Nakamura almost perfect early, almost late sweep | So Good News

GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Daniil Dubov were big winners at Title Tuesday on September 6, both winning the tournament and finishing in the top three in the latter. Nakamura started the early tournament with 9/9 before drawing his last two games against GM Vasyl Ivanchuk and Dubov. Ivanchuk (fifth place early) and G.M. Gata Kamsky (third place late) was among other notable award winners on the day.

Early tournament

Nakamura’s perfect start gave him a 1.5 point lead with two rounds to go. His casualties in the first nine games included three other players who won the 2022 title Tuesday: fifth-round GM Aryan Tari, eighth-round GM Salem Saleh and ninth-round GM Tuan Minh Le.

His shortest win came in the seventh round against second-seeded GM Steven Zierk, ending in the most important game of the tournament. The game was a 13-movement miniatures game that featured a king with a fast, devastating attack. It took Nakamura barely 30 seconds to play the entire game.

That was the only blemish in Zierk’s tournament, as he drew another game. Like Nakamura, Zierk won back-to-back wins against Saleh and Min Lady, finishing second in the 10th and 11th rounds. The game against Minh Le took 97 pitches and included a sacrifice bunt.

September 6 Tuesday | Early | Final Table (Top 20)

(The full latest situation is here.)

At the beginning of the tournament, Nakamura won $1,000 and Zierk won $750. Dubov won $350 for third place, and GM Anish Geary won $200 for fourth. Ivanchuk took fifth place in the $100 and the women’s $100 prize went to GM Valentina Gunina with 7.5/11.

Late Tournament

The late tournament was timed for Dubov’s second title win in three weeks Tuesday. It’s been a tough road, with five of his last six opponents coming in the top 17 of the standings.

The only exception was not a break: GM Daniel Naroditskyi is one of the few players who can boast a higher Chess.com Blitz rating than Dubov in the ninth round. The game was decided by a pin, resulting in a very quick s-pond.

As a result, Dubov was left in the first place with Boyan Maksimovich. They drew in the 10th round, giving Nakamura a chance to catch up. Nakamura held off Maksimovic in the final round to end IS’s upset bid.

However, Dubov tied Nakamura with a win over GM Jose Martinez, and Dubov’s tiebreaker was stronger. Thus, Nakamura’s third “Titted Tuesday” hit was barely prevented.

September 6 Tuesday | Evening | Final Table (Top 20)

Num	Rk	Fed	Title	Username	name is	Rating	Score	SB
1	4		GM	@Duhless	Daniil Dubov	3026	9.5	63
2	1		GM	@Hikaru	Hikaru Nakamura	3221	9.5	53.5
3	11		GM	@TigrVShlyape	Gata Kamsky	2944	9	50.25
4	42		GM	@Ceyse	Martin Kravtsiv	2825	9	46
5	31		I	@mbojan	Boyan Maksimovich	2854	8.5	56.75
6	33		GM	@exoticprincess	Baadur Jobava	2842	8.5	55.75
7	50		FM	@dragos420	Dragos Ceres	2813	8.5	52
8	5		GM	@jefferyx	Geoffrey Xiong	2982	8.5	46.25
9	51		I	@Fins0905	John Bartholomew	2742	8	48.75
10	36		I	@Murad_Ibrahimli	Murad Ibrahimli	2829	8	47.5
11	3		GM	@GMBenjaminBok	Benjamin Bock	2963	8	44
11	2		GM	@Jospem	Jose Eduardo Martinez Alcantara	2994	8	44
13	35		GM	@jcibarra	Jose Carlos Ibarra Jerez	2825	8	43.5
14	6		GM	@Oleksandr_Bortnyk	Alexander Bortnik	2975	8	42
15	69		FM	@peonrojo150	Gonzalo Navarrete	2668	8	33.5
16	65		SM	@AlexPapasimakopoulos	Alexandros Papasimakopoulos	2700	7.5	47.5
17	40		FM	@MarcoRiehle	Marco Riel	2801	7.5	45.25
18	9		GM	@erichansen	Eric Hansen	2907	7.5	44.5
19	62		I	@DeTimmerman	Mark Timmermans	2702	7.5	42.25
20	71		I	@bazar-wokzal	Nikolai Vlasov	2687	7.5	37.75
30	72		GM	@Goryachkina	Alexandra Goryachkina	2676	7	37.75

(The full latest situation is here.)

Dubov received $1,000 for the win, for a total of $1,350. Nakamura’s $750 for second place gave him the biggest win of the day with $1,750. Kamsky won $350 for third place, and Chess.com Global Championship qualifier GM Martin Kravtsiv $200 for fourth. A $100 prize was awarded to Maksimovich for fifth place and to GM Aleksandra Gorjachkina for the highest score among women participating in 7/11.