Firouzja, Nakamura Nearing Candidates Form
Big names won the Titled Tuesday events of March 5: GM Alireza Firouzja and GM Hikaru Nakamura, both of whom will be playing in the Candidates Tournament in four weeks. Firouzja won in the last round to reach a five-way tie on 9.5 points where he had the best tiebreaks, while Nakamura led after each of the final three rounds to coast to an outright victory.
GM Jose Martinez finished in third place in both events, and defeated GM Vladimir Kramnik along the way in both events.
Early Tournament
Firouzja jumped out to a lead in the field of 696 by scoring a perfect 7/7 to start, but his run came to an end against GM Magnus Carlsen.
Carlsen wasn't able to hold his lead for long, with Martinez winning their game in the ninth round in just 31 moves despite Carlsen's opening choice of the Exchange French.
For Martinez, it was his eighth straight win, including a victory over Kramnik in the seventh round. But Martinez only made draws in the 10th and 11th rounds, dropping into third place and giving Firouzja the opportunity he needed to catch back up.
Facing GM Alexey Sarana in the last round, Firouzja won a 62-move rook endgame.
Carlsen could also have ended up on 9.5 points, and might well have taken the tournament on tiebreaks, but GM Andrew Hong won their game and finished fourth, leaving Carlsen in 21st.
March 5 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
| 1 | 3 | GM | @Firouzja2003 | Alireza Firouzja | 3230 | 9.5 | 77.5 | |
| 2 | 33 | GM | @Volodar_Murzin | Volodar Murzin | 3003 | 9.5 | 76.5 | |
| 3 | 13 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3096 | 9.5 | 76 | |
| 4 | 8 | GM | @SpeedofLight0 | Andrew Hong | 3090 | 9.5 | 71.5 | |
| 5 | 5 | GM | @HansOnTwitch | Hans Niemann | 3126 | 9.5 | 67 | |
| 6 | 25 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 2999 | 9 | 73 | |
| 7 | 21 | GM | @Indianlad | S.L. Narayanan | 3037 | 9 | 70 | |
| 8 | 11 | GM | @NikoTheodorou | Nikolas Theodorou | 3062 | 8.5 | 77.5 | |
| 9 | 6 | GM | @Polish_fighter3000 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 3104 | 8.5 | 72.5 | |
| 10 | 7 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3097 | 8.5 | 72.5 | |
| 11 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3257 | 8.5 | 72 | |
| 12 | 20 | GM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3038 | 8.5 | 69.5 | |
| 13 | 56 | GM | @ckgchess | Cem Kaan Gokerkan | 2919 | 8.5 | 68.5 | |
| 14 | 4 | GM | @nihalsarin | Nihal Sarin | 3172 | 8.5 | 65.5 | |
| 15 | 122 | NM | @Abund | Qingyu Yuan | 2794 | 8.5 | 63 | |
| 16 | 26 | GM | @ChessLover0108 | Mahammad Muradli | 2963 | 8.5 | 62.5 | |
| 17 | 81 | GM | @Rikikits | Maxime Lagarde | 2875 | 8.5 | 61 | |
| 18 | 43 | FM | @Bauman_Guy | Konstantin Popov | 2930 | 8.5 | 59.5 | |
| 19 | 12 | GM | @mishanick | Aleksei Sarana | 3081 | 8.5 | 57 | |
| 20 | 248 | FM | @Yeritsyaan | Hayk Yeritsyan | 2656 | 8.5 | 57 | |
| 84 | 150 | GM | @Goryachkina | Aleksandra Goryachkina | 2703 | 7 | 60 |
(Full final standings here.)
Firouzja won $1,000 for his efforts. GM Volodar Murzin finished second to claim $750, while Martinez won $350 for third and Hong $200 for fourth. The $100 prizes went to GM Hans Niemann in fifth place and GM Aleksandra Goryachkina with the highest score out of the women playing.
Late Tournament
The late event, with its 502 participants, was not quite as close as the early one. As always, it took some time for perfect scores to thin out, but Nakamura was the most consistent player in both the front half and the back half of the tournament.
After a draw with GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda put Nakamura on 6.5/7, he defeated GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Martinez, and Sarana in succession to improve to 9.5/10. The game against Mamedyarov was decided by a single mistake, but it wasn't immediately obvious that the error should be so decisive; Nakamura just punished it fully.
