Magnus Carlsen Again Flirts With Perfection
Recent Titled Tuesdays have been a time for the long-established veterans of the chess world to remind everyone they're not done yet. December 5 was no exception, with GM Levon Aronian and GM Magnus Carlsen both winning a tournament outright, Aronian with 10 points and Carlsen with 10.5 points in the 11 rounds.
For Aronian, they were his first games on Chess.com in three months. For Carlsen, it was the second time in three weeks that he was just half a point away from a perfect 11/11 score.
Early Tournament
In the five weeks and 10 tournaments since the start of November, the "old guard" has been holding its own in Titled Tuesday, with GM Arjun Erigaisi the only player younger than 30 to win an event. Aronian was the second straight 40+ winner in the early edition, after GM Alexander Grischuk last week.
In this week's field of 566, Aronian led wire-to-wire. He was the last player on a perfect score when he reached 7/7 by checkmating GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda, and never fell out of at least a share of the lead.
Aronian alternated draws and wins in the last four rounds, both wins batting away a rival who had just tied him in the standings—first in a 7.5/8 matchup with GM Tuan Minh Le, then a 9/10 matchup with GM Aleksandr Shimanov. In the game against Le, Aronian turned a losing position on move 35 into a winning one on move 38, and converted without conceding back the advantage.
Second place also belonged outright to its holder, with GM Dmitry Andreikin earning 9.5 points after ending on a 4.5/5 run. After drawing Aronian in round 10, Andreikin took out GM Sergey Drygalov in round 11 after Drygalov finally flinched in a longtime equal endgame.
December 5 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
| 1 | 10 | GM | @LevonAronian | Levon Aronian | 3117 | 10 | 75.5 | |
| 2 | 4 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3088 | 9.5 | 73.5 | |
| 3 | 29 | GM | @shimastream | Aleksandr Shimanov | 2988 | 9 | 74.5 | |
| 4 | 23 | GM | @BillieKimbah | Maxim Matlakov | 2987 | 9 | 70.5 | |
| 5 | 2 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3133 | 9 | 69 | |
| 6 | 6 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3051 | 9 | 66.5 | |
| 7 | 25 | GM | @FormerProdigy | David Navara | 3007 | 9 | 66.5 | |
| 8 | 28 | GM | @sergoy | Sergey Drygalov | 2977 | 9 | 64.5 | |
| 9 | 69 | GM | @maciek_92 | Maciej Klekowski | 2878 | 9 | 62 | |
| 10 | 11 | GM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3067 | 8.5 | 76.5 | |
| 11 | 27 | GM | @ViIIagra | Cristobal Henriquez | 2984 | 8.5 | 74.5 | |
| 12 | 7 | GM | @FabianoCaruana | Fabiano Caruana | 3065 | 8.5 | 69.5 | |
| 13 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3232 | 8.5 | 69.5 | |
| 14 | 20 | GM | @mishanick | Aleksei Sarana | 3030 | 8.5 | 62.5 | |
| 15 | 9 | GM | @GMWSO | Wesley So | 3049 | 8.5 | 62 | |
| 16 | 8 | GM | @vi_pranav | Pranav V | 3066 | 8.5 | 62 | |
| 17 | 18 | FM | @JimDiGrease | Ivan Zemlyanskii | 3023 | 8 | 82.5 | |
| 18 | 14 | GM | @Polish_fighter3000 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 3059 | 8 | 70.5 | |
| 19 | 51 | GM | @Dyadya81 | Gevorg Harutjunyan | 2884 | 8 | 69 | |
| 20 | 43 | GM | @Shield12 | Shamsiddin Vokhidov | 2913 | 8 | 69 | |
| 45 | 56 | IM | @Flawless_Fighter | Polina Shuvalova | 2825 | 7.5 | 60.5 |
(Full final standings here.)
Aronian won $1,000 and Andreikin $750. Seven players tied on nine points, with Shimanov winning $350 in third, GM Maxim Matlakov $200 in fourth, and GM Daniel Naroditsky $100 in fifth after tiebreaks were applied. IM Polina Shuvalova scored 7.5/11 to win the $100 women's prize.
