Nepomniachtchi Takes On Nakamura, Carlsen, Wins Titled Tuesday

NathanielGreen

Sep 11, 2024, 8:29 AM | 11 | Chess Event Coverage

GM Ian Nepomniachtchi won the early edition of Titled Tuesday on September 10 with a 9/9 start and 10/11 overall score after defeating both GMs Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, who finished second and third in the strongest Titled Tuesday podium in recent memory.

Then, in the late tournament, Carlsen and Nakamura flipped positions, but this time were outdone by GM Oleksandr Bortnyk, whose 9.5 points beat out Nakamura on tiebreaks. All three of them cashed in both events.

I did it again! Amazing feelings, thank you all for supporting me ! https://t.co/y5V6YR8rTf
— Oleksandr Bortnyk (@BortnykChess) September 11, 2024

Early Tournament (Nepomniachtchi, 10/11)
Late Tournament (Bortnyk, 9.5/11)
Titled Cup Standings

Early Tournament

Despite a technical hiccup at the outset, which resulted in a half-hour delayed start and five extra paid places in the early tournament, 712 players participated. Nepomniachtchi strongly threatened a perfect tournament until GM Nihal Sarin finally beat him in the 10th round.

Before that, however, Nepomniachtchi was unstoppable. Four players remained perfect through six rounds, and while Carlsen was beating GM Fabiano Caruana, Nepomniachtchi toppled Nakamura as Black:

With the battle of perfect sevens next, Nepomniachtchi continued his streak after a bizarre error from Carlsen. Not much more to say about that one:

Although the eventual setback to Nihal left Nepomniachtchi in a tie with Carlsen and Bortnyk entering the last round, the latter two played to a 35-move draw, and Nepomniachtchi took advantage of the opportunity by defeating GM Denis Lazavik. It was a good thing for Nepomniachtchi, too, as Carlsen had the better tiebreak score.

September 10 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number	Rk	Fed	Title	Username	Name	Rating	Score	Tiebreak 1
1	6		GM	@lachesisQ	Ian Nepomniachtchi	3181	10	79.5
2	1		GM	@MagnusCarlsen	Magnus Carlsen	3285	9.5	80.5
3	2		GM	@Hikaru	Hikaru Nakamura	3229	9.5	68
4	9		GM	@Oleksandr_Bortnyk	Oleksandr Bortnyk	3166	9.5	63.5
5	3		GM	@nihalsarin	Nihal Sarin	3159	9	80
6	27		GM	@Fandorine	Maksim Chigaev	3003	9	69.5
7	40		FM	@Eagle_2019	Mamedov Edgar	2960	9	67.5
8	33		GM	@Vaathi_Coming	Aravindh Chithambaram	2973	9	67
9	12		IM	@Rud_Makarian	Rudik Makarian	3068	9	66
10	62		IM	@the_chess_child	Ilamparthi A R	2914	9	63.5
11	38		IM	@scarabee43	Marco Materia	2988	8.5	76
12	7		GM	@NikoTheodorou	Nikolas Theodorou	3115	8.5	73.5
13	15		GM	@spicycaterpillar	Ray Robson	3072	8.5	73.5
14	28		IM	@pheonixking2000	David Gorodetzky	3001	8.5	70
15	22		FM	@rezamahdavi2008	Reza Mahdavi	3014	8.5	69.5
16	14		GM	@DenLaz	Denis Lazavik	3072	8.5	66
17	30		IM	@Zohid6	Mukhammadzokhid Suyarov	3005	8.5	65
18	21		GM	@OparinGrigoriy	Grigoriy Oparin	3049	8.5	64
19	8		GM	@FairChess_on_YouTube	Dmitry Andreikin	3103	8.5	62
20	269		GM	@Jospem	Jose Martinez	3083	8.5	60.5
53	269		WIM	@Speshka	Anna Shukhman	2662	7.5	63

(Full final standings here.)

Nepomniachtchi earned the $1,000 first-place prize while the three players below him—Carlsen, Nakamura, and Bortnyk—won $750, $350, and $200, respectively, for their second through fourth-place finishes. Due to the one-off extra prizes, several players won $100: Nihal, GM Maksim Chigaev, FM Mamedov Edgar, GM Aravindh Chithambaram, and IMs Rud Makarian and Ilamparthi AR. Conveniently, they all scored nine points before a drop-off to 8.5 points at 11th place. WIM Anna Shukhman also won $100 for the best women's score.

