"Cancun Carlsen" Comes Just Short Vs. First-Time Titled Tuesday Winner; Xiong Wins Late

NathanielGreen

Updated: Oct 23, 2024, 8:33 AM | 31 | Chess Event Coverage

GMs Nikolas Theodorou and Jeffery Xiong took home the Titled Tuesday tournaments of October 22, both scoring 9.5 points. It was Theodoru's first win in Titled Tuesday and Xiong's 14th since October 2020, and Xiong's third of 2024. Tiebreaks were good for each winner: Theodoru emerged from a four-way tie that included GM Magnus Carlsen playing from Cancun, Mexico, during a Chess.com meeting, and Xiong outlasted IM Renato Terry.

he's in first place too 🥶 @MagnusCarlsen pic.twitter.com/uMejqo3tjG
— Chess.com (@chesscom) October 22, 2024

Early Tournament (Theodoru, 9.5/11)
Late Tournament (Xiong, 9.5/11)
Titled Cup Standings

Early Tournament

There were 723 participants in the early tournament, and four of them would end up on 9.5 points: Carlsen, GM Denis Lazavik, and GM Levon Aronian.

The shape of the tournament was as messy as the final result. GM Kayden Troff, who delivered Carlsen's only loss of the tournament in round six, started 7/7 to become the last perfect player. But he would then only score half a point the rest of the way, stopped by Lazavik in round nine and Theodorou in round 10, and finished 41st. Lazavik's win put him in sole first at 8.5/9 points.

Unfortunately for Lazavik, his opponents in the last two rounds were Carlsen and GM Hikaru Nakamura. Lazavik held his own, drawing both games, and even retained sole first after round 10, but it wasn't enough.

The biggest beneficiary was Theodorou, of course, who won his last four games, including a mad time scramble in the final round. The computer finds the final position equal—if White finds Ne8+—but Theodorou took two fewer seconds to get to that position after Black took his last four seconds trying to stay alive.

Carlsen climbed into second place by defeating GM Jose Martinez in the final round. Carlsen also won on time but in a somewhat different situation. He was down a pawn in the final position... in exchange for a knight, rook, and two queens.

October 22 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number	Rk	Fed	Title	Username	Name	Rating	Score	Tiebreak 1
1	4		GM	@NikoTheodorou	Nikolas Theodorou	3169	9.5	79
2	1		GM	@MagnusCarlsen	Magnus Carlsen	3293	9.5	75
3	8		GM	@DenLaz	Denis Lazavik	3145	9.5	72.5
4	20		GM	@LevonAronian	Levon Aronian	3076	9.5	67
5	35		FM	@rezamahdavi2008	Reza Mahdavi	2976	9	73.5
6	2		GM	@Hikaru	Hikaru Nakamura	3256	9	70.5
7	54		FM	@Bauman_Guy	Konstantin Popov	2919	9	68.5
8	68		IM	@Kosak12	Jakub Kosakowski	2910	9	68
9	6		GM	@artooon	Pranesh M	3128	9	60.5
10	51		GM	@Anton_Demchenko	Anton Demchenko	2938	9	55.5
11	5		GM	@lachesisQ	Ian Nepomniachtchi	3128	8.5	76
12	40		GM	@Sychev_on_YouTube	Klementy Sychev	2962	8.5	73.5
13	62		GM	@Alexander_Donchenko	Alexander Donchenko	2941	8.5	73
14	46		IM	@Rud_Makarian	Rudik Makarian	2952	8.5	72.5
15	9		GM	@wonderfultime	Tuan Minh Le	3113	8.5	72
16	32		GM	@DanielNaroditsky	Daniel Naroditsky	2984	8.5	72
17	30		GM	@AryanTari	Aryan Tari	2975	8.5	71.5
18	18		GM	@Jospem	Jose Martinez	3060	8.5	71.5
19	28		GM	@Zhalmakhanov_Ramazan	Ramazan Zhalmakhanov	3013	8.5	70
20	119		FM	@hakanazeri2	Khagan Ahmad	2829	8.5	68.5
57	151		GM	@ChessQueen	Alexandra Kosteniuk	2749	7.5	60.5

(Full final standings here.)

