Nakamura Easily Repeats In Freestyle Friday
It took a few months for GM Hikaru Nakamura to win his first Freestyle Friday, but just a week later, he won his second. Whereas last week Nakamura needed tiebreaks after a final-round setback, this week he won outright with 10 points after achieving victory in each of his last six games. GM Sam Sevian finished outright second on 9.5 points, while GM Minh Le finished ahead of GM Ediz Gurel in third on nine points after tiebreaks, and no one else exceeded 8.5 points. IM Karina Ambartsumova continued her torrid run of women's prizes, now her fourth in five weeks.
Nakamura's only loss of the tournament came in round five, and it came at the hands of Le after Le was able to use a knight to effectively trap Nakamura's h8-bishop behind his g7-pawn.
Le himself would remain perfect for one additional round before losing in the seventh and eighth rounds, the first of these losses against eventual second-place finisher Sevian. It took only 19 moves for Sevian to win after capturing Le's queen on move 12 and soon thereafter finding a forced checkmate.
For Sevian's part, a draw all the way back in the first round meant he was on 6.5/7 at that point. He would reach 7.5/8, but not 8.5/9, as in the ninth round came a showdown against Nakamura. Sevian was pushing for much of the game, but in one sudden moment, everything flipped. At the very, very end, Nakamura's bizarre blunder turned the game back over, but the last 1.4 seconds ran off of a surely surprised Sevian's clock.
Whatever happened there, the top two in the standings were now the same as they would end up after Nakamura and Sevian both won their last two games. With a round left, the outcome was still in doubt, but Nakamura got a big advantage early and never let it go against GM Matthias Bluebaum, averting a rerun of last week where Nakamura also entered the last round leading the tournament, but needed tiebreaks for ultimate victory after a loss in his 11th game.
April 4 Freestyle Friday | Final Standings (Top 25)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak |
| 1 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 2870 | 10 | 74.5 | |
| 2 | 5 | GM | @Konavets | Sam Sevian | 2794 | 9.5 | 67.5 | |
| 3 | 31 | GM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 2540 | 9 | 75 | |
| 4 | 84 | GM | @gurelediz | Ediz Gürel | 2129 | 9 | 64.5 | |
| 5 | 94 | IM | @Kosak12 | Jakub Kosakowski | 2054 | 8.5 | 69.5 | |
| 6 | 29 | IM | @PiliposyanRobertChess | Robert Piliposyan | 2507 | 8.5 | 60 | |
| 7 | 32 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 2514 | 8.5 | 59.5 | |
| 8 | 11 | GM | @frederiksvane | Frederik Svane | 2632 | 8 | 68 | |
| 9 | 104 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 2606 | 8 | 66.5 | |
| 10 | 19 | GM | @ChristopherYoo | Christopher Woojin Yoo | 2533 | 8 | 65.5 | |
| 11 | 36 | GM | @rasmussvane | Rasmus Svane | 2497 | 8 | 65.5 | |
| 12 | 17 | GM | @FormerProdigy | David Navara | 2534 | 8 | 53 | |
| 13 | 74 | GM | @crescentmoon2411 | Nguyen Ngoc Truong Son | 2135 | 8 | 53 | |
| 14 | 56 | IM | @fahad | Mohammad Fahad Rahman | 2241 | 8 | 52 | |
| 15 | 25 | GM | @OparinGrigoriy | Grigoriy Oparin | 2510 | 7.5 | 76 | |
| 16 | 9 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 2641 | 7.5 | 74.5 | |
| 17 | 39 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 2407 | 7.5 | 72 | |
| 18 | 2 | GM | @VincentKeymer | Vincent Keymer | 2801 | 7.5 | 66.5 | |
| 19 | 14 | GM | @Alexander_Donchenko | Alexander Donchenko | 2581 | 7.5 | 64 | |
| 20 | 174 | CM | @Tunartank | Tunar Davudov | 1698 | 7.5 | 62 | |
| 21 | 50 | GM | @Matibar | Mateusz Bartel | 2289 | 7.5 | 60.5 | |
| 22 | 110 | GM | @Grandelicious | Nils Grandelius | 1918 | 7.5 | 60 | |
| 23 | 166 | FM | @Erdnya15 | Roman Shogdzhiev | 1719 | 7.5 | 59.5 | |
| 24 | 65 | GM | @igorkovalenko | Igor Kovalenko | 2123 | 7.5 | 58.5 | |
| 25 | 105 | IM | @GelmanAlexander | Alexander Gelman | 1918 | 7.5 | 56.5 | |
| 32 | 80 | IM | @karinachess1 | Karina Ambartsumova | 2026 | 7 | 53.5 |
Prizes: Nakamura $400, Sevian $250, Le $150, Gurel $100, Ambartsumova $100.
Freestyle Friday is Chess.com's weekly tournament dedicated to Freestyle Chess for titled players. The tournament begins at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Standard Time.
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.
