On August 19, for the second time in less than two years, GM Magnus Carlsen swept both Titled Tuesdays on a single day. Carlsen also won last week’s late event, giving him three in a row overall. He won both of today’s events outright, including a second straight 10.5/11 performance in the first tournament, followed by 10/11 in the second.
Early Tournament
For the first seven rounds of the first tournament, out of the 432 players vying to win, GM Alexey Sarana hung with Carlsen game for game, each starting 7/7. Sarana kept pace in the eighth round by playing Carlsen to a draw, but it would end up the only full point Carlsen did not secure in the event, while Sarana made another draw in the very next round.
While Sarana was making that second draw, Carlsen was taking on GM Hikaru Nakamura, as he also had in last week’s late Titled Tuesday as well as Freestyle Friday (and, spoiler alert, would again soon). Carlsen would reach a pawn-up rook endgame, but a particularly difficult one, as Nakamura was the player with a passed pawn, while two of Carlsen’s three pawns were doubled. However, Carlsen was able to turn his doubled, contested pawns into connected passers, and Nakamura soon resigned.
With Carlsen now leading outright, Sarana would win his last two games, forcing Carlsen to also win to maintain that sole lead. And not only to win, but to win against GMs Arjun Erigaisi and Ian Nepomniachtchi. Naturally, Carlsen was up to the challenge. The game against Arjun was over before it even began, lasting all of 16 moves—and Carlsen could have won even sooner.
Carlsen’s win over Nepomniachtchi was a bit more conventional, but it was plenty enough to take first place. Meanwhile, Sarana would take second place by a full point ahead of third after taking out Nakamura.
GMs Jeffery Xiong, Arjun, and Adam Kozak rounded out the top five while FM Liya Kurmangaliyeva won the women’s prize.
August 19 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | 1st Tiebreak |
| 1 | 2 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3338 | 10.5 | 74.5 | |
| 2 | 18 | GM | @mishanick | Aleksei Sarana | 3153 | 10 | 72 | |
| 3 | 13 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 3128 | 9 | 75 | |
| 4 | 12 | GM | @GHANDEEVAM2003 | Arjun Erigaisi | 3134 | 9 | 70.5 | |
| 5 | 22 | GM | @MrTattaglia | Adam Kozak | 3093 | 8.5 | 73.5 | |
| 6 | 11 | GM | @artooon | Pranesh M | 3114 | 8.5 | 70.5 | |
| 7 | 8 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3156 | 8.5 | 68 | |
| 8 | 25 | GM | @amintabatabaei | Amin Tabatabaei | 3046 | 8.5 | 66.5 | |
| 9 | 10 | GM | @Volodar_Murzin | Volodar Murzin | 3127 | 8.5 | 62.5 | |
| 10 | 14 | IM | @FaustinoOro | Faustino Oro | 3116 | 8.5 | 61 | |
| 11 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3380 | 8 | 76.5 | |
| 12 | 58 | IM | @Arash_Tahbaz | Arash Tahbaz | 2955 | 8 | 74 | |
| 13 | 3 | GM | @lachesisQ | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 3198 | 8 | 73 | |
| 14 | 45 | IM | @Kirill_Klukin | Kirill Klukin | 2989 | 8 | 71 | |
| 15 | 68 | GM | @Cayse | Martyn Kravtsiv | 2937 | 8 | 70.5 | |
| 16 | 50 | CM | @Ga_R | Ruslan Gadzhiev | 2984 | 8 | 70 | |
| 17 | 15 | GM | @Indianlad | S.L. Narayanan | 3103 | 8 | 69.5 | |
| 18 | 21 | GM | @Elsa167 | Leon Livaic | 3084 | 8 | 69 | |
| 19 | 37 | GM | @jcibarra | José Carlos Ibarra Jerez | 2996 | 8 | 68.5 | |
| 20 | 33 | GM | @Durarbayli | Vasif Durarbayli | 3001 | 8 | 68 | |
| 37 | 151 | FM | @Leebit02 | Liya Kurmangaliyeva | 2707 | 7.5 | 62.5 |
Prizes: Carlsen $1,000, Sarana $750, Xiong $350, Arjun $200, Kozak $100, Kurmangaliyeva $100.
