Nihal, Lazavik Take Titled Tuesday Over Carlsen, Nakamura
Teenage GMs Nihal Sarin and Denis Lazavik won the Titled Tuesday events of June 18. Both outlasted giants, with the second places going to GMs Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, respectively. Nihal won outright early with an undefeated performance, while Lazavik won on tiebreaks despite losing his head-to-head matchup with Nakamura.
Early Tournament
Nihal and GM Shant Sargsyan had the last perfect scores in the early field of 767 players before playing to a draw in the eighth round. At that point, they were joined at the top of the leaderboard by GM Fabiano Caruana, but the next round was where Nihal began differentiating his position from the rest of the field.
In that round, the ninth, while GM Anish Giri—who had lost to Nihal in round seven—was defeating Sargsyan, Nihal was winning against Caruana.
Now armed with the outright lead, Nihal never looked back. He sustained his lead by beating GM Matthias Bluebaum in round 10, and no one was in range to catch up after Nihal's last-round draw with GM Dmitrij Kollars, either.
The tournament instead became a fight for second place where, after starting with a score of just 4.5/6, Carlsen took the spot by completing a five-game winning streak against Giri. Giri was barely holding on with White but Carlsen's constant pressure eventually led to forced checkmate.
Giri, who was clearly in the thick of it throughout the tournament, did enough to manage fifth place, but Kollars and Sargsyan finished ahead of him.
Finished in prizes again with 9 out of 11, despite one major mouseslip (not a bug???) and one "untouchable" opponent.😅
— Anish Giri (@anishgiri) June 18, 2024
Titled Tuesdays going well!
Watch back the stream on my YT channel.
June 18 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
| 1 | 2 | GM | @nihalsarin | Nihal Sarin | 3201 | 10 | 82 | |
| 2 | 1 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3187 | 9.5 | 73 | |
| 3 | 18 | GM | @GM_dmitrij | Dmitrij Kollars | 3056 | 9.5 | 67.5 | |
| 4 | 40 | GM | @Sargsyan_Shant | Shant Sargsyan | 3004 | 9 | 81 | |
| 5 | 13 | GM | @AnishOnYoutube | Anish Giri | 3082 | 9 | 74.5 | |
| 6 | 16 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 3070 | 9 | 74 | |
| 7 | 9 | GM | @Polish_fighter3000 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 3082 | 9 | 70.5 | |
| 8 | 44 | GM | @kleinebeer98 | Thomas Beerdsen | 2978 | 9 | 69 | |
| 9 | 58 | GM | @DominguezOnYoutube | Leinier Dominguez Perez | 2931 | 9 | 67 | |
| 10 | 28 | GM | @rasmussvane | Rasmus Svane | 2985 | 9 | 66 | |
| 11 | 14 | GM | @Javokhir_Sindarov05 | Javokhir Sindarov | 3063 | 9 | 65 | |
| 12 | 61 | GM | @Vaathi_Coming | Aravindh Chithambaram | 2921 | 8.5 | 75 | |
| 13 | 43 | IM | @PLAYER_2006_M | Mukhiddin Madaminov | 2971 | 8.5 | 72.5 | |
| 14 | 26 | GM | @TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 3003 | 8.5 | 71.5 | |
| 15 | 11 | IM | @Rud_Makarian | Rudik Makarian | 3064 | 8.5 | 69 | |
| 16 | 7 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 3087 | 8.5 | 68 | |
| 17 | 111 | GM | @TheBigBoss04 | Jose Gabriel Cardoso | 2844 | 8.5 | 63 | |
| 18 | 73 | GM | @XDPS | Pablo Salinas Herrera | 2891 | 8.5 | 62.5 | |
| 19 | 101 | IM | @blitzking1729 | Srihari L R | 2844 | 8.5 | 61.5 | |
| 20 | 3 | GM | @HansOnTwitch | Hans Niemann | 3134 | 8 | 76 | |
| 58 | 245 | WGM | @Mikozovna | Meruert Kamalidenova | 2652 | 7.5 | 59.5 |
(Full final standings here.)
Nihal won $1,000 for the victory. Carlsen earned $750 while Kollars settled for third place and $350. Sargsyan won $200 and Giri $100, leaving five other players on nine points just outside the money. WGM Meruert Kamalidenova scored 7.5 points and won the $100 women's prize.
Late Tournament
The late tournament saw 585 players join. As in the early tournament, two of them, including the eventual tournament winner, ended each other's perfect 7/7 start with a draw in round eight. This time, those players were Lazavik and GM Alexey Sarana, but there were a couple of ensuing differences from the early event: No one joined them at the top of the standings, and they both won in the ninth round.
As Sarana dealt the last major blow to Nihal's bid at a sweep, Lazavik won against GM Hans Niemann in a rook ending.
But now Lazavik had to face Nakamura. Lazavik won a mini-match against Nakamura earlier this year, but the game here was comparatively uncompetitive. Lazavik either sacrificed or lost a pawn early, and proceedings ended before move 30.
Because Nakamura had two extra draws entering the game, his win only led to a tie entering the final round. Lazavik responded to the loss admirably, recovering to beat FM Konstantin Popov in the last game—though it took another rook endgame, this one 93 moves, to do it.
