GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Andrew Hong won the first Titled Tuesday events of April 2024. For Hong, it was a milestone, being his first-ever win in Titled Tuesday, and he did it outright with 10 points while Nakamura neededtiebreaks earlier after finishing in a four-way tie for first.

Nakamura also made the top five late, finishing fourth, while IM Meri Arabidze swept the women's prizes.

Joining Nakamura on 9.5 points in the early tournament, out of the original field of 672 players, were GMs Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Levan Pantsulaia, and Gata Kamsky. The group of four only played two games against each other, and Nakamura was a part of both: the round before he and Kamsky made a draw, Nakamura came out ahead of Duda in round nine.

We highly recommend that you not try this opening at home, unless you are absolutely sure you know what you're doing.

If the four tied players that emerged from round nine weren't enough, those players all drew each other in round 10, which helped create a seven-way morass at the top of the standings with one round left. Kamsky was the "lucky" one who faced a player on eight points, but that was only fair; he was the person who toppled GM Magnus Carlsen in round nine.

Kamsky's 11th-round game wasn't easy, either, coming against GM Jose Martinez, but his win was only enough for fourth place after tiebreaks. Elsewhere, Nakamura defeated IM Rudik Makarian, Duda overcame GM Tuan Minh Le, and Pantsulaia won against GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov. Duda took two bishops and a better pawn structure to the house and finished second, leaving us to wonder what would have happened had he held against Nakamura earlier.

April 2 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)

(Full final standings here.)

Nakamura won the $1,000 first place prize and wasn't quite done earning money yet. Duda won $750 in second place, Pantsulaia claimed $350 in third, and Kamsky won $200 in fourth. GM Denis Lazavik led tiebreaks for the three players on nine points to claim $100, while Arabidze scored 7.5 points to win the $100 women's prize.

Hong had much less difficulty in securing the early tournament out of a field of 483. He began on a perfect 9/9 score, including a win over Nakamura in round seven after things got very interesting right out of the opening.

The Hong train was stopped in its tracks in the 10th round, however, derailed by GM Alexey Sarana, who ultimately rode into second place with the victory.

Hong managed to get back on track in the final round, winning against Duda in a romp after Duda made the mistake of "castling into it." Hong's win secured the tournament after Sarana and GM Aleksandr Shimanov only managed a draw against each other.

Nakamura wasn't able to sweep the day but he did place in both events, recovering from losses in rounds seven and eight with three straight victories, including the final one over GM Matthias Bluebaum.

April 2 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)

(Full final standings here.)

Hong won the $1,000 first place prize, with Sarana accepting $750 for second, and Shimanov claiming the $350 for third. Nakamura added $200 to his total for the day, making him the big overall earner at $1,200. GM Dmitry Andreikin, who always seems to be lurking somewhere in Titled Tuesday, managed fifth place for $100. Finally, Arabidze tacked on her second $100 women's prize of the day.

The biggest standings change this week came in the junior section, with Lazavik taking the top spot from CM Artem Bardyk. Lazavik still has three tournaments left to reach the cap of 20 qualifying events, so it is difficult to see him falling back behind Bardyk. (GM Pranav Venkatesh, on 120.5 points through 15 tournaments, could potentially be another matter, though.)

Meanwhile, Nakamura continues to accumulate points, his top 20 results now averaging 9.3 points per tournament. The only change in the top five this week was Andreikin reclaiming the fifth spot from GM Jeffery Xiong. There was also a change to fifth place in the women's section this week, with WFM Katarzyna Dwilewicz taking it.

Continuing to lead the seniors and girls are Kamsky (no surprise after his early tournament this week) and WCM Veronika Shubenkova.

Juniors: GM Denis Lazavik (143.0 points)

Seniors: GM Gata Kamsky (159.0 points)

Girls: WCM Veronika Shubenkova (79.5 points)

The new 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).

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Titled Tuesday - April 2, 2024 - Chess.com