Nice... Nakamura Wins 69th Titled Tuesday During Candidates Rest Day
If you had doubts about how big an event Titled Tuesday has become, you can look at just how many players from the ongoing Candidates Tournament played the April 16 edition anyway (during a rest day in the Candidates). One of them, GM Hikaru Nakamura, finished third in the early event and then won the late event, his 69th win since Titled Tuesday became an 11-round event. The early victor was GM Hans Niemann.
GM Anish Giri humorously anticipated Nakamura's win all the way back on April 3:
He's going to win the 69th one during the Candidates, it's all scripted!!🤣 pic.twitter.com/iqYdBBvAr2
— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) April 3, 2024
Two other candidates, GM Fabiano Caruana and GM Alireza Firouzja, also played in both events. In the late tournament, Caruana finished second and Firouzja 10th. GM Vidit Gujrathi also took time from his Candidates rest day to play the early event.
Early Tournament
Of the 660 participants in the early tournament, three ended up on 9.5 points and another eight on nine points, so tiebreaks were key.
After seven rounds, two players were still perfect: Niemann and GM Frederik Svane. And the winner of their eighth-round game was Svane, not the ultimate tournament champion.
Svane now held a full-point lead over 10 players on 7/8, but his lead did not last, with losses to GM Dmitry Andreikin and IM Milosz Szpar in the next two rounds. This allowed not just Niemann back into contention but GM Salem Saleh (draw in round three, loss in round seven) and Nakamura (loss in round seven, draw in round eight) as well.
But it was Szpar who led with a round to go. He then pulled Nakamura as his final hurdle and was unable to clear it. For fans, but probably not Szpar, the final position is somewhat amusing.
For Saleh, who ended up winning his final four games, GM Jose Martinez was in his way at the end. Saleh won on time in an even position but with only one move for White, 38.Bb4, to keep it that way.
Saleh needed the second tiebreak to take second place over Nakamura, but they both fell short compared to Niemann, who took on Giri in the final round. Niemann needed 74 moves but got the job done.
I can't hear any of the hate, the chess is speaking too loud pic.twitter.com/p8EDhhkLf4
— Hans Niemann (@HansMokeNiemann) April 16, 2024
Despite his consecutive losses near the end of the tournament, Svane recovered in the final round and had terrific tiebreaks, taking fourth place over fifth-place GM Dmitry Andreikin. They both left six other players on nine points, including Szpar, just shy of the cash places.
April 16 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
| 1 | 4 | GM | @HansOnTwitch | Hans Niemann | 3164 | 9.5 | 76 | |
| 2 | 24 | GM | @Salem-AR | Salem AR Saleh | 3051 | 9.5 | 71.5 | |
| 3 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3271 | 9.5 | 71.5 | |
| 4 | 19 | GM | @frederiksvane | Frederik Svane | 3068 | 9 | 80 | |
| 5 | 9 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3102 | 9 | 79.5 | |
| 6 | 20 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3056 | 9 | 75 | |
| 7 | 51 | GM | @TenisMaster | Yuniesky Quesada | 2950 | 9 | 73.5 | |
| 8 | 81 | IM | @Szparu | Miłosz Szpar | 2889 | 9 | 73.5 | |
| 9 | 27 | IM | @Rud_Makarian | Rudik Makarian | 3022 | 9 | 71.5 | |
| 10 | 29 | GM | @h4parah5 | Jaime Santos Latasa | 3026 | 9 | 71.5 | |
| 11 | 108 | FM | @Aradhya2000 | Aradhya Garg | 2822 | 9 | 67 | |
| 12 | 66 | GM | @superchess02 | Iniyan P | 2924 | 8.5 | 73 | |
| 13 | 16 | GM | @AnishOnYoutube | Anish Giri | 3058 | 8.5 | 72 | |
| 14 | 6 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 3109 | 8.5 | 66.5 | |
| 15 | 31 | GM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3004 | 8.5 | 65 | |
| 16 | 92 | IM | @the_chess_child | Ilamparthi A R | 2854 | 8.5 | 64.5 | |
| 17 | 17 | GM | @LiemLe | Liem Le | 3038 | 8 | 75.5 | |
| 18 | 21 | GM | @shimastream | Aleksandr Shimanov | 3028 | 8 | 73.5 | |
| 19 | 65 | GM | @Durarbayli | Vasif Durarbayli | 2879 | 8 | 70 | |
| 20 | 60 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 2936 | 8 | 69 | |
| 109 | 110 | IM | @Flawless_Fighter | Polina Shuvalova | 2757 | 6.5 | 60.5 |
(Full final standings here.)
Niemann took home the $1,000 grand prize, with Saleh settling for $750 and Nakamura for $350, while Svane won $200 and Andreikin earned $100. The $100 women's prize went to IM Polina Shuvalova, her second in a row.
Late Tournament
Exactly 500 players found their way to the late tournament, which turned into a U.S.-dominated affair, with the top four spots all going to Americans, including the top two spots to candidates Nakamura and Caruana. Even though Nakamura ended up winning the tournament by a full point, the tournament situation was uncertain until the very last round.
Nakamura reached a perfect 9/9 to start, spending rounds six through eight taking out some particularly notable competition against players with multiple previous Titled Tuesday wins: GMs Alexei Sarana, Liem Le, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. Nakamura defeated Vachier-Lagrave with an exchange sacrifice, which was the only way to retain equality per the computer, and Vachier-Lagrave eventually went wrong.
