Firouzja Wraps Up Year With Titled Tuesday Win
GMs Alireza Firouzja and Jose Martinez won the last Titled Tuesday tournaments of 2022 on December 27. Both did so with undefeated performances of eight wins and three draws, although Firouzja needed tiebreaks over GM Aleksandr Lenderman.
Martinez managed to finish fifth in the tournament he did not win, while GM Bodgan Daniel Deac finished third in both events.
Early Tournament
Despite the ongoing World Rapid and Blitz Championships, the early tournament brought in 388 players. It became somewhat of a battle of attrition near the end. In round nine, Deac defeated Lenderman to take a half-point lead in the tournament.
Deac's lead was short-lived, however, as he dropped his next game to Firouzja.
Even then, the tournament leader before the final round was not Firouzja but Martinez. However, Lenderman won their game to pass Martinez in the standings.
Unfortunately for Lenderman, Firouzja defeated GM Steven Zierk in the final round and was able to claim the tournament on tiebreaks. Firouzja, who became very active in Titled Tuesday in November, ended the year with three tournament wins in just two months.
December 27 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 1 | GM | @Firouzja2003 | Alireza Firouzja | 3121 | 9.5 | 58.75 | |
| 2 | 16 | GM | @AlexanderL | Aleksandr Lenderman | 2949 | 9.5 | 57.5 | |
| 3 | 2 | GM | @BogdanDeac | Bogdan Daniel Deac | 3097 | 9 | 70 | |
| 4 | 40 | IM | @KhazarBabazada007 | Khazar Babazada | 2874 | 9 | 58.25 | |
| 5 | 4 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3098 | 9 | 56.25 | |
| 6 | 19 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 2947 | 9 | 54.5 | |
| 7 | 18 | GM | @TimofeevAr | Artem Timofeev | 2935 | 8.5 | 54 | |
| 8 | 29 | GM | @TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 2926 | 8.5 | 51.75 | |
| 9 | 5 | GM | @exoticprincess | Baadur Jobava | 3053 | 8.5 | 50 | |
| 10 | 3 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 3076 | 8 | 60.25 | |
| 11 | 31 | GM | @Zkid | Steven Zierk | 2893 | 8 | 52.5 | |
| 12 | 54 | FM | @Sina_Movahed | Sina Movahed | 2859 | 8 | 50.5 | |
| 13 | 27 | GM | @GMBenjaminBok | Benjamin Bok | 2919 | 8 | 48 | |
| 13 | 76 | IM | @Korchmar_Vasiliy | Vasiliy Korchmar | 2717 | 8 | 48 | |
| 15 | 9 | GM | @OparinGrigoriy | Grigoriy Oparin | 2973 | 8 | 47.5 | |
| 16 | 6 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3020 | 8 | 47.25 | |
| 17 | 17 | IM | @Rud_Makarian | Rudik Makarian | 2907 | 8 | 44.25 | |
| 18 | 30 | GM | @ActorXu | Xu Yi | 2888 | 8 | 44 | |
| 19 | 113 | FM | @Alex_Sahakyan2006 | Alex Sahakyan | 2671 | 8 | 43.5 | |
| 20 | 81 | GM | @attack2mateU | Razvan Preotu | 2758 | 8 | 43 | |
| 24 | 71 | GM | @daika91 | Zhongyi Tan | 2784 | 7.5 | 48.5 |
(Full final standings here.)
Firouzja won the $1,000 first-place prize and Lenderman settled for the $750 for second place. Deac's superb tiebreak score gave him third place and $350 rather easily, while IM Khazar Babazada earned $200 in fourth place and Martinez $100 in fifth. GM Zhongyi Tan won the $100 women's prize—in the middle of a winning World Rapid Championship performance, no less—finishing with a 7.5 score for 24th place overall.
Late Tournament
322 players participated in the last Titled Tuesday tournament of 2022. Martinez recovered from the disappointing final round early to win this one, without needing tiebreaks. He started the event with a perfect 7/7 before drawing three of his last four games, but still needed help to win outright.
Martinez reached 7/7 by defeating GM Oleksandr Bortnyk in the seventh round.