Theodorou won $1,000 for his victory, with Carlsen earning $750. Lazavik won $350 and Aronian $200 in third and fourth place. The $100 prizes went to FM Reza Mahdavi in fifth place and GM Alexandra Kosteniuk with the highest women's score.

Late Tournament

Neither Xiong nor Terry lost a game in the late tournament, which was joined by 526 players. Five total players started on 8/9, but only those two won their 10th-round game. Xiong did it against IM Alexander Khlebovich...

...and Terry toppled Jose Martinez. One mistake by Martinez and Terry was off to the races.

Now, the only two co-leaders, Xiong and Terry, kept that status through the last round. Matched for the final game, they went for the Berlin Draw. The mutual decision paid off when the only players who could catch them, GMs Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Oleksandr Bortnyk, also made a draw—theirs in 81 moves and not ending until lone kings.

October 22 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number	Rk	Fed	Title	Username	Name	Rating	Score	Tiebreak 1
1	14		GM	@jefferyx	Jeffery Xiong	3072	9.5	76
2	21		IM	@MITerryble	Renato Terry	3011	9.5	70.5
3	69		FM	@Legit	Krzysztof Raczek	2869	9	74.5
4	10		GM	@Polish_fighter3000	Jan-Krzysztof Duda	3072	9	69
5	73		GM	@WoodlandMagic	Gleb Dudin	2853	9	68
6	4		GM	@Oleksandr_Bortnyk	Oleksandr Bortnyk	3096	9	66.5
7	65		IM	@Alexander_Khlebovich	Alexander Khlebovich	2886	9	64.5
8	22		GM	@jcibarra	José Carlos Ibarra Jerez	2981	9	62
9	16		GM	@dropstoneDP	David Paravyan	3018	8.5	74
10	127		GM	@JanistanTV	Jan Gustafsson	2759	8.5	71
11	37		GM	@Zhigalko_Sergei	Sergei Zhigalko	2916	8.5	68
12	225		FM	@SalihEke	Salih Eke	2643	8.5	63
13	56		GM	@Igor_Lysyj	Igor Lysyj	2861	8.5	63
14	38		GM	@TigrVShlyape	Gata Kamsky	2912	8.5	52.5
15	3		GM	@lachesisQ	Ian Nepomniachtchi	3113	8	72.5
16	61		IM	@HamedWafa4	Hamed Wafa	2875	8	71
17	5		GM	@Msb2	Matthias Bluebaum	3060	8	70.5
18	49		GM	@K_A_S_T_O_R	Rodrigo Vasquez	2891	8	70
19	9		GM	@Jospem	Jose Martinez	3061	8	69
20	30		GM	@Alexander_Donchenko	Alexander Donchenko	2927	8	65
75	181		IM	@karinachess1	Karina Ambartsumova	2616	6.5	54

(Full final standings here.)

Xiong won $1,000 for first place, and Terry $750 for second. FM Krzysztof Raczek, Duda, and GM Gleb Dudin rounded out the top five to earn $350, $200, and $100, respectively. IM Karina Ambartsumova won the $100 for the women's highest score.

Titled Cup Standings

Open

#	Username	Score	Player
1	@Hikaru	198.5	GM Hikaru Nakamura
2	@MagnusCarlsen	193.5	GM Magnus Carlsen
3-t	@Jospem	187.0	GM Jose Martinez
3-t	@jefferyx	187.0	GM Jeffery Xiong
5-t	@mishanick	186.5	GM Alexey Sarana
5-t	@jefferyx	186.5	GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda

Women

#	Username	Score	Player
1	@Goryachkina	143.5	GM Aleksandra Goryachkina
2-t	@Flawless_Fighter	142.0	IM Polina Shuvalova
2-t	@ChessQueen	142.0	GM Alexandra Kosteniuk
4-t	@Meri-Arabidze	138.5	IM Meri Arabidze
4-t	@annasargsyan_m	138.5	IM Anna M. Sargsyan

Other Category Leaders

Juniors: GM Denis Lazavik (185.0 points)

Seniors: GM Gata Kamsky (171.0 points)

Girls: WCM Veronika Shubenkova (121.5 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

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.