Nakamura's final-round win against a tougher opponent, GM Tuan Minh Le, wasn't quite enough as he fell one point shy in the tiebreak. Meanwhile, only three of the seven players on nine points could make the top five, which was rounded out by GM Oleksandr Bortnyk, Sarana, and Le, in that order.
June 18 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
| 1 | 11 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 3126 | 9.5 | 76.5 | |
| 2 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3300 | 9.5 | 75.5 | |
| 3 | 19 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3061 | 9 | 75 | |
| 4 | 5 | GM | @mishanick | Alexey Sarana | 3153 | 9 | 73.5 | |
| 5 | 23 | GM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3059 | 9 | 70.5 | |
| 6 | 29 | GM | @TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 3025 | 9 | 67.5 | |
| 7 | 35 | GM | @dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 2991 | 9 | 67.5 | |
| 8 | 36 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 2988 | 9 | 63.5 | |
| 9 | 25 | GM | @OparinGrigoriy | Grigoriy Oparin | 3042 | 9 | 63 | |
| 10 | 3 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3180 | 8.5 | 70.5 | |
| 11 | 48 | FM | @Bauman_Guy | Konstantin Popov | 2946 | 8.5 | 68.5 | |
| 12 | 15 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 3080 | 8.5 | 68 | |
| 13 | 4 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3109 | 8.5 | 65.5 | |
| 14 | 68 | GM | @K_A_S_T_O_R | Rodrigo Vasquez | 2869 | 8.5 | 64.5 | |
| 15 | 10 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3091 | 8.5 | 61.5 | |
| 16 | 69 | GM | @KaydenTroffChess | Kayden Troff | 2833 | 8.5 | 58 | |
| 17 | 21 | GM | @SpeedofLight0 | Andrew Hong | 3054 | 8.5 | 53 | |
| 18 | 13 | GM | @Polish_fighter3000 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 3080 | 8 | 73.5 | |
| 19 | 7 | GM | @Grischuk | Alexander Grischuk | 3113 | 8 | 73 | |
| 20 | 9 | GM | @Duhless | Daniil Dubov | 3096 | 8 | 71.5 | |
| 60 | 147 | IM | @Meri-Arabidze | Meri Arabidze | 2688 | 7 | 62 |
(Full final standings here.)
Lazavik thus earned the $1,000 first-place prize while Nakamura settled for $750 for second. Bortnyk won $350, Sarana $200, and Le $100 in the top five, while IM Meri Arabidze won the $100 women's prize with seven points out of the 11.
Titled Cup Standings
A modified version of next week's standings—it only includes each player's top 10 performances, instead of the top 20 as in the overall—will determine six spots in the upcoming Speed Chess Championship (SCC). With one week left to go, the top 15 there looks like this:
| # | Username | Score | Player |
| 1 | @Hikaru | 102.0 | GM Hikaru Nakamura |
| 2 | @Polish_fighter3000 | 95.5 | GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda |
| 3 | @mishanick | 95.0 | GM Alexey Sarana |
| 4 | @wonderfultime | 94.5 | GM Tuan Minh Le |
| 5 | @Jospem | 93.5 | GM Jose Martinez |
| 6 | @Grischuk | 92.5 | GM Alexander Grischuk |
| 7 | @MagnusCarlsen | 92.5 | GM Magnus Carlsen |
| 8 | @Firouzja2003 | 92.0 | GM Alireza Firouzja |
| 9 | @jefferyx | 92.0 | GM Jeffery Xiong |
| 10 | @FairChess_on_YouTube | 91.5 | GM Dmitry Andreikin |
| 11 | @DenLaz | 91.5 | GM Denis Lazavik |
| 12 | @HansOnTwitch | 91.0 | GM Hans Niemann |
| 13 | @SpeedofLight0 | 91.0 | GM Andrew Hong |
| 14 | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | 91.0 | GM Olexandr Bortnyk |
| 15 | @ChristopherYoo | 90.5 | GM Christopher Yoo |
Three of these players (Nakamura, Carlsen, and Firouzja) already have invitational spots, but we can certainly expect some heavy participation and action in next week's Titled Tuesday as everyone else fights for their spot in the SCC!
In the yearlong standings, there's no change in the open or women's top five, or the top spot among juniors, seniors, and girls. One note is that the women's standings are getting very close, with only eight points separating leader GM Alexandra Kosteniuk and fifth place.
Open
| # | Username | Score | Player |
| 1 | @Hikaru | 197.5 | GM Hikaru Nakamura |
| 2 | @Polish_fighter3000 | 185.0 | GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda |
| 3 | @mishanick | 184.0 | GM Alexey Sarana |
| 4 | @Jospem | 180.5 | GM Jose Martinez |
| 5 | @FairChess_on_YouTube | 179.0 | GM Dmitry Andreikin |
Women
| # | Username | Score | Player |
| 1 | @ChessQueen | 139.5 | GM Alexandra Kosteniuk |
| 2 | @Goryachkina | 137.5 | GM Aleksandra Goryachkina |
| 3 | @Meri-Arabidze | 135.5 | IM Meri Arabidze |
| 4 | @karinachess1 | 133.5 | IM Karina Ambartsumova |
| 5 | @Flawless_Fighter | 131.5 | IM Polina Shuvalova |
Other Category Leaders
Juniors: GM Denis Lazavik (177.5 points)
Seniors: GM Gata Kamsky (166.5 points)
Girls: WCM Veronika Shubenkova (112.5 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 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.
