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Carlsen and Firouzja Win Titled Tuesday, Surprising... No One

Carlsen and Firouzja Win Titled Tuesday, Surprising... No One

NathanielGreen
| 15 | Chess Event Coverage

The world's official top two blitz players, GMs Magnus Carlsen and Alireza Firouzja, won the two Titled Tuesday tournaments on July 30. Firouzja won the early tournament, his third victory of the year, and Carlsen took his fifth win late.

While Firouzja required standings tiebreaks over GMs Matthias Bluebaum and Anish Giri, Carlsen did not, assisted in part by second-place GM Fabiano Caruana missing the first round before scoring 9.5/10 the rest of the way. 


Early Tournament

A field of 720 players vied for the first crown of the day, and Firouzja got there in the end. The only direct matchup between the Firouzja-Bluebaum-Giri trio was a remarkable 10th-round draw between Firouzja and Bluebaum...

...so the tournament was decided in other games. It was not a straight-line path to the top, as GM Jakhovir Sindarov was the last perfect player as he reached 7/7, while GM Daniel Naroditsky led on 9/10 entering the final round.

Sindarov's bid at perfection, which included a win over Firouzja in round six, ended with a draw against GM Hikaru Nakamura in round eight, but his bid for the top lasted until he lost the last two games, against Naroditsky and Giri.

For Giri, wins in the last five rounds were enough to share first, but not quite enough to claim it on tiebreaks. Bluebaum, who scored a half-point against Naroditsky in round nine before his draw with Firouzja in round 10, picked up GM Ian Nepomniachtchi as his final-round opponent. They quickly reached an endgame with Nepomniachtchi a pawn down but retaining compensation. Bluebaum ground him down anyway.

That was enough for Bluebaum to keep a tiebreak advantage on Giri, but not enough to eclipse Firouzja. It was Firouzja who had the opportunity to take down the leader Naroditsky in the last round, and Firouzja earned not only the tiebreak points but also the style points as: unlike Giri or Bluebaum, he won before move 40.

July 30 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number Rk Fed Title Username Name Rating Score Tiebreak 1
1 4 GM @Firouzja2003 Alireza Firouzja 3178 9.5 80
2 12 GM @Msb2 Matthias Bluebaum 3138 9.5 74.5
3 15 GM @AnishOnYoutube Anish Giri 3099 9.5 70.5
4 3 GM @DanielNaroditsky Daniel Naroditsky 3183 9 77.5
5 20 GM @dropstoneDP David Paravyan 3057 9 71
6 26 GM @Alexander_Zubov Alexander Zubov 3034 9 70.5
7 2 GM @Hikaru Hikaru Nakamura 3236 9 69.5
8 24 GM @LiemLe Liem Le 3043 9 60.5
9 7 GM @Javokhir_Sindarov05 Javokhir Sindarov 3146 8.5 80.5
10 16 GM @GHANDEEVAM2003 Arjun Erigaisi 3086 8.5 74.5
11 19 GM @lachesisQ Ian Nepomniachtchi 3063 8.5 74
12 5 GM @DenLaz Denis Lazavik 3135 8.5 72.5
13 23 GM @FGHSMN Bharath Subramaniyam 3028 8.5 69.5
14 83 IM @scarabee43 Marco Materia 2901 8.5 68.5
15 54 GM @Fandorine Maksim Chigaev 2932 8.5 68
16 99 IM @Yaacovn Yaacov Norowitz 2866 8.5 68
17 119 IM @Legendinunknown Harshavardhan GB 2854 8.5 68
18 114 GM @sokidze Ihor Samunenkov 2864 8.5 66
19 133 FM @GoltsevDmitry2000 Goltsev Dmitry 2807 8.5 65
20 194 IM @kingnb Nitish Belurkar 2744 8.5 62.5
40 253 WGM @Sanyura Aleksandra Maltsevskaya 2684 8 57

(Full final standings here.)

Firouzja won the $1,000 first-place prize while Bluebaum settled for the $750 prize and Giri for $350. Naroditsky held onto fourth place to win $200 in consolation, while GM David Paravyan finished fifth for $100. WGM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya was the women's leader for $100, scoring eight points and finishing 40th.

Late Tournament

An undefeated Carlsen took home the top prize in the late field of 584, only making draws in rounds eight and 11. Because of birthday boy Caruana's missing round, the two never faced each other.

