Ties Rule Day As Firouzja, Yoo Win Titled Tuesday
GM Alireza Firouzja and GM Christopher Yoo won the Titled Tuesday events of September 17, both needing tiebreaks even though Firouzja scored 10 points while Yoo scored 9.5 points. GM Jeffery Xiong and GM Jose Martinez, respectively, were the runners-up.
For Firouzja, it was his fourth win of the year, and for Yoo, his second.
Early Tournament
Despite the ongoing 45th Olympiad, 757 participants found their way into the early tournament, including a few who are playing in the Olympiad, such as GM Magnus Carlsen.
Firouzja made a draw in round four, so it was Xiong who was the favorite after reaching an 8/8 score. In round nine, however, Firouzja asserted that the tournament was instead his to lose when he trapped Xiong's rook on the sixth rank.
Firouzja would still need to earn it, as his next battle came with Black against GM Hikaru Nakamura. And while that's not a good situation for winning in 26 moves like he did in the previous round, Firouzja needed only 38 to outplay his esteemed opponent.
Meanwhile, the setback to Firouzja ended up being Xiong's only one of the tournament, as he wrapped up with wins against GMs David Paravyan and Oleksandr Bortnyk. Thanks to Firouzja's draw in the final round against GM Aram Hakobyan, Xiong's win over Bortnyk even brought him back into a tie for first, but it wasn't quite enough.
September 17 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
| 1 | 5 | GM | @Firouzja2003 | Alireza Firouzja | 3188 | 10 | 79 | |
| 2 | 12 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 3109 | 10 | 76 | |
| 3 | 27 | GM | @Njal28 | Aram Hakobyan | 3047 | 9.5 | 70.5 | |
| 4 | 2 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3287 | 9 | 81.5 | |
| 5 | 10 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3041 | 9 | 78 | |
| 6 | 11 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 3101 | 9 | 72.5 | |
| 7 | 33 | GM | @Volodar_Murzin | Volodar Murzin | 3012 | 9 | 72.5 | |
| 8 | 67 | FM | @ELECTRODYNAMIC_DRACULA | Havard Haug | 2910 | 9 | 70 | |
| 9 | 3 | GM | @lachesisQ | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 3194 | 9 | 66.5 | |
| 10 | 17 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 3051 | 9 | 63 | |
| 11 | 685 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3106 | 9 | 50.5 | |
| 12 | 26 | IM | @Rud_Makarian | Rudik Makarian | 3020 | 8.5 | 73.5 | |
| 13 | 9 | GM | @Duhless | Daniil Dubov | 3100 | 8.5 | 71.5 | |
| 14 | 6 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3132 | 8.5 | 71 | |
| 15 | 39 | GM | @mitrabhaa | Mitrabha Guha | 2991 | 8.5 | 69 | |
| 16 | 21 | GM | @shimastream | Aleksandr Shimanov | 3050 | 8.5 | 68.5 | |
| 17 | 42 | IM | @mbojan | Bojan Maksimović | 2963 | 8.5 | 67.5 | |
| 18 | 65 | FM | @Eagle_2019 | Mamedov Edgar | 2905 | 8.5 | 63.5 | |
| 19 | 55 | GM | @FXDon77 | Xu Yi | 2936 | 8 | 78 | |
| 69 | 245 | FM | @Leebit02 | Liya Kurmangaliyeva | 2670 | 7 | 71.5 |
(Full final standings here.)
Firouzja won the $1,000 first-place prize with Xiong settling for $750 for second. Hakobyan finished third place outright for $350. The remaining prizes were $200 to Nakamura in fourth, $100 to GM Daniel Naroditsky in fifth, and $100 to FM Liya Kurmangaliyeva for the women's prize.
Late Tournament
With 508 late participants, a streak of having 500+ players in every tournament continued, one that dates back to April 16, or 23 weeks and 46 tournaments.
Unlike the early tournament winner, Yoo wasn't able to beat Nakamura, losing their sixth-round matchup. Nakamura extended his perfect start to 7/7 against GM Andrey Esipenko, unable to resist an underpromotion at the very end (who can?) before finally making two consecutive draws.
At the same time, the setback to Nakamura was the only game out of the first 10 that Yoo wouldn't win. By the time he beat GM Daniil Dubov in the 10th round, Yoo was tied with Nakamura atop the standings.
