For GM Alexey Sarana, the early Titled Tuesday tournament on July 15 was his 16th career win in the event, and his third of the year. For up-and-coming GM Sina Movahed, the late tournament was his first ever.
The established player was the one who needed tiebreaks, Sarana’s 9.5 points good enough to beat GMs Dmitry Andreikin and Ediz Gurel on the same score. Movahed, meanwhile, won outright on 10 points after defeating Sarana himself in the last round.
Early Tournament
Out of the 541 hopefuls in the early tournament, GM Hikaru Nakamura had the fastest start, reaching 7/7. His run ended in the eighth round at the hands of GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, who moved into a tie for first with Sarana. The two of them then battled in the ninth round, with Vachier-Lagrave coming out on top.
Vachier-Lagrave would only earn half a point in in the last two rounds, however, finishing fourth, but it wasn’t clear until the very end who would in fact take his place atop the tournament. Gurel became one of two players to enter the 11th round sharing the lead after being the player to deliver Vachier-Lagrave’s loss in the 10th round.
The player tied with Gurel was Andreikin, who followed up his ninth-round win against Nakamura by defeating GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda in the 10th.
Sarana, meanwhile, recovered in the 10th round by beating GM Minh Le, in a wild-looking but ultimately rather short game over which Sarana never truly lost control. He finished the game off with an unusual application of a back rank weakness, helping to join a five-way tie in striking distance of the co-leaders.
With so many players behind them, Andreikin and Gurel knew they couldn’t just take a draw, but a draw was what they got. This result turned out to be a bit tragic for Gurel, who had the better of it at the end but ran into a threefold repetition, and wound up finishing behind both Sarana and Andreikin after tiebreaks. Unfortunately for Gurel, the third repetition of the position was only the second repetition of moves, making it more difficult to see that 63…Qd5+ was going to allow a draw.
The draw gave several players an opening to join the lead, but Sarana was the only one to take it. Vachier-Lagrave and GM Daniel Naroditsky drew and GM Sanan Sjugirov lost to Nakamura, while Sarana won against GM Rustam Kasimdzhanov. Kasimdzhanov put the game on an unusual track all the way back on move two, and for some time that decision paid off. The game got very complicated starting on move 25, however, and when the dust settled, Sarana’s passed a-pawn was unstoppable.
With Sarana, Andreikin, and Gurel taking the top three spots, Vachier-Lagrave and Duda rounded out the top five. WGM Priyanka Nutakki earned the women’s prize.
July 15 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | 1st Tiebreak |
| 1 | 15 | GM | @mishanick | Aleksei Sarana | 3153 | 9.5 | 75 | |
| 2 | 6 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3207 | 9.5 | 71 | |
| 3 | 5 | GM | @gurelediz | Ediz Gürel | 3217 | 9.5 | 70 | |
| 4 | 3 | GM | @LyonBeast | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 3237 | 9 | 77 | |
| 5 | 14 | GM | @Polish_fighter3000 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 3139 | 9 | 76.5 | |
| 6 | 17 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3078 | 9 | 69.5 | |
| 7 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3395 | 9 | 66.5 | |
| 8 | 20 | GM | @Grandelicious | Nils Grandelius | 3092 | 9 | 64 | |
| 9 | 13 | GM | @Dr_Tyger | Haowen Xue | 3115 | 8.5 | 73 | |
| 10 | 4 | GM | @nihalsarin | Nihal Sarin | 3204 | 8.5 | 72.5 | |
| 11 | 48 | GM | @AryanTari | Aryan Tari | 2936 | 8.5 | 72 | |
| 12 | 18 | GM | @Sanan_Sjugirov | Sanan Sjugirov | 3104 | 8.5 | 71.5 | |
| 13 | 8 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3135 | 8.5 | 69 | |
| 14 | 254 | GM | @solingen2020 | Rustam Kasimdzhanov | 2668 | 8.5 | 68.5 | |
| 15 | 60 | GM | @rasmussvane | Rasmus Svane | 2960 | 8.5 | 66 | |
| 16 | 70 | IM | @dzhumagaliev | Ian Dzhumagaliev | 2891 | 8.5 | 65.5 | |
| 17 | 43 | GM | @SantoBlue | Vahap Sanal | 2985 | 8 | 72.5 | |
| 18 | 23 | GM | @shimastream | Aleksandr Shimanov | 3046 | 8 | 70.5 | |
| 19 | 7 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 3114 | 8 | 65.5 | |
| 20 | 51 | FM | @ReadySkate | Hamidreza Ebrahimi Herab | 3000 | 8 | 64 | |
| 66 | 163 | WGM | @Ind1anStar | Priyanka Nutakki | 2712 | 7 | 59 |
Prizes: Sarana $1,000, Andreikin $750, Gurel $350, Vachier-Lagrave $200, Duda $100, Priyanka $100.
Late Tournament
In the late tournament, once again a player reached 7/7 but not 8/8. This time it was GM Robert Piliposyan, who was able to convert that start into an outright second-place finish. But it was Movahed who outlasted the field of 368, suffering only a loss in round five but otherwise securing every point.
By the ninth round, Movahed was back into a share of the lead, tied with GM Nihal Sarin. In their ensuing 10th-round battle, Movahed was never in danger of losing, but couldn’t quite put the game away until Nihal gave the wrong check on move 46, missing his chance to eliminate White’s b7-pawn.
