Hikaru Nakamura Scores First Perfect 11/11 In Titled Tuesday
GM Hikaru Nakamura set an unbreakable Titled Tuesday record on August 17, becoming the first player to score a perfect 11/11. Nakamura won first place by 1.5 points coming on the heels of a victory in the over-the-board Saint Louis Rapid & Blitz.
GM Sergei Zhigalko came in second place with 9.5 points on the tiebreaker over GM David Paravyan. In fourth place was IM Christopher Yoo ahead of three other players scoring 9/11.
The only previous 100% score in any Titled Tuesday came back in October 2016, when GM Oleksandr Bortnyk had a 9/9 performance. Since Titled Tuesday became an 11-round format in October 2020, only one player had even scored 10.5/11 (GM Anton Korobov on June 22, 2021).
572 titled players played this week, the third straight with an increase in the size of the field. The tournament was the typical 11-round Swiss with a 3+1 time control.
Live broadcast of the tournament, hosted this week by GM Roeland Pruijssers.
Players leading in the last rounds often protect their standing with drawish games, but Nakamura was able to go for perfection without risking the tournament since he was already up 1.5 points entering round 11. Six of his wins came against top-11 finishers.
And yet, Nakamura's perfect run almost ended before it began. In the very first round, FM Sergei Ljukin gave his super-GM opponent all he could handle before Ljukin's rook got trapped in the endgame.
The last game of his run, however, was "about as smooth as they come," as Nakamura himself put it after defeating GM Alexey Sarana.
With Nakamura winning all his games, the only drama in terms of the standings was for second place. Of five players on 8.5 points entering the last round, two won: Zhigalko over GM Dennis Wagner and Paravyan against GM Alex Shimanov. Zhigalko had the tiebreak advantage and won his game using a common checkmating pattern everyone should know.
The star of the day was Nakamura, of course. Now that the 11/11 milestone has been achieved, when (if ever) will we see it again?
All Nakamura Games
August 17 Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3220 | 11 | 83 | |
| 2 | 23 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 2909 | 9.5 | 61.75 | |
| 3 | 49 | GM | @dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 2855 | 9.5 | 57 | |
| 4 | 9 | IM | @ChristopherYoo | Christopher Woojin Yoo | 2956 | 9 | 66 | |
| 5 | 10 | GM | @Andreikka | Andrey Esipenko | 2953 | 9 | 57 | |
| 6 | 7 | GM | @GMBenjaminBok | Benjamin Bok | 2972 | 9 | 56.5 | |
| 7 | 29 | GM | @dretch | Conrad Holt | 2896 | 9 | 48.5 | |
| 8 | 6 | GM | @mishanick | Aleksey Sarana | 2978 | 8.5 | 56 | |
| 9 | 27 | GM | @TimofeevAr | Artem Timofeev | 2880 | 8.5 | 54.25 | |
| 10 | 79 | GM | @Rodalquilar | Leonardo Tristan | 2780 | 8.5 | 54 | |
| 11 | 42 | IM | @AlexOstrovskiy | Alex Ostrovskiy | 2855 | 8.5 | 51.5 | |
| 12 | 15 | GM | @rasmussvane | Rasmus Svane | 2909 | 8.5 | 49.75 | |
| 13 | 56 | GM | @ShimanovAlex | Aleksandr Shimanov | 2806 | 8.5 | 48.5 | |
| 14 | 53 | FM | @snowlord | Ivan Yeletsky | 2804 | 8.5 | 48.25 | |
| 15 | 77 | GM | @chessdjw | Dennis Wagner | 2786 | 8.5 | 43 | |
| 16 | 203 | GM | @Rakhmanov_Aleksandr | Aleksandr Rakhmanov | 2846 | 8.5 | 42 | |
| 17 | 75 | IM | @DeTimmerman | Mark Timmermans | 2774 | 8 | 57.5 | |
| 18 | 2 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3013 | 8 | 56.5 | |
| 19 | 16 | GM | @penguingm1 | Andrew Tang | 2895 | 8 | 51 | |
| 20 | 22 | GM | @TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 2873 | 8 | 50.75 |
(Full final standings here.)
Nakamura won $750 for first place. Zhigalko earned $400 in second, Paravyan $150 in third, and Yoo $100 for fourth. The $100 prize for the top female player was won by GM Aleksandra Goryachkina on 7.5/11.
Titled Tuesday is a Swiss tournament for titled players that runs weekly on Chess.com. It starts at 10 a.m. Pacific time/19:00 Central European every Tuesday.
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.