In the final round, Yoo played a 32-move draw with GM Andrew Hong, giving Nakamura the chance to claim the tournament. What happened instead, though, was that Martinez won a dramatic endgame.
As a result, Yoo's final draw was actually enough to clinch the tournament. Martinez caught up with him in overall points, but didn't have enough tiebreak juice to make the ultimate difference.
September 17 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
| 1 | 18 | GM | @ChristopherYoo | Christopher Woojin Yoo | 3053 | 9.5 | 72.5 | |
| 2 | 5 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3138 | 9.5 | 71 | |
| 3 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3285 | 9 | 75.5 | |
| 4 | 10 | IM | @MITerryble | Renato Terry | 3069 | 9 | 73 | |
| 5 | 26 | GM | @Vaathi_Coming | Aravindh Chithambaram | 3003 | 9 | 70 | |
| 6 | 2 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3248 | 9 | 68.5 | |
| 7 | 19 | GM | @artooon | Pranesh M | 3023 | 9 | 65 | |
| 8 | 15 | GM | @SpeedofLight0 | Andrew Hong | 3048 | 9 | 64.5 | |
| 9 | 105 | IM | @WorriedEgg | Aaron Jacobson | 2774 | 9 | 61.5 | |
| 10 | 3 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3123 | 8.5 | 75.5 | |
| 11 | 41 | GM | @VitaliyBernadskiy | Vitaliy Bernadskiy | 2935 | 8.5 | 65 | |
| 12 | 38 | IM | @chenxiaoyuer | Ryo Chen | 2889 | 8.5 | 59 | |
| 13 | 7 | GM | @Duhless | Daniil Dubov | 3078 | 8 | 82.5 | |
| 14 | 17 | IM | @Rud_Makarian | Rudik Makarian | 3026 | 8 | 75 | |
| 15 | 6 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 3104 | 8 | 72 | |
| 16 | 22 | GM | @Fandorine | Maksim Chigaev | 2990 | 8 | 70 | |
| 17 | 55 | IM | @Alexander_Khlebovich | Alexander Khlebovich | 2882 | 8 | 68.5 | |
| 18 | 14 | GM | @OparinGrigoriy | Grigoriy Oparin | 3020 | 8 | 66.5 | |
| 19 | 42 | GM | @evgchess5 | Evgeny Alekseev | 2904 | 8 | 65.5 | |
| 20 | 16 | GM | @dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 3013 | 8 | 65.5 | |
| 65 | 141 | IM | @Fh2411 | Le Thao Nguyen Pham | 2629 | 7 | 56.5 |
(Full final standings here.)
Yoo won the $1,000 for first and Martinez took the $750 for second. Nakamura won another $350, reaching $550 on the day, for his third place finish. IM Renato Terry finished fourth for $200 and GM Aravindh Chithambaram fifth for $100. The $100 women's prize went to IM Le Thao Nguyen Pham.
Titled Cup Standings
With his second-place finish Xiong moved into a tie for fifth in the Titled Cup standings, and IM Karina Ambartsumova did the same in the women's standings.
Open
| # | Username | Score | Player |
| 1 | @Hikaru | 198.5 | GM Hikaru Nakamura |
| 2 | @MagnusCarlsen | 191.0 | GM Magnus Carlsen |
| 3 | @Jospem | 187.0 | GM Jose Martinez |
| 4 | @mishanick | 186.0 | GM Alexey Sarana |
| 5-t | @Polish_fighter3000 | 185.5 | GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda |
| 5-t | @jefferyx | 185.5 | GM Jeffery Xiong |
Women
| # | Username | Score | Player |
| 1 | @Goryachkina | 142.0 | GM Aleksandra Goryachkina |
| 2 | @Flawless_Fighter | 141.5 | IM Polina Shuvalova |
| 3 | @ChessQueen | 141.0 | GM Alexandra Kosteniuk |
| 4 | @Meri-Arabidze | 138.0 | IM Meri Arabidze |
| 5-t | @Sanyura | 136.0 | IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya |
| 5-t | @karinachess1 | 136.0 | IM Karina Ambartsumova |
Other Category Leaders
Juniors: GM Denis Lazavik (183.0 points)
Seniors: GM Gata Kamsky (169.5 points)
Girls: WCM Veronika Shubenkova (119.0 points)
The 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.