That win against Mamedyarov put Nakamura in a tie for first with Duda. In the ninth round, Sarana defeated Duda while Nakamura defeated Martinez, putting Nakamura into sole first. He then "thanked" Sarana for toppling Duda by defeating Sarana himself.
With only one player within even half a point of Nakamura by now, he only needed a draw against that player, IM Joseph Girel, to clinch the tournament. Girel was also happy enough to settle for half a point, and they played the infamous Berlin Draw. Below them, seven players ended up tied on nine points.
Martinez ended up with the best tiebreaks in that group, and again defeated Kramnik, this time in the final round to clinch another third place finish.
March 5 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
| 1 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3268 | 10 | 75 | |
| 2 | 58 | IM | @Mr_Heisenberg13 | Joseph Girel | 2886 | 9.5 | 73 | |
| 3 | 8 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3108 | 9 | 74.5 | |
| 4 | 10 | GM | @mishanick | Aleksei Sarana | 3092 | 9 | 74 | |
| 5 | 2 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3249 | 9 | 73 | |
| 6 | 5 | GM | @Polish_fighter3000 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 3122 | 9 | 72 | |
| 7 | 7 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3098 | 9 | 71 | |
| 8 | 9 | GM | @SpeedofLight0 | Andrew Hong | 3101 | 9 | 68.5 | |
| 9 | 22 | GM | @Beca95 | Aleksandar Indjic | 2989 | 9 | 67 | |
| 10 | 68 | GM | @K_A_S_T_O_R | Rodrigo Vasquez | 2862 | 8.5 | 70.5 | |
| 11 | 17 | GM | @Sanan_Sjugirov | Sanan Sjugirov | 3001 | 8.5 | 65.5 | |
| 12 | 40 | CM | @stollenmonster | Egor Baskakov | 2901 | 8.5 | 61 | |
| 13 | 16 | GM | @Njal28 | Aram Hakobyan | 3012 | 8.5 | 58.5 | |
| 14 | 23 | GM | @VladimirKramnik | Vladimir Kramnik | 2982 | 8 | 75 | |
| 15 | 6 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3087 | 8 | 73.5 | |
| 16 | 19 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 2997 | 8 | 73 | |
| 17 | 82 | IM | @ameetghasi100 | Ameet Ghasi | 2809 | 8 | 69.5 | |
| 18 | 53 | GM | @JSPrepz | Johan-Sebastian Christiansen | 2857 | 8 | 65.5 | |
| 19 | 4 | GM | @HansOnTwitch | Hans Niemann | 3099 | 8 | 64.5 | |
| 20 | 44 | GM | @TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 2876 | 8 | 64.5 | |
| 45 | 193 | WGM | @Crazy_girl99 | Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova | 2598 | 7.5 | 50 |
(Full final standings here.)
Nakamura won $1,000 while Guril took home $750. Martinez won another $350 for a total of $700. Sarana finished fourth for $200 and Carlsen snuck into the top five for $100. WGM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova won the $100 women's prize with 7.5 points.
Titled Cup Standings
Martinez moved into second place in the main change to this week's standings, but he still trails Nakamura. GM David Paravyan did not play this week and dropped from the top five.
Open
| # | Username | Score | Player |
| 1 | @Hikaru | 172.5 | GM Hikaru Nakamura |
| 2 | @Jospem | 155.5 | GM Jose Martinez |
| 3 | @mishanick | 153.5 | GM Alexey Sarana |
| 4 | @Polish_fighter3000 | 151.5 | GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda |
| 5 | @Zhigalko_Sergei | 145.5 | GM Sergei Zhigalko |
Women
| # | Username | Score | Player |
| 1 | @karinachess1 | 116.5 | IM Karina Ambartsumova |
| 2 | @Goryachkina | 112.0 | GM Aleksandra Goryachkina |
| 3 | @Sanyura | 68.0 | IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya |
| 4 | @ChessQueen | 66.5 | GM Alexandra Kosteniuk |
| 5 | @Fh2411 | 64.0 | IM Le Thao Nguyen Pham |
Other Category Leaders
Juniors: CM Artem Bardyk (113.0 points)
Seniors: GM Alex Rustemov (131.5 points)
Girls: WCM Veronika Shubenkova (56.5 points)
The new Titled Cup fantasy game Chess Prophet continues as well. Current standings can be found here. (Login required.)
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.
