IM Karina Ambartsumova has won a prize as the top woman in a 3 0 Thursday all six weeks since the event began, while IM Renato Terry has won one of the three weekly tournaments for each of the last five weeks. Both players continued their impressive streaks on December 18.
They were joined in the winner’s circle by GM Parham Maghsoodloo and GM Jose Martinez. IM Anna Sargsyan won the women’s prize in two tournaments as well, joining Ambartsumova as just the second player to win that prize more than once in a day.
Maghsoodloo Wins First Thursday Tournament
Maghsoodloo started well in the first tournament of the day, winning his first seven games, including against GMs Mitrabha Guha, Luca Moroni Jr, Matthias Bluebaum, and this impressive game against Jeffery Xiong.
That gave Maghsoodloo a full point lead in the tournament, but in round eight he was defeated and caught by FM Artin Sharaf. Sharaf couldn’t build on that success, dropping his next game to Bluebaum, while Maghsoodloo drew with GM Denis Lazavik. Maghsoodloo then scored a critical win in round 10 against GM Sam Sevian to maintain a lead over his nearest competitors.
Maghsoodloo secured a 9/11 score and a tie for first place with a final-round draw against Terry. Lazavik and GM Emin Ohanyan both won to reach nine points as well and secured second and third place respectively.
Ambartsumova and Sargsyan have dominated the top woman’s prize in 3 0 Thursdays, with the former winning in eight events and the latter winning four. In this tournament they settled the prize head-to-head, with Ambartsumova winning a tough game.
Terry Wins For Fifth Straight Week
Terry had won a tournament the previous four Thursdays and continued his amazing streak in the second tournament with the most dominant victory of the day. Terry began by winning his first five rounds, before dropping a game against GM Cristobal Henriquez. Henriquez had a streaky event, winning seven in a row, but losing in the next three rounds and missing out on the top spots.
After a draw in round seven, Terry returned to form, winning his final four games, including this fight with GM Alexey Sarana in round nine.
In the tenth round, Terry defeated Bluebaum to secure a full-point lead and clinch at least a tie for first.
Terry won in the final round as well to reach the highest score of any player on the day with 9.5/11. GMs Haik Martirosyan and Rasmus Svane took second and third place respectively, with 8.5/11. Sargsyan took the top woman’s prize with a 6/11 score.
Martinez Wins Third Thursday Tournament
Beside Terry, Martinez is the only player to have won 3 0 Thursday more than once. In the third tournament, he earned his third title and the second in as many weeks. Martinez won in style, scoring a perfect 5/5 with White by playing 1.b3 in every game! His seventh-round victory over IM Yoseph Theolifus Taher was a model game.
Winning any tough tournament takes some good fortune. For Martinez, it came in round five against IM Reza Mahdavi.
Behind Martinez’s 9/11, Martirosyan took second with 8.5 points, followed on tiebreaks by GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac. Sargsyan won another top women’s prize, storming back to score seven points despite losing her first three games!
3 0 Thursday features three tournaments every week for titled players. The events are on Thursday every week at 11 a.m., 4 p.m., and 9 p.m. ET / 17:00, 22:00, and 3 a.m. (+1) CET / 9:30 p.m., 2:30 a.m. (+1), and 7:30 a.m. (+1) IST.
