Firouzja Edges Out Aronian In Early Titled Tuesday
GM Alireza Firouzja beat out GM Levon Aronian on tiebreaks in the early Titled Tuesday on August 15, before GM Aram Hakobyan won the late event with the first 10/11 score in two weeks. For both Firouzja and Hakobyan, it was their second Titled Tuesday title of the year.
Early Tournament
Firouzja and Aronian made a draw in the seventh round, resulting in a three-way tie for first. After the eighth round saw GM Nihal Sarin beat Firouzja and Aronian make another draw, GM Oleksandr Bortnyk took over first place.
Firouzja kept plugging away, however, and won his last three games. They came against Hakobyan, Bortnyk, and GM Jose Martinez. Firouzja needed all of them to pick up the tournament win, but the victory over Bortnyk was key as he took a lead in points over the previous leader.
Entering the final round, there was a six-way tie for first place. While GMs Vladimir Fedoseev and Matthias Bluebaum made a draw, Aronian had Black against Nihal. Aronian joined Firouzja on 9.5 points by doing what Firouzja could not and defeating Nihal.
However, Firouzja's tiebreaks were significantly better than Aronian's, allowing him to win the tournament.
Firouzja, Nihal, and Aronian could all face each other again in the upcoming 2023 Speed Chess Championship Presented By Coinbase.
August 15 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
| 1 | 7 | GM | @Firouzja2003 | Alireza Firouzja | 3121 | 9.5 | 80.5 | |
| 2 | 15 | GM | @LevonAronian | Levon Aronian | 3074 | 9.5 | 73 | |
| 3 | 6 | GM | @Bigfish1995 | Vladimir Fedoseev | 3118 | 9 | 77 | |
| 4 | 22 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 3029 | 9 | 77 | |
| 5 | 19 | GM | @GOGIEFF | Anton Korobov | 3031 | 9 | 71 | |
| 6 | 27 | GM | @RaunakSadhwani2005 | Raunak Sadhwani | 3012 | 9 | 70.5 | |
| 7 | 13 | GM | @Polish_fighter3000 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 3049 | 9 | 67 | |
| 8 | 29 | GM | @BillieKimbah | Maxim Matlakov | 3001 | 9 | 65 | |
| 9 | 3 | GM | @nihalsarin | Nihal Sarin | 3146 | 8.5 | 75.5 | |
| 10 | 28 | GM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 2996 | 8.5 | 73 | |
| 11 | 21 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3017 | 8.5 | 71.5 | |
| 12 | 42 | GM | @igorkovalenko | Igor Kovalenko | 2951 | 8.5 | 71.5 | |
| 13 | 8 | GM | @mishanick | Aleksei Sarana | 3082 | 8.5 | 71 | |
| 14 | 12 | GM | @Grischuk | Alexander Grischuk | 3045 | 8.5 | 66 | |
| 15 | 20 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3011 | 8.5 | 62.5 | |
| 16 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3237 | 8.5 | 60 | |
| 17 | 9 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3086 | 8 | 76.5 | |
| 18 | 45 | GM | @ContrVersia | Valery Kazakouski | 2923 | 8 | 75 | |
| 19 | 64 | GM | @Rikikits | Maxime Lagarde | 2889 | 8 | 72.5 | |
| 20 | 180 | IM | @CheckThis4 | Richard Pert | 2671 | 8 | 71 | |
| 48 | 92 | GM | @ChessQueen | Alexandra Kosteniuk | 2754 | 7.5 | 59 |
(Full final standings here.)
Firouzja won $1,000 for his efforts while Aronian earned $750. Fedoseev and Bluebaum ended up in third and fourth place for $350 and $200, respectively. The $100 fifth-place prize went to GM Anton Korobov and the $100 women's prize to GM Alexandra Kosteniuk.
Late Tournament
GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda was the star of the show for much of the late tournament, starting on a perfect 9/9. In rounds five through seven, he defeated Hakobyan, Firouzja, and GM Hikaru Nakamura in succession. It is not often you one can beat both Titled Tuesday winners and the all-time Titled Tuesday wins leader all in a row.
Unfortunately for Duda, he couldn't quite sustain the momentum for 11 rounds. His ride ended in round 10 at the hands of GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who recently swept both Titled Tuesdays in a week.
That allowed Hakobyan to catch up with Duda entering the final round. But while Duda made a 48-move draw with GM Bogdan Daniel Deac, Hakobyan won on time against GM Alexander Grischuk to take the outright tournament victory.
Duda remained in second place on tiebreaks over Vachier-Lagrave, who placed third.
August 15 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
| 1 | 24 | GM | @Njal28 | Aram Hakobyan | 3018 | 10 | 62 | |
| 2 | 9 | GM | @Polish_fighter3000 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 3084 | 9.5 | 78 | |
| 3 | 4 | GM | @LyonBeast | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 3137 | 9.5 | 78 | |
| 4 | 19 | GM | @BogdanDeac | Bogdan Daniel Deac | 3015 | 9 | 65.5 | |
| 5 | 45 | GM | @vladislavkovalev | Vladislav Kovalev | 2899 | 9 | 64.5 | |
| 6 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3214 | 8.5 | 74.5 | |
| 7 | 17 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3012 | 8.5 | 74 | |
| 8 | 13 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 3034 | 8.5 | 68.5 | |
| 9 | 21 | GM | @sergoy | Sergey Drygalov | 2983 | 8.5 | 66.5 | |
| 10 | 23 | GM | @sergiochess83 | Sergey Grigoriants | 2979 | 8.5 | 63 | |
| 11 | 20 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 2991 | 8.5 | 61 | |
| 12 | 42 | GM | @dretch | Conrad Holt | 2925 | 8 | 74 | |
| 13 | 39 | GM | @jcibarra | José Carlos Ibarra Jerez | 2901 | 8 | 69.5 | |
| 14 | 30 | GM | @VincentKeymer | Vincent Keymer | 2952 | 8 | 69.5 | |
| 15 | 99 | IM | @MiFerz44 | Viacheslav Mikhailov | 2753 | 8 | 67.5 | |
| 16 | 11 | GM | @Grischuk | Alexander Grischuk | 3037 | 8 | 66.5 | |
| 17 | 27 | GM | @Elsa167 | Leon Livaic | 2918 | 8 | 62 | |
| 18 | 15 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3002 | 8 | 61 | |
| 19 | 96 | IM | @IgorBjelobrk | Igor Bjelobrk | 2712 | 8 | 57.5 | |
| 20 | 36 | GM | @Zkid | Steven Zierk | 2871 | 8 | 56.5 | |
| 42 | 95 | WGM | @meoluoi91 | Hoang Thi Bao Tram | 2691 | 7 | 61 |
(Full final standings here.)
On the podium, Hakobyan won $1,000, Duda $750, and Vachier-Lagrave $350. Deac finished in fourth place for $200, GM Vladislav Kovalev fifth place for $100, and WGM Hoang Thi Bao Tram won $100 as the field's highest-scoring woman.
Titled Tuesday is Chess.com's weekly event for titled players that has run since 2014. It consists of two 11-round Swiss tournaments, the first starting at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Standard Time, while the second begins 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.