It was Bortnyk's only non-win of the first ten rounds, giving him a 9/10 score with one round remaining. But after dropping his game to Deac, nine points is where Bortnyk—who still won four Titled Tuesdays in 2022—stayed.
Martinez, who also entered the last round on 9/10, was thus able to win the event with a draw against FM Talibov Shiroghlan.
December 27 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 3 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3098 | 9.5 | 58.75 | |
| 2 | 5 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3020 | 9 | 63 | |
| 3 | 2 | GM | @BogdanDeac | Bogdan Daniel Deac | 3097 | 9 | 61.25 | |
| 4 | 62 | FM | @ShiroglanTalibov | Talibov Shiroghlan | 2776 | 9 | 60.25 | |
| 5 | 16 | GM | @TigrVShlyape | Gata Kamsky | 2926 | 9 | 55 | |
| 6 | 38 | FM | @LiamPutnam2008 | Liam Putnam | 2826 | 8.5 | 54 | |
| 7 | 13 | GM | @GMBenjaminBok | Benjamin Bok | 2919 | 8.5 | 51.75 | |
| 8 | 10 | GM | @Hrant_ChessMood | Hrant Melkumyan | 2939 | 8.5 | 51.5 | |
| 9 | 6 | GM | @NikoTheodorou | Nikolas Theodorou | 3007 | 8.5 | 50.5 | |
| 10 | 14 | CM | @stollenmonster | Egor Baskakov | 2921 | 8.5 | 48.25 | |
| 11 | 61 | CM | @Vaibhavraut99 | Vaibhav Raut | 2739 | 8 | 53 | |
| 12 | 29 | FM | @Sina_Movahed | Sina Movahed | 2859 | 8 | 48.75 | |
| 13 | 33 | GM | @Cayse | Martyn Kravtsiv | 2824 | 8 | 48.5 | |
| 14 | 37 | GM | @Mikhail_Bryakin | Mikhail Bryakin | 2821 | 8 | 46.5 | |
| 15 | 8 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 2947 | 8 | 45.25 | |
| 16 | 120 | FM | @scandalgod | Ezio Toniutti | 2625 | 8 | 43 | |
| 17 | 39 | GM | @alexrustemov | Alexander Rustemov | 2775 | 8 | 38 | |
| 18 | 94 | IM | @albi1999 | Alberto Barp | 2640 | 8 | 36.5 | |
| 19 | 66 | IM | @Coachpoker | Alexey Averjanov | 2687 | 8 | 34.5 | |
| 20 | 24 | GM | @K_A_S_T_O_R | Rodrigo Vasquez | 2852 | 7.5 | 47.25 | |
| 40 | 96 | IM | @AnotherGrumpy | Anna M Sargsyan | 2609 | 7 | 33.25 |
(Full final standings here.)
Martinez won $1,000 for first place, which gave him $1,100 total for the day. Bortnyk earned $750 in second. Deac's second-straight third place gave him another $350 for $700 total. Shiroghlan won $200 for fourth place, GM Gata Kamsky $100 for fifth, and IM Anna M Sargsyan the $100 women's prize, scoring 7/11.
Year in Review
There were exactly 100 Titled Tuesday tournaments in 2022: four in January prior to the doubling of the event, and 96 from February through December. 149 players placed at least once (top five and/or highest-scoring woman). Of them, 31 won or shared first place in at least one event. 49 players won at least $1,000, while six players won $10,000 or more:
- GM Hikaru Nakamura $37,825
- GM Dmitry Andreikin $20,650
- GM Oleksandr Bortnyk $11,650
- GM Daniil Dubov $11,200
- GM Vladimir Fedoseev $11,100
- GM Jeffery Xiong $10,700
Nakamura had the most wins (28) and places (48) of anyone. Andreikin had the second-most of each with 10 wins and 35 places. Dubov and Xiong tied for the third-most wins with six, while Bortnyk placed 26 times, more than either of them. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk won the most women's prizes, with 17, followed by GM Aleksandra Goryachkina, with 11.
Titled Tuesday will continue into 2023 with two tournaments per day; the only change will be new tiebreaks. Here's to another year!
Titled Tuesday is a weekly tournament for titled players on Chess.com. Two 11-round Swiss tournaments are played every Tuesday at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time/17:00 Central European and 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time/23:00 Central European.
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.