Late Tournament
Carlsen’s only other sweep before this one came on November 7, 2023, and he wouldn’t be denied now. His perfect run in the second tournament field of 326 lasted even longer than in the first, as he reached 9/9. In the process, he defeated Nakamura again, this time in the eighth round. Carlsen, who had played the Polish Opening with White in their earlier game, now played the Scandinavian Defense with Black. Carlsen’s opening choices are not why he’s winning these games, though, and his position here got quite bad before he turned things around.
After defeating Xiong in the ninth round, Carlsen finally met his match in the 10th, as Arjun avenged his devastatingly short loss from before and became the first person to beat Carlsen all day. Of course, it took Arjun 74 moves and two queens to do it.
Nakamura, meanwhile, defeated 14-year-old IM Khagan Ahmad, joining Carlsen in the lead to create a hairy situation with just one round left.
Against GM Haowen Xue, Carlsen got into more trouble in his last game, but eventually did his part to retain the lead and secure the sweep. Nakamura got Arjun as his opponent and wasn’t so lucky. Here are both contests:
In the end, Nakamura was able to stay in the top five, finishing fourth in between GMs Cristobal Henriquez and David Paravyan, but it was Arjun who took second. IM Gunay Mammadzada won the women’s prize.
August 19 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | 1st Tiebreak |
| 1 | 2 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3356 | 10 | 77.5 | |
| 2 | 8 | GM | @GHANDEEVAM2003 | Arjun Erigaisi | 3170 | 9.5 | 74.5 | |
| 3 | 38 | GM | @HVillagra | Cristobal Henriquez | 2980 | 9 | 73 | |
| 4 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3363 | 9 | 70.5 | |
| 5 | 21 | GM | @dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 3033 | 9 | 68 | |
| 6 | 6 | GM | @Parhamov | Parham Maghsoodloo | 3157 | 8.5 | 74.5 | |
| 7 | 28 | GM | @Vaathi_Coming | Aravindh Chithambaram | 2973 | 8.5 | 62.5 | |
| 8 | 45 | GM | @PeacefulWarrior888 | Arman Mikaelyan | 2913 | 8.5 | 60 | |
| 9 | 11 | GM | @Dr_Tyger | Haowen Xue | 3116 | 8 | 75 | |
| 10 | 12 | GM | @Salem-AR | Salem AR Saleh | 3105 | 8 | 72 | |
| 11 | 3 | GM | @HansOnTwitch | Hans Niemann | 3163 | 8 | 71 | |
| 12 | 10 | GM | @Volodar_Murzin | Volodar Murzin | 3098 | 8 | 69.5 | |
| 13 | 9 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 3140 | 8 | 69 | |
| 14 | 22 | GM | @Durarbayli | Vasif Durarbayli | 3011 | 8 | 69 | |
| 15 | 48 | FM | @Skatchkov_V | Valery Skatchkov | 2904 | 8 | 65.5 | |
| 16 | 30 | FM | @only_strong_moves | Maksym Dubnevych | 2949 | 8 | 62.5 | |
| 17 | 31 | IM | @Alexander_Khlebovich | Alexander Khlebovich | 2943 | 8 | 60.5 | |
| 18 | 5 | GM | @mishanick | Aleksei Sarana | 3120 | 8 | 52.5 | |
| 19 | 52 | GM | @K_A_S_T_O_R | Rodrigo Vasquez | 2892 | 7.5 | 68 | |
| 20 | 42 | GM | @Kosak12 | Jakub Kosakowski | 2934 | 7.5 | 66 | |
| 69 | 1 | IM | @MammadzadaG | Gunay Mammadzada | 2573 | 6 | 59.5 |
Prizes: Carlsen $1,000, Arjun $750, Henriquez $350, Nakamura $200, Paravyan $100, Mammadzada $100. (Daily totals: Carlsen $2,000, Arjun $950.)
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 | Zhu Jiner |
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).