Late Tournament
Carlsen easily cleared the late field of 436 players with 1.5 points more than anyone else. Only a seventh-round draw against GM Alireza Firouzja kept Carlsen from a perfect 11/11.
He permanently separated from the field two rounds later, with a win in the ninth round against GM Jeffery Xiong. It was a wild game where the computer gave Xiong an edge for a solid chunk of the middle portion before the evaluation started bouncing around for the rest of the contest.
Carlsen led the tournament outright for good after that, although he wasn't completely without risk. At 9.5 points with one round left, his opponent was Aronian, who had 8.5 points. A win for Aronian could potentially have given him a Titled Tuesday sweep, but Carlsen was faster in a rook ending, winning on time with 22 seconds left on his clock. Game Review at its maximum depth gave Carlsen nine exclamation marks, including six on moves 34-42.
Aronian's 8.5/11 finish prevented him from another cash as four players reached nine points to pass him. At the top of the tiebreak heap was GM Hikaru Nakamura, who had entered a four-draw rut from round five to round eight but then won three straight. Second place was finally achieved with a solid win over Duda in the last round.
Carlsen finished the late tournament with a blitz rating of 3326, 10 points below Nakamura's record on the Chess.com website. The following day, he played some games against GM Tuan Minh Le and GM Daniel Naroditsky to set the new site record at 3340.
December 5 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
| 1 | 1 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3340 | 10.5 | 73 | |
| 2 | 2 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3232 | 9 | 78 | |
| 3 | 22 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 3039 | 9 | 72 | |
| 4 | 70 | GM | @DuleMudule | Igor Miladinovic | 2887 | 9 | 66 | |
| 5 | 20 | GM | @mishanick | Aleksei Sarana | 3030 | 9 | 64.5 | |
| 6 | 5 | GM | @LevonAronian | Levon Aronian | 3117 | 8.5 | 71 | |
| 7 | 16 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 3032 | 8.5 | 68 | |
| 8 | 19 | GM | @BogdanDeac | Bogdan Daniel Deac | 3019 | 8.5 | 66.5 | |
| 9 | 7 | GM | @lachesisQ | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 3098 | 8.5 | 66 | |
| 10 | 12 | GM | @vi_pranav | Pranav V | 3066 | 8.5 | 66 | |
| 11 | 83 | IM | @Sattarov_Bobur | Bobur Sattarov | 2789 | 8.5 | 65 | |
| 12 | 40 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 2954 | 8 | 78 | |
| 13 | 4 | GM | @Firouzja2003 | Alireza Firouzja | 3147 | 8 | 76 | |
| 14 | 28 | GM | @GMBenjaminBok | Benjamin Bok | 2993 | 8 | 74.5 | |
| 15 | 120 | FM | @carokannlover213 | Patryk Cieslak | 2691 | 8 | 69 | |
| 16 | 8 | GM | @GHANDEEVAM2003 | Arjun Erigaisi | 3098 | 8 | 68 | |
| 17 | 14 | GM | @Polish_fighter3000 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 3059 | 8 | 66 | |
| 18 | 25 | IM | @MITerryble | Renato Terry | 2984 | 8 | 65.5 | |
| 19 | 35 | GM | @rasmussvane | Rasmus Svane | 2934 | 8 | 65 | |
| 20 | 13 | GM | @OparinGrigoriy | Grigoriy Oparin | 3052 | 8 | 63.5 | |
| 23 | 115 | WGM | @Crazy_girl99 | Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova | 2676 | 8 | 59 |
(Full final standings here.)
Carlsen won the $1,000 grand prize. Nakamura took $750 for second place and Xiong $350 for third. GM Igor Miladinovic finished fourth, claiming $200. The $100 prizes went to GM Alexey Sarana in fifth and WGM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova, who placed 23rd with eight points to win the women's prize.
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).
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.
