Ibarra Jerez, Oparin Triumph In Titled Tuesday
Two Titled Tuesday regulars, GMs Jose Ibarra Jerez and Grigoriy Oparin, employed experienced and steady play to reach 8.5/10 surmount a field of 189 players in September's monthly tournament.
It was Ibarra Jerez who had the hot start, racking up six points, before conceding three draws in his final four games and coasting to victory. This is Ibarra Jerez's fifth Titled Tuesday victory, making him one of the winningest players in Titled Tuesday history.
One of his nicest wins was this relentless assault and eventual crashing through with a sacrifice.
Ibarra Jerez's first Titled Tuesday victory was way back in Titled Tuesday 6!
The young Russian talent, Oparian, drew two of his first four games, but then strung together five wins in a row. For both players, their final draw was against each other as each seemed happy to have secured a shared first.
Particularly impressive was the win where Oparin demonstrated that famous Russian school boy endgame technique, easily reaching the Philidor position in a queen vs rook endgame.
Premium users can test their knowledge of the endgame here.
Oparin is one many promising Russian juniors aspiring to cross that 2700 barrier.
One of the most interesting final-round wins was from Portugese streaming favorite, GM Krikor Mekhitarian, who sacrificed a piece in an opposite-side castling position in the Sicilian Defense. The appealing sacrifice sharpened the play, producing multiple errors from both players, but when Black allowed constriction with g6!, White secured a quick mate.
The Speed Chess Championship qualifier GM Gadir Guseinov drew the short straw and plays Magnus Carlsen on October 5. He had an interesting finish in a time scramble as first his opponent missed a mating net and then Guseinov found one.
Final Standings | MasterClass Titled Tuesday Blitz, September 2017
| Place | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Score |
| 1 | 20 | GM | jcibarra | José Carlos Ibarra Jerez | 8.5 | |
| 2 | 37 | GM | OparinGrigoriy | Grigoriy Oparin | 8.5 | |
| 3 | 4 | GM | sergiochess83 | Sergey Grigoriants | 8 | |
| 4 | 44 | GM | GrigorGrigorov | Grigor Grigorov | 8 | |
| 5 | 48 | IM | JaimeSantosLatasa | Jaime Santos Latasa | 8 | |
| 6 | 153 | NM | TrickyTrapChess | Leo Creger | 7.5 | |
| 7 | 1 | GM | Sebastian | Leinier Dominguez Perez | 7.5 | |
| 8 | 57 | GM | yurisolo | Yuri Solodovnichenko | 7.5 | |
| 9 | 17 | GM | Noukii | Yannick Gozzoli | 7.5 | |
| 10 | 47 | GM | Trade09 | Krikor Sevag Mekhitarian | 7.5 | |
| 11 | 13 | GM | Djeser | Cristóbal Henríquez | 7.5 | |
| 12 | 89 | FM | popov_m | Михаил Попов | 7 | |
| 13 | 78 | FM | johnathan113 | 7 | ||
| 14 | 41 | FM | MatthewG-p4p | Matvey Galchenko | 7 | |
| 15 | 161 | NM | ditkin25 | David Itkin | 7 | |
| 16 | 39 | GM | ChessQueen | Alexandra Kosteniuk | 7 | |
| 17 | 88 | IM | kleinebeer98 | Thomas Beerdsen | 7 | |
| 18 | 60 | FM | Witik | 7 |
Find the full Titled Tuesday results and crosstable here.
Commentary on the complete event was provided by the beard that grew a face, IM Aman Hambleton. Watch it all on Twitch.tv/chess!
Watch live video from Chess on www.twitch.tv
Ibarra Jerez and Oparin each receive $450 for their shared first place, while three players who shared third, GMs Sergey Grigoriants, Grigor Grigorov, and IM Jaime Santos Latasa, each earned $133.33.
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