With Movahed now in the sole lead, the final obstacle to his first Titled Tuesday win was none other than Sarana, who had a chance at his own milestone—sweeping both tournaments of the day. Sarana’s computer-approved exchange sacrifice put some pressure on Movahed, but Black’s 36th move allowed White to simplify the position to a point where his material advantage easily won the day.
Piliposyan, who had lost to Nihal in the ninth round, recovered with two straight victories. Movahed’s win over Sarana had taken care of one of the threats to Piliposyan’s second place, and his own win over GM Yasser Quesada Perez took care of the other when Perez thought he had won a pawn but had in fact missed a tactic.
Nihal was able to recover from his setback against Movahed by defeating GM Rasmus Svane to finish in third. Their game saw some wild swings, but none wilder than Nihal’s 45.Qc3! winning a whole rook.
GM Alireza Firouzja (whom Movahed had victimized in round nine) and Naroditsky rounded out the top five, while IM Eline Roebers ran away with the women’s prize, scoring 8/11 to finish in 19th place.
July 15 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | 1st Tiebreak |
| 1 | 8 | GM | @Sina-Movahed | Sina Movahed | 3161 | 10 | 66.5 | |
| 2 | 44 | IM | @PiliposyanRobertChess | Robert Piliposyan | 2965 | 9.5 | 73.5 | |
| 3 | 3 | GM | @nihalsarin | Nihal Sarin | 3204 | 9 | 75 | |
| 4 | 1 | GM | @Firouzja2003 | Alireza Firouzja | 3305 | 9 | 67 | |
| 5 | 6 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3078 | 9 | 62.5 | |
| 6 | 7 | GM | @mishanick | Aleksei Sarana | 3153 | 8.5 | 78.5 | |
| 7 | 17 | GM | @vugarrasulov | Vugar Rasulov | 3023 | 8.5 | 68 | |
| 8 | 65 | GM | @YQPerez | Yasser Quesada Perez | 2867 | 8.5 | 68 | |
| 9 | 9 | GM | @Andreikka | Andrey Esipenko | 3122 | 8 | 75.5 | |
| 10 | 23 | GM | @hansen | Eric Hansen | 2995 | 8 | 74 | |
| 11 | 10 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 3065 | 8 | 72.5 | |
| 12 | 13 | GM | @BogdanDeac | Bogdan Daniel Deac | 3083 | 8 | 71.5 | |
| 13 | 25 | IM | @Arystanner | Arystanbek Urazayev | 2973 | 8 | 68.5 | |
| 14 | 27 | GM | @rasmussvane | Rasmus Svane | 2960 | 8 | 66.5 | |
| 15 | 56 | IM | @AlexPapasimakopoulos | Alexandros Papasimakopoulos | 2879 | 8 | 64.5 | |
| 16 | 35 | FM | @GoltsevDmitry2000 | Goltsev Dmitry | 2907 | 8 | 63.5 | |
| 17 | 57 | NM | @NoHeThTo | Noah Thomforde-Toates | 2891 | 8 | 63 | |
| 18 | 78 | FM | @FLamps8 | David Shapiro | 2784 | 8 | 62 | |
| 19 | 71 | IM | @gshwbedhkhd | Eline Roebers | 2819 | 8 | 62 | |
| 20 | 5 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 3114 | 8 | 61 |
Prizes: Movahed $1,000, Piliposyan $750, Nihal $350, Firouzja $200, Naroditsky $100, Roebers $100.
Grand Prix Qualifiers
The Titled Tuesday Grand Prix concluded back on May 27. Congratulations to the Speed Chess Championship qualifiers!
SCC qualifiers:
| Rk | Username | Score | Title | Name |
| 1 | @MagnusCarlsen | 98.5 | GM | Magnus Carlsen |
| 2 | @Hikaru | 95.0 | GM | Hikaru Nakamura |
| 3 | @LiemLe | 93.0 | GM | Liem Le |
| 4 | @GHANDEEVAM2003 | 93.0 | GM | Arjun Erigaisi |
| 5 | @DenLaz | 92.5 | GM | Denis Lazavik |
| 6 | @Jospem | 92.0 | GM | Jose Martinez |
| 7 | @wonderfultime | 92.0 | GM | Tuan Minh Le |
| 8 | @HansOnTwitch | 92.0 | GM | Hans Niemann |
Women’s SCC qualifiers:
| Rk | Username | Score | Title | Name |
| 1 | @ChessQueen | 74.5 | GM | Alexandra Kosteniuk |
| 2 | @Flawless_Fighter | 72.5 | IM | Polina Shuvalova |
| 3 | @Goryachkina | 72.0 | GM | Aleksandra Goryachkina |
| 4 | @karinachess1 | 70.5 | IM | Karina Ambartsumova |
| 5 | @Meri-Arabidze | 69.0 | IM | Meri Arabidze |
| 6 | @Sanyura | 68.0 | WGM | Aleksandra Maltsevskaya |
| 7 | @anasta10 | 68.0 | FM | Anastasia Avramidou |
| 8 | @jinbojinbo | 67.0 | GM | Jiner Zhu |
Seniors (born 1975 or earlier), juniors (born 2009 or later), and girls (born 2005 or later) did not have SCC places on the line, but there were cash prizes in each of these categories. The winners were:
Seniors: GM Alexei Shirov (@AlexeiShirov), 83.5 points (won $2,500)
Youth: GM Andy Woodward (@Philippians46), 86.5 points (won $2,500)
Girls: WGM Anna Shukhman (@speshka), 66.5 points (won $1,000)
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).
