop that was powerless anyway against Babazada's three pawns in the final position.
The last game of Xiong's perfect portion of the tournament, round nine against GM Baadur Jobava, was a strong positional effort. After this point, draws in the final two rounds were good enough for Xiong to win the tournament.
December 7 Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 2 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 3068 | 10 | 71.5 | |
| 2 | 29 | FM | @KhazarBabazada007 | Khazar Babazada | 2902 | 10 | 65.5 | |
| 3 | 12 | IM | @ChristopherYoo | Christopher Woojin Yoo | 2979 | 9 | 57.75 | |
| 4 | 4 | GM | @viditchess | Vidit Gujrathi | 3016 | 9 | 57.5 | |
| 5 | 86 | GM | @Alexchess1984 | Alexey Kislinsky | 2769 | 9 | 47.5 | |
| 6 | 5 | GM | @dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 3020 | 8.5 | 63 | |
| 7 | 3 | GM | @mishanick | Alexey Sarana | 3031 | 8.5 | 53.25 | |
| 7 | 30 | GM | @Durarbayli | Vasif Durarbayli | 2864 | 8.5 | 53.25 | |
| 9 | 14 | GM | @rasmussvane | Rasmus Svane | 2956 | 8.5 | 51 | |
| 10 | 8 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 2989 | 8.5 | 47.75 | |
| 11 | 9 | IM | @vi_pranav | Pranav V | 2971 | 8.5 | 47.5 | |
| 12 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3129 | 8 | 54 | |
| 13 | 6 | NM | @Sviridov_Valery | Valery Sviridov | 3012 | 8 | 51.25 | |
| 14 | 20 | GM | @exoticprincess | Baadur Jobava | 2934 | 8 | 50.5 | |
| 14 | 37 | GM | @dretch | Conrad Holt | 2861 | 8 | 50.5 | |
| 16 | 7 | GM | @Chopper1905 | Mustafa Yilmaz | 2977 | 8 | 46.5 | |
| 17 | 107 | IM | @Undisputed92 | Shyaamnikhil P | 2703 | 8 | 45.25 | |
| 18 | 18 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 2934 | 8 | 43.5 | |
| 19 | 88 | IM | @Korchmar_Vasiliy | Vasiliy Korchmar | 2732 | 8 | 41.5 | |
| 20 | 108 | FM | @Aradhya2000 | Aradhya Garg | 2713 | 8 | 40 | |
| 40 | 201 | WFM | @AnastassijaSinitsina | Anastassia Sinitsina | 2532 | 7.5 | 37.25 |
(Full final standings here.)
Xiong won $750 for first place and Babazada $400 for second. Yoo took $150 for third place and Vidit $100 for fourth. The $100 prize for the top-finishing female player went to WFM Anastassia Sinitsina, by tiebreak over GM Alexandra Kosteniuk with both on 7.5/11.
Titled Tuesday is a Swiss tournament for titled players, played every Tuesday on Chess.com starting at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time/19:00 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.