Late Tournament

Another 521 players joined late, with Bortnyk starting 8/8 but then earning just half a point in the next two rounds before recovering at the last second to keep first place.

Like Nepomniachtchi hours earlier, Bortnyk got his eighth win against Carlsen—and he didn't need a blunder to do it.

Unlike Nepomniachtchi, however, Bortnyk wasn't able to beat both Carlsen and Nakamura nor did he extend his streak to nine games. Nakamura's 51.Nh8, bringing the knight temporarily into the corner, induced the losing move.

After a draw against GM David Paravyan in the 10th round, Bortnyk brought his tournament back on track just in time, surviving a difficult middlegame against GM Andrew Hong to eventually turn the tables and get the W.

Nakamura also won in the final round, against GM Jose Martinez, to secure second, but his fifth-round loss to GM Grigoriy Oparin was too much for first.

September 10 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number	Rk	Fed	Title	Username	Name	Rating	Score	Tiebreak 1
1	4		GM	@Oleksandr_Bortnyk	Oleksandr Bortnyk	3166	9.5	76.5
2	2		GM	@Hikaru	Hikaru Nakamura	3229	9.5	73.5
3	1		GM	@MagnusCarlsen	Magnus Carlsen	3285	9	77.5
4	17		GM	@OparinGrigoriy	Grigoriy Oparin	3049	9	71
5	19		GM	@dropstoneDP	David Paravyan	3042	9	71
6	5		GM	@FairChess_on_YouTube	Dmitry Andreikin	3103	9	65.5
7	49		FM	@GoltsevDmitry2000	Goltsev Dmitry	2904	9	62.5
8	22		GM	@Annawel	Jules Moussard	3006	9	55
9	11		GM	@Jospem	Jose Martinez	3083	8.5	79
10	9		GM	@DenLaz	Denis Lazavik	3072	8.5	72
11	38		GM	@TigrVShlyape	Gata Kamsky	2914	8.5	66.5
12	90		NM	@Abund	Qingyu Yuan	2814	8.5	63.5
13	94		GM	@Gabrielian_Artur	Artur Gabrielian	2801	8	75.5
14	24		GM	@DanielNaroditsky	Daniel Naroditsky	2992	8	74
15	27		GM	@Shankland	Sam Shankland	2962	8	71
16	6		GM	@SpeedofLight0	Andrew Hong	3106	8	71
17	28		GM	@jcibarra	José Carlos Ibarra Jerez	2959	8	70.5
18	29		FM	@artin10862	Artin Ashraf	2974	8	70.5
19	42		GM	@GMKrikor	Krikor Sevag Mekhitarian	2900	8	69
20	67		GM	@Zhigalko_Sergei	Sergei Zhigalko	2876	8	69
68	138		GM	@Goryachkina	Aleksandra Goryachkina	2658	7	51.5

(Full final standings here.)

Bortnyk added $1,000 to his final total for the day of $1,200. Nakamura's $750 for second and Carlsen's $350 for third in the late tournament gave both $1,100 on the day. Oparin and Paravyan rounded out the top five for $200 and $100, respectively. GM Aleksandra Goryachkina won the $100 women's prize in the late tournament for the second straight week.

Titled Cup Standings

There were no changes to the top five in either the open or women's standings, just Carlsen and Goryachkina gaining half a point. Goryachkina now has a full-point lead in the women's standings, but there's probably not enough time left in the year for Carlsen to challenge Nakamura in the open.

Open

#	Username	Score	Player
1	@Hikaru	198.5	GM Hikaru Nakamura
2	@MagnusCarlsen	191.0	GM Magnus Carlsen
3-t	@Jospem	186.0	GM Jose Martinez
3-t	@mishanick	186.0	GM Alexey Sarana
5	@Polish_fighter3000	185.5	GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda

Women

#	Username	Score	Player
1	@Goryachkina	142.0	GM Aleksandra Goryachkina
2-t	@Flawless_Fighter	141.0	IM Polina Shuvalova
2-t	@ChessQueen	141.0	GM Alexandra Kosteniuk
4	@Meri-Arabidze	138.0	IM Meri Arabidze
5	@Sanyura	136.0	IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya

Other Category Leaders

Juniors: GM Denis Lazavik (182.5 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

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.