After dispatching GM Thomas Beerdsen in round nine, Nakamura was finally held to a draw in round 10 by Firouzja.
While Nakamura was building his lead, GM Sam Shankland remained close behind despite a fifth-round loss. Shankland responded to that setback with five straight victories, including back-to-back wins over Martinez and GM Daniel Naroditsky in the eighth and ninth rounds, then a 26-move attacking gem (not a game type that usually emerges from the Classical Nimzo-Indian) versus GM Ido Gorshtein in round 10.
That all set the stage for the final-round showdown between Nakamura and Shankland, where Nakamura only needed a draw to clinch an outright tournament victory, but a win for Shankland would give him the tournament outright. Shankland built a solid edge at first against Nakamura's Slav Defense, but eventually dropped an exchange and then the game.
Of the three players who were on 8.5 points entering the final round—Caruana, Firouzja, and GM Vasif Durarbayli—only Caruana won, doing so against Durarbayli and also against a Slav Defense.
Firouzja, meanwhile, was knocked out by Naroditsky.
April 16 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
| 1 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3289 | 10.5 | 72 | |
| 2 | 9 | GM | @FabianoCaruana | Fabiano Caruana | 3095 | 9.5 | 64.5 | |
| 3 | 48 | GM | @Shankland | Sam Shankland | 2926 | 9 | 80 | |
| 4 | 6 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3130 | 9 | 74 | |
| 5 | 7 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 3116 | 9 | 73 | |
| 6 | 15 | GM | @LiemLe | Liem Le | 3062 | 9 | 70.5 | |
| 7 | 18 | GM | @h4parah5 | Jaime Santos Latasa | 3045 | 9 | 69.5 | |
| 8 | 50 | GM | @Durarbayli | Vasif Durarbayli | 2912 | 8.5 | 74.5 | |
| 9 | 13 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3055 | 8.5 | 73 | |
| 10 | 16 | GM | @Firouzja2003 | Alireza Firouzja | 3046 | 8.5 | 70.5 | |
| 11 | 53 | GM | @kleinebeer98 | Thomas Beerdsen | 2914 | 8.5 | 69 | |
| 12 | 23 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 3022 | 8.5 | 68.5 | |
| 13 | 11 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3057 | 8.5 | 65 | |
| 14 | 32 | GM | @TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 2942 | 8.5 | 63.5 | |
| 15 | 39 | GM | @jcibarra | José Carlos Ibarra Jerez | 2935 | 8 | 72 | |
| 16 | 47 | IM | @Szparu | Miłosz Szpar | 2898 | 8 | 70.5 | |
| 17 | 34 | FM | @artin10862 | Artin Ashraf | 2939 | 8 | 68.5 | |
| 18 | 22 | GM | @BogdanDeac | Bogdan Daniel Deac | 2994 | 8 | 68 | |
| 19 | 58 | FM | @temus_galaktionov | Artem Galaktionov | 2887 | 8 | 67 | |
| 20 | 29 | GM | @sergiochess83 | Sergey Grigoriants | 2958 | 8 | 67 | |
| 68 | 165 | WGM | @Sanyura | Aleksandra Maltsevskaya | 2625 | 7 | 54 |
(Full final standings here.)
Nakamura won the $1,000 prize for first place, locking in $1,350 total—not bad for a day off. Caruana won $750 in second place. Shankland's massive tiebreak score gave him third place and $350. Rounding out the top five, Naroditsky won $200, and GM Denis Lazavik claimed $100. WGM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya won the $100 women's prize with seven points.
Titled Cup Standings
Not only does Nakamura still lead the standings, but his position is nearly untouchable already.
GM Aleksandra Goryachkina still leads the women, with IM Karina Ambartsumova within 4.5 points and GM Alexandra Kosteniuk 18.5 points behind, but also having only played 17 tournaments so far out of the 20 that count for the standings. Also, IM Meri Arabdize jumped into fifth place this week.
Lazavik is way ahead on the junior leaderboard by 27 points, and GM Gata Kamsky leads the seniors by 13. WCM Veronika Shubenkova leads the girls by 21.5 points, but should others, like WFM Megan Althea Paragua, start to play more Titled Tuesdays, they could catch up with her.
Open
| # | Username | Score | Player |
| 1 | @Hikaru | 189.0 | GM Hikaru Nakamura |
| 2 | @Polish_fighter3000 | 180.5 | GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda |
| 3 | @mishanick | 176.0 | GM Alexey Sarana |
| 4 | @Jospem | 174.5 | GM Jose Martinez |
| 5 | @FairChess_on_YouTube | 171.5 | GM Dmitry Andreikin |
Women
| # | Username | Score | Player |
| 1 | @Goryachkina | 133.0 | GM Aleksandra Goryachkina |
| 1 | @karinachess1 | 128.5 | IM Karina Ambartsumova |
| 3 | @ChessQueen | 114.5 | GM Alexandra Kosteniuk |
| 4 | @Sanyura | 104.0 | IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya |
| 5 | @Meri-Arabidze | 101.5 | IM Meri Arabidze |
Other Category Leaders
Juniors: GM Denis Lazavik (152.0 points)
Seniors: GM Gata Kamsky (160.5 points)
Girls: WCM Veronika Shubenkova (82.0 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.
