Carlsen Upset In Final Round Of Titled Tuesday
GM Mamikon Gharibyan and GM Denis Lazavik are your winners for the March 18 Titled Tuesday tournaments, both winning outright by half a point. Lazavik came that same half-point from sweeping the day, finishing second in the early tournament and then playing a brilliant final game in the late tournament against GM Magnus Carlsen, who had only needed a draw to win for a second straight week.
Carlsen nonetheless now leads the Titled Tuesday Grand Prix standings, while GM Alexandra Kosteniuk moved into second place in the women's Grand Prix standings after sweeping this week's women's prizes with a combined score of 15.5/22.
Early Tournament
Gharibyan, a 20-year-old grandmaster from Armenia and two-time world youth champion, entered the 571-player field as the 53rd seed. On his way to victory from the top 10 percent, he beat GMs Vincent Keymer, Oleksandr Bortnyk, Lazavik, and Andrey Esipenko and held a draw against GM Alireza Firouzja.
The win against Lazavik ended up being the key game, of course, given the final standings. It came in the eighth round, and neither player really had their typical handle on things, although Lazavik's big chance at a winning position on move 25 is a tough problem to crack with well under a minute on the clock.
A win against Esipenko in the next round was also big for Gharibyan, breaking a tie for first place between the two after Esipenko flagged in an equal position (when Gharibyan himself only had three seconds left). Gharibyan led outright for the rest of the tournament.
Lazavik recovered from his setback in the eighth round and never lost again on his way to an outright second-place finish. Bortnyk, who was still only half a point back of Gharibyan entering the final round, also flagged, but his position was more dire than Esipenko's had been.
Unfortunately for Bortnyk, he dropped into sixth place. Finishing third was GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who only needed 26 moves to win with Black in the final round against GM Johan-Sebastian Christiansen of Norway. Christiansen made it a bit easy on him, but Abdusattorov also made no mistakes and won cleanly.
It was a heck of a thank you to Christiansen for having done the entire field a favor by defeating that other Norwegian player back in round nine.
Two international masters, IMs Arash Tahbaz and Kacper Drozdowski, rounded out the top five.
March 18 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak |
| 1 | 53 | GM | @Gareth-Bale11 | Mamikon Gharibyan | 3011 | 10 | 68 | |
| 2 | 6 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 3192 | 9.5 | 77.5 | |
| 3 | 14 | GM | @ChessWarrior7197 | Nodirbek Abdusattorov | 3114 | 9 | 75.5 | |
| 4 | 55 | IM | @Arash_Tahbaz | Arash Tahbaz | 2969 | 9 | 73 | |
| 5 | 45 | IM | @Kacparov | Kacper Drozdowski | 3014 | 9 | 71.5 | |
| 6 | 7 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3147 | 9 | 68.5 | |
| 7 | 34 | IM | @Rud_Makarian | Rudik Makarian | 3035 | 9 | 67.5 | |
| 8 | 26 | GM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3059 | 9 | 63.5 | |
| 9 | 24 | GM | @rednova1729 | Awonder Liang | 3058 | 9 | 63 | |
| 10 | 47 | IM | @NeoTerNemo | Alexey Grachev | 2983 | 8.5 | 65 | |
| 11 | 28 | GM | @shimastream | Aleksandr Shimanov | 3016 | 8.5 | 63.5 | |
| 12 | 9 | GM | @NikoTheodorou | Nikolas Theodorou | 3113 | 8.5 | 60.5 | |
| 13 | 2 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3246 | 8 | 77 | |
| 14 | 77 | GM | @A-Fier | Alex Fier | 2912 | 8 | 72.5 | |
| 15 | 8 | GM | @LiemLe | Liem Le | 3119 | 8 | 72.5 | |
| 16 | 44 | GM | @HVillagra | Cristobal Henriquez | 2978 | 8 | 70.5 | |
| 17 | 37 | GM | @vugarrasulov | Vugar Rasulov | 3012 | 8 | 70.5 | |
| 18 | 30 | FM | @artin10862 | Artin Ashraf | 3018 | 8 | 69.5 | |
| 19 | 49 | GM | @JSPrepz | Johan-Sebastian Christiansen | 2989 | 8 | 69.5 | |
| 20 | 20 | GM | @ChristopherYoo | Christopher Woojin Yoo | 3055 | 8 | 69 | |
| 33 | 101 | GM | @ChessQueen | Alexandra Kosteniuk | 2829 | 7.5 | 69.5 |
Prizes: Gharibyan $1,000, Lazavik $750, Abdusattorov $350, Tahbaz $200, Drozdowski $100, Kosteniuk $100.
Late Tournament
A lot of the same faces figured into the late tournament results, with Lazavik, Bortnyk, Carlsen, Christiansen, and Kosteniuk all winning prizes in the field of 475. Only fourth-place FM Artin Ashraf won a late prize after having missed out on the exciting parts of the early tournament.
Once again, the eighth round featured the eventual top two finishers, but this time, it was the ultimate runner-up who won the individual encounter, giving Bortnyk some slight measure of revenge for his loss at Lazavik's hands earlier.
Bortnyk's tournament lead was short-lived, as his reward for taking it was a matchup with Carlsen, who was on point at this point.
The standings were now in a bit of chaos, with a four-way tie for first place. Lazavik's draw with Grand Prix senior division leader GM Alexei Shirov resolved little, but Carlsen's win against GM Jose Martinez put him in sole possession of first place with a round left.
The stage was set for that Lazavik win we teased earlier. Even Magnus Carlsen needs to pay attention to king safety, or he too can lose in less than 30 moves and drop a tournament at the last second.
