It's a minor surprise that it doesn't happen more often, but GM Magnus Carlsen andGM Hikaru Nakamura were the winners ofTitled Tuesday on December 19. Carlsen scored 10/11 in the early event, beating Nakamura by half a point, and in the process extended his Chess.com blitz rating record to 3372 (before dropping six points with an 11th-round draw). Carlsen skipped the late event, which Nakamura won outright with 9.5 points.

The difference between first and second in the early tournament field of 567 ended up being Nakamura's draw in the fourth round. Carlsen and Nakamura drew each other in the eighth round, both made draws in the final round, and otherwise they won the rest of their games.

The Carlsen-Nakamura draw, a more back-and-forth game than you might expect (instead of mostly even all the way through), ended Carlsen's run but kept him in first place.

Carlsen maintained his lead in the following round by beating GM Nihal Sarin in just 25 moves after the Indian teenage sensation blundered a piece on move five. In the following round, Carlsen worked somewhat harder to defeat GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov.

In that same 10th round, second place was effectively decided, as Nakamura beat GM Vladislav Kovalev in a 31-move gradual rundown, putting a full point of separation between them.

GM Oleksandr Bortnyk had entered third place in the meantime, but he and Carlsen drew their last game in 14 moves, while Nakamura drew with Nihal and Kovalev defeated Vokhidov. As things shook out, the final result was Carlsen first, Nakamura second, Kovalev third and Bortnyk fourth.

December 19 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)

(Full final standings here.)

Carlsen won $1,000, Nakamura $750, Kovalev $350, and Bortnyk $200. The $100 prizes went to IM Bojan Maksimovic in fifth place and IM Meri Arabidze as the highest-scoring woman at 7.5 points.

With 424 participants, the late tournament was also plenty busy, albeit minus Magnus. Hikaru filled that vacuum, although his path was not easy. But after starting on 4.5/6, Nakamura ripped off five straight wins to claim the tournament.

With Nakamura's early bumps, he did not reach first place until the tournament ended. In the meantime, Maksimovic had another strong tournament. As in the early tournament, the eventual second- and third-place finishers met in the 10th round, this time with Maksimovic defeating GM Hans Niemann.

But Nakamura, who was tied for 30th after six rounds, had worked his way into a tie for second and got his shot at Maksimovic.

It was Maksimovic who tried 1...a6, a move normally associated with Nakamura. It did not work out as the 21-year-old Bosnian would have liked, with an up-and-down game eventually favoring the American star.

Nakamura leapfrogged Maksimovic into first, while GM Velimir Ivic, who had been tied with Nakamura before the round, fell out of contention after losing to Niemann. Maksimovic retained second place on tiebreaks over Niemann and four other players on nine points.

December 19 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)

(Full final standings here.)

Nakamura won the $1,000 first place prize, giving him $1,750 for his day's work. Maksimovic claimed $750 late, for an $850-day. Niemann won $350, GM Alexey Sarana in fourth place, and GM Matthias Bluebaum in fifth. GM Jiner Zhu won the $100 women's prize, scoring seven points.

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).

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Carlsen, Nakamura Win Titled Tuesday - December 19, 2023 - Chess.com