GM Hikaru Nakamura won his first six games in the opening 3 0 Thursday tournament on January 29, bringing his Chess.com blitz rating to a record 3454. Nakamura slowed down after that and the tournament winners of the day were GMs Sina Movahed, Magnus Carlsen, and Denis Lazavik. Carlsen and Lazavik will meet on February 7th in the Speed Chess Championship (SCC) Semifinals in London, with both players clearly in top form.
1st Tournament: Nakamura Sets Record
Nakamura is also going to play in London next week, and no one has ever been in better blitz form. He started the first tournament on a tear and reached a record rating by outlasting GM Alexey Sarana in the sixth round.
Carlsen ended Nakamura’s run, beating him in the seventh round, and then Movahed defeated Nakamura in round nine in a long game, when pressure on the clock paid off on the board.
Movahed won his remaining games to finish with 9.5 points. Amazingly, he reached that score after missing the first round. In the ten games he played he only gave up one draw, against GM Amin Tabatabaei. Carlsen fell to GM Dmitry Andreikin in the 10th round and withdrew from the tournament, although his 8.5 points were still enough for fourth place behind Movahed, Sarana, and Andreikin. IM Karina Ambartsumova took the women’s prize with six points.
2nd Tournament: Carlsen Catches Ohanyan
After winning his first eight games in the first tournament, Carlsen won his first seven in the second event. In the eighth round he had a quiet draw with Nakamura. Yet, in the ninth round Carlsen uncharacteristically went astray in a better position against GM Emin Ohanyan.
Ohanyan maintained the lead to reach 9/10, but stumbled in the final round, losing to Nakamura in a sharp game. That gave Carlsen a chance to win the event with a final round game against Lazavik, his upcoming SCC opponent. That event has increment, but 3 0 Thursdays have no time added each move, and Carlsen used the clock to grind out a win.
That victory brought Carlsen to 9.5/11. Ohanyan took second with nine points, just ahead of Nakamura on tiebreaks. Ambartsumova scored 6/11 to take her second women’s prize of the day. That gives her nine victories in the event overall, tying with IM Anna Sargsyan for the record.
3rd Tournament: Lazavik Finishes Strong
Lazavik had a slow start to the third 3 0 Thursday. A fourth round loss against IM Reza Mahdavi left him at only 2.5/4. However, Lazavik responded by winning his final seven games of the day. In the ninth round he defeated the most frequent winner of 3 0 Thursdays, IM Renato Terry.
Lazavik entered the final round with a half-point lead over GM Oleksandr Bortnyk. Lazavik ensured a drama-free final round with a quick victory against Sarana, who blundered a thematic tactic in the Catalan Opening.
Bortnyk also won his final game to reach 2nd place and 9/11. Mahdavi earned 3rd place with 8.5 points.
IM Le Thao Nguyen Pham won her first 3 0 Thursday women’s prize with 5.5 points.