Carlsen started 7/7 before Firouzja ended perfection with a draw. GM Sergei Zhigalko was now tied with Carlsen for first place through eight rounds, but that did not last long.

From there, Carlsen never relinquished the outright lead. Another win in the 10th round, against GM Christopher Yoo, effectively locked things up as Carlsen's sacrificial onslaught 28.Nxf7!! and 29.Rg8+!! brought checkmate.

Caruana ended up with the day's highest winning percentage, which was important for him as his tiebreaks suffered greatly from the missing round. Instead, he finished a clean second, thanks to wins like this one in the final round against GM Denis Kadric.

Firouzja returned to the top five, but only in fourth place as the best tiebreaks on nine points belonged to GM Vugar Rasulov.

July 30 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number Rk Fed Title Username Name Rating Score Tiebreak 1
1 1 GM @MagnusCarlsen Magnus Carlsen 3290 10 80.5
2 159 GM @FabianoCaruana Fabiano Caruana 3117 9.5 58
3 26 GM @vugarrasulov Vugar Rasulov 3009 9 75
4 4 GM @Firouzja2003 Alireza Firouzja 3189 9 73
5 14 GM @Oleksandr_Bortnyk Oleksandr Bortnyk 3084 9 71
6 2 GM @nihalsarin Nihal Sarin 3224 9 71
7 8 GM @FairChess_on_YouTube Dmitry Andreikin 3135 9 69.5
8 52 GM @Kiborg95 Denis Kadric 2938 8.5 76
9 10 GM @mishanick Alexey Sarana 3110 8.5 72.5
10 37 GM @Paralinch Daniil Lintchevski 2966 8.5 70
11 11 GM @BogdanDeac Bogdan-Daniel Deac 3079 8.5 70
12 38 GM @Zhigalko_Sergei Sergei Zhigalko 2983 8.5 69.5
13 17 IM @Rud_Makarian Rudik Makarian 3048 8.5 68.5
14 5 GM @Javokhir_Sindarov05 Javokhir Sindarov 3138 8.5 68
15 31 GM @DominguezOnYoutube Leinier Dominguez Perez 2988 8.5 68
16 53 GM @kuli4ik Mikhail Demidov 2931 8.5 65.5
17 25 GM @Sanan_Sjugirov Sanan Sjugirov 2998 8.5 64.5
18 58 GM @moro182 Luca Moroni Jr 2919 8.5 61.5
19 55 GM @platy3 Alan Pichot 2938 8 75.5
20 13 GM @GHANDEEVAM2003 Arjun Erigaisi 3086 8 73.5
21 95 IM @SaraBlackPanther Bibisara Assaubayeva 2821 8 72.5

(Full final standings here.)

Carlsen won the $1,000 prize for first place while Caruana took home $750 for second place. Rasulov earned $350 in third and Firouzja $200 in fourth, which took his daily total to $1,200. The $100 prizes went to GM Oleksandr Bortnyk in fifth place and IM Bibisara Assaubayeva, whose 21st-place finish earned the women's prize.

Titled Cup Standings

Carlsen stayed in fourth, but is creeping up toward second and might well get there with enough events. Nakamura might be tough to catch, though.

Open

# Username Score Player
1 @Hikaru 198.5 GM Hikaru Nakamura
2 @Polish_fighter3000 185.0 GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda
3 @mishanick 184.5 GM Alexey Sarana
4 @MagnusCarlsen 184.0 GM Magnus Carlsen
5t @Jospem 182.0 GM Jose Martinez
5t @DenLaz 182.0 GM Denis Lazavik

Women

# Username Score Player
1 @ChessQueen 141.0 GM Alexandra Kosteniuk
2 @Goryachkina 139.5 GM Aleksandra Goryachkina
3 @Flawless_Fighter 138.5 IM Polina Shuvalova
3-t @Meri-Arabidze 137.5 IM Meri Arabidze
5 @karinachess1 135.5 IM Karina Ambartsumova

Other Category Leaders

Juniors: GM Denis Lazavik (182.0 points)

Seniors: GM Gata Kamsky (168.5 points)

Girls: WCM Veronika Shubenkova (115.0 points)

The Titled Cup fantasy game Chess Prophet continues as well. Current standings can be found here. (Login required.)

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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