Another Great Tuesday For Streamers
For the second time in three weeks, GMs Oleksandr Bortnyk and Hikaru Nakamura each won an event on Titled Tuesday. In second place this week were GMs Eric Hansen and Daniel Naroditsky, making it a good day for streaming stars.
Early Tournament
From the field of 381, early on it looked like last week's winner on 10.5 points, GM Dmitry Andreikin, might score another big success. He was the last perfect player after reaching 6/6.
Round seven was key, however. Not only did Andreikin lose his game to GM Salem Saleh, but the eventual first- and second-place finishers met. Bortnyk's victory over Hansen eventually took him all the way in the tournament.
Entering round eight, the top matchup was Saleh vs. IM Tuan Minh Le in round eight, and now Minh Le took the sole lead with 7.5/8. However, he too met Bortnyk's wrath in the next round.
Bortnyk defeated GM Jose Martinez in round ten to finally take the sole lead in the tournament. He fell back into a tie after drawing Nakamura in the final round.
It was Hansen who joined Bortnyk in the final round, checkmating Martinez. Both Bortnyk and Hansen now had 9.5/11 scores, but slightly better tiebreaks gave Bortnyk the victory.
The only player not to lose a game in the early tournament was actually Nakamura, but his four draws resulted in a third-place finish.
August 16 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 6 | GM | Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3060 | 9.5 | 66.5 | |
| 2 | 16 | GM | erichansen | Eric Hansen | 2965 | 9.5 | 65 | |
| 3 | 1 | GM | Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3209 | 9 | 57 | |
| 4 | 33 | GM | Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 2858 | 8.5 | 53.75 | |
| 5 | 3 | GM | mishanick | Alexey Sarana | 3066 | 8.5 | 51.25 | |
| 6 | 25 | GM | TimofeevAr | Artem Timofeev | 2887 | 8.5 | 51 | |
| 6 | 14 | IM | wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 2962 | 8.5 | 51 | |
| 8 | 21 | IM | KhazarBabazada007 | Khazar Babazada | 2889 | 8.5 | 50.25 | |
| 9 | 2 | GM | FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3133 | 8.5 | 49.5 | |
| 10 | 24 | FM | snowlord | Ivan Yeletsky | 2887 | 8.5 | 48.75 | |
| 11 | 28 | GM | ActorXu | Xu Yi | 2860 | 8.5 | 47 | |
| 12 | 63 | GM | chessdjw | Dennis Wagner | 2757 | 8 | 46.25 | |
| 13 | 8 | GM | Jospem | Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara | 2964 | 8 | 45.25 | |
| 14 | 13 | GM | TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 2924 | 8 | 44.25 | |
| 15 | 11 | IM | DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 2949 | 8 | 43.5 | |
| 16 | 58 | GM | KaterynaLagno | Kateryna Lagno | 2803 | 8 | 43 | |
| 17 | 105 | IM | Flawless_Fighter | Polina Shuvalova | 2643 | 8 | 39 | |
| 17 | 142 | FM | bipe137 | Jakub Suder | 2624 | 8 | 39 | |
| 19 | 68 | NM | BeanScreen | Zachary Tanenbaum | 2729 | 8 | 38.75 | |
| 20 | 92 | FM | JimDiGrease | Jim DiGrease | 2701 | 8 | 35 |
(Full final standings here.)
Bortnyk won $1,000 with Hansen taking $750 in second. Nakamura claimed $300 for third place, GM Sergei Zhigalko $150 for fourth, and GM Alexey Sarana $100 for fifth place. Two women, GMs Kateryna Lagno and Polina Shuvalova, both finished in the top 20 on scores of 8/11, with Lagno claiming the $100 women's prize on tiebreaks.
Late Tournament
For almost any player, a third-place finish makes for a successful Titled Tuesday. For Nakamura, however, a win is always in reach. He got there in the late tournament, once again not losing a game, but this time only making two draws for an outright win on 10/11. Naroditsky also did not lose, but he drew three times.
Nakamura was at least tied for the lead at the end of every single round, denying the back-and-forth drama of the middle rounds earlier in the day. After drawing GM Wesley So in round six and Naroditsky in round eight, Nakamura won his last three games, starting with GM David Paravyan in round nine.
Naroditsky also won his last three games, finishing in sole second place. His three-game run ended with a win over Paravyan after it began with a win over So.
But Nakamura stayed ahead until the end, finishing off with a win over the early tournament victor Bortnyk.
August 16 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 1 | GM | Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3209 | 10 | 69 | |
| 2 | 2 | GM | DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3146 | 9.5 | 61.25 | |
| 3 | 70 | FM | Fusikk | Jakub Fus | 2743 | 9 | 53.75 | |
| 4 | 23 | FM | bascheyaro | Roman Yanchenko | 2891 | 9 | 44.5 | |
| 5 | 3 | GM | FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3133 | 8.5 | 57.25 | |
| 6 | 4 | GM | Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3060 | 8.5 | 56.25 | |
| 7 | 6 | GM | GMWSO | Wesley So | 3033 | 8.5 | 51 | |
| 8 | 5 | GM | Grischuk | Alexander Grischuk | 3040 | 8 | 50 | |
| 9 | 28 | GM | AlexanderL | Aleksandr Lenderman | 2885 | 8 | 48 | |
| 10 | 11 | GM | OparinGrigoriy | Grigoriy Oparin | 2943 | 8 | 46.75 | |
| 11 | 7 | GM | dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 3010 | 8 | 44.5 | |
| 11 | 73 | FM | ENEASZ | Eneasz Wiewióra | 2697 | 8 | 44.5 | |
| 13 | 16 | GM | shimastream | Aleksandr Shimanov | 2916 | 8 | 43.5 | |
| 14 | 59 | IM | zouchen6 | Zou Chen | 2739 | 8 | 42 | |
| 15 | 85 | GM | Goryachkina | Aleksandra Goryachkina | 2695 | 8 | 41.5 | |
| 16 | 83 | IM | bazar-wokzal | Nikolai Vlassov | 2667 | 8 | 40.25 | |
| 17 | 55 | GM | A-Fier | Alex Fier | 2755 | 8 | 40 | |
| 18 | 10 | GM | erichansen | Eric Hansen | 2965 | 7.5 | 44.75 | |
| 19 | 20 | GM | Fandorine | Maksim Chigaev | 2892 | 7.5 | 43 | |
| 20 | 12 | GM | TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 2924 | 7.5 | 41.5 | |
| 20 | 33 | IM | Marcus_Harvey | Marcus Harvey | 2824 | 7.5 | 41.5 |
(Full final standings here.)
Nakamura's $1,000 prize gave him $1,300 on the day while Naroditsky won $750. FMs Jakub Fus and Roman Yanchenko tied for third on nine points, Fus claiming $300 for third place on tiebreaks and Yanchenko $150 for fourth. The $100 prizes went to Andreikin for fifth place and GM Aleksandra Goryachkina as the highest-scoring woman; she finished 15th on 8/11.
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.
