GM Sina Movahed has become the sixth two-time winner of Freestyle Friday, winning his last six games on September 5 to take first place on tiebreaks ahead of GM Zhamsaran Tsydypov, and 1.5 points ahead of the rest of the 116-player field. The 15-year-old Movahed previously won Freestyle Friday on April 25.
The top two finishers faced off in the fifth round, with Tsydypov emerging victorious after capturing a pawn by finding 17.Nd5 and never looking back.
After that setback, however, Movahed went to work with the longest winning streak of the tournament. (No one started 6/6, with CM Georgijs Germanovs coming the closest at 5/5). He finally clawed his way back into a tie for first in the 10th round after defeating last week’s winner, GM Oleksandr Bortnyk, while Tsydypov only made a draw. Both Movahed and Bortnyk had chances to take control, until Bortnyk missed the sneaky—and winning—33.Qf4, after which Movahed won smoothly.
Movahed and Tsydypov then both won in the 11th round—Movahed against IM Renato Terry and Tsydypov versus GM Vugar Rasulov—but Movahed faced slightly stronger opposition throughout the tournament and won the tiebreak despite the head-to-head loss to Tsydypov.
Tiebreaks were even more important down the standings, where six players tied for third place on eight points. GM Denis Lazavik managed to take third despite losing in both rounds eight and nine by winning in rounds 10 and 11. In his last win, against Spell Chess champion GM Luca Moroni Jr., Lazavik was never really worse before eventually moving ahead by a whole queen (not via Botez Gambit, but via promotion).
Prizes were rounded out by Rasulov in fourth place and IM Nataliya Buksa winning her second straight women’s prize.
September 5 Freestyle Friday | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | 1st Tiebreak |
| 1 | 6 | GM | @Sina-Movahed | Sina Movahed | 2758 | 9.5 | 72.5 | |
| 2 | 5 | GM | @Zhuu96 | Zhamsaran Tsydypov | 2776 | 9.5 | 71.5 | |
| 3 | 1 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 2794 | 8 | 75 | |
| 4 | 11 | GM | @vugarrasulov | Vugar Rasulov | 2652 | 8 | 70.5 | |
| 5 | 28 | GM | @Savva_KraSavva | Savva Vetokhin | 2518 | 8 | 63 | |
| 6 | 9 | FM | @artin10862 | Artin Ashraf | 2649 | 8 | 62.5 | |
| 7 | 8 | GM | @Dr_Tyger | Haowen Xue | 2654 | 8 | 59.5 | |
| 8 | 2 | GM | @dretch | Conrad Holt | 2724 | 8 | 56.5 | |
| 9 | 13 | GM | @moro182 | Luca Moroni Jr | 2621 | 7.5 | 61.5 | |
| 10 | 15 | IM | @MITerryble | Renato Terry | 2661 | 7.5 | 60 | |
| 11 | 14 | GM | @Jumbo | Rinat Jumabayev | 2600 | 7.5 | 59 | |
| 12 | 4 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 2734 | 7 | 72.5 | |
| 13 | 35 | CM | @Germanovs_Georgijs | Georgijs Germanovs | 2488 | 7 | 70.5 | |
| 14 | 18 | IM | @yosephtaher | Yoseph Theolifus Taher | 2590 | 7 | 65 | |
| 15 | 22 | FM | @Turboplombir | Sergey Sklokin | 2508 | 7 | 64.5 | |
| 16 | 3 | GM | @Grischuk | Alexander Grischuk | 2729 | 7 | 64 | |
| 17 | 16 | GM | @FormerProdigy | David Navara | 2597 | 7 | 58 | |
| 18 | 24 | FM | @averageFM | Matyas Palczert | 2489 | 7 | 56 | |
| 19 | 19 | IM | @WhiteKnight2612 | Rohith Krishna | 2540 | 7 | 55.5 | |
| 20 | 88 | CM | @Granatomet552 | Andrey Tkachuk | 2142 | 6.5 | 62.5 | |
| 42 | 53 | IM | @Natalya_Buksa | Nataliya Buksa | 2283 | 5.5 | 49 |
Prizes: Movahed $400, Tsydypov $250, Lazavik $150, Rasulov $100, Buksa $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.