Bortnyk also jumped ahead of Carlsen after defeating GM Cristobal Henriquez in the final round. Ashraf and Christiansen also won in the final round, against Tahbaz and Martinez, respectively, but didn't have the tiebreaks to pass Carlsen. Tiebreaks still helped them finish in the money, with fifth place between Christiansen and GM Christopher Yoo even being decided by the second tiebreak.
Meanwhile, Kosteniuk took home another women's prize with an impressive win in the final round against GM Jose Ibarra, scoring eight points.
March 18 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak |
| 1 | 4 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 3208 | 9.5 | 79 | |
| 2 | 7 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3160 | 9 | 76.5 | |
| 3 | 2 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3248 | 9 | 75 | |
| 4 | 21 | FM | @artin10862 | Artin Ashraf | 3030 | 9 | 72.5 | |
| 5 | 26 | GM | @JSPrepz | Johan-Sebastian Christiansen | 3000 | 9 | 67.5 | |
| 6 | 13 | GM | @ChristopherYoo | Christopher Woojin Yoo | 3065 | 9 | 67.5 | |
| 7 | 52 | IM | @Alexander_Khlebovich | Alexander Khlebovich | 2901 | 9 | 63 | |
| 8 | 18 | GM | @dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 3022 | 9 | 62.5 | |
| 9 | 47 | GM | @AlexeiShirov | Alexei Shirov | 2925 | 9 | 61.5 | |
| 10 | 32 | GM | @Anton_Demchenko | Anton Demchenko | 2949 | 8.5 | 64.5 | |
| 11 | 39 | FM | @rezamahdavi2008 | Reza Mahdavi | 2929 | 8.5 | 63 | |
| 12 | 56 | IM | @NodariousBIG | Nodar Lortkipanidze | 2872 | 8.5 | 58.5 | |
| 13 | 24 | GM | @Annawel | Jules Moussard | 3001 | 8 | 76 | |
| 14 | 45 | GM | @Mikhail_Bryakin | Mikhail Bryakin | 2916 | 8 | 72.5 | |
| 15 | 10 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3104 | 8 | 70 | |
| 16 | 27 | GM | @HVillagra | Cristobal Henriquez | 2985 | 8 | 69.5 | |
| 17 | 6 | GM | @GHANDEEVAM2003 | Arjun Erigaisi | 3125 | 8 | 68 | |
| 18 | 11 | GM | @Philippians46 | Andy Woodward | 3076 | 8 | 67.5 | |
| 19 | 77 | IM | @jakopogi | Michael Concio Jr. | 2831 | 8 | 66.5 | |
| 20 | 44 | IM | @MatthewG-p4p | Matvey Galchenko | 2932 | 8 | 65 | |
| 21 | 41 | GM | @sergiochess83 | Sergey Grigoriants | 2907 | 8 | 63 | |
| 22 | 64 | GM | @ChessQueen | Alexandra Kosteniuk | 2843 | 8 | 62.5 |
Prizes: Lazavik $1,000, Bortnyk $750, Carlsen $350, Ashraf $200, Christiansen $100, Kosteniuk $100. Daily totals: Lazavik $1,750, Kosteniuk $200.
Grand Prix Standings
GM Minh Le moved into the top eight, and there was some reordering to the top seven as well, not only with Carlsen taking the lead but also Lazavik moving into fourth.
| Rk | Username | Score | Title | Name |
| 1 | @MagnusCarlsen | 91.5 | GM | Magnus Carlsen |
| 2 | @Jospem | 91.0 | GM | Jose Martinez |
| 3 | @Hikaru | 90.5 | GM | Hikaru Nakamura |
| 4 | @DenLaz | 90.0 | GM | Denis Lazavik |
| 5 | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | 90.0 | GM | Oleksandr Bortnyk |
| 6 | @Msb2 | 89.5 | GM | Matthias Bluebaum |
| 7 | @GHANDEEVAM2003 | 89.5 | GM | Arjun Erigaisi |
| 8 | @wonderfultime | 88.5 | GM | Tuan Minh Le |
Two weeks removed from being outside the top eight in the women's standings, Kosteniuk is now in second, but there were no new entrants into the top eight this week. In fact, Kosteniuk's move up was the only change in the order.
| Rk | Username | Score | Title | Name |
| 1 | @Flawless_Fighter | 71.0 | IM | Polina Shuvalova |
| 2 | @ChessQueen | 70.5 | GM | Alexandra Kosteniuk |
| 3 | @karinachess1 | 70.5 | IM | Karina Ambartsumova |
| 4 | @Sanyura | 67.5 | WGM | Aleksandra Maltsevskaya |
| 5 | @Meri-Arabidze | 67.5 | IM | Meri Arabidze |
| 6 | @anasta10 | 64.5 | FM | Anastasia Avramidou |
| 7 | @jinbojinbo | 64.0 | GM | Jiner Zhu |
| 8 | @Fh2411 | 64.0 | IM | Le Thao Nguyen Pham |
Seniors (born 1975 or earlier), juniors (born 2009 or later), and girls (born 2005 or later) do not have SCC places on the line, but there will be cash prizes in each of these categories. The current leaders are:
Seniors: GM Alexei Shirov (@AlexeiShirov), 81.5 points
Youth: GM Andy Woodward (@Philippians46), 86.5 points
Girls: WFM Kalyani Sirin (@rollercoaster29), 62.5 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).
The next Titled Tuesday to hit 1,000 participants will award prizes to the top 30 players.
📢 BIG NEWS 📢
— Chess.com (@chesscom) January 20, 2025
Titled Tuesday registrations have been going WAY up lately, with a record 905 last week!
To celebrate, the first Titled Tuesday of 2025 with over 1,000 players will have a DOUBLED prize pool! Let the games begin 🙌 pic.twitter.com/yx9QBFaJWA
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.
