Bortnyk Blasts Into First With Seven-Game Winning Streak

GM Oleksandr Bortnyk won Titled Tuesday on October 28, taking his last seven games of the tournament for a come-from-behind outright victory on 10 points out of 11. GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave was actually the only player not to lose a game during the event, ending up with 9.5 points to finish in second place.

In the memory of Danya , Won my first TT this year pic.twitter.com/XDuI1fopX0

— Oleksandr Bortnyk (@BortnykChess) October 28, 2025

Even with GMs Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura preoccupied with the Clutch Chess Champions Showdown, the 395 players in this week’s ultra-competitive Titled Tuesday played plenty of compelling chess. The highlights were a pair of queen sacrifices, including one on Bortnyk’s very last move of the tournament.

Broadcast

If you missed the official Take Take Take broadcast with Kaja Snare, GM David Howell, and WFM Maud Rodsmoen, you can catch it below:

CCT Standings

The updated Champions Chess Tour (CCT) autumn standings, which will determine six spots in the next Esports World Cup, will appear here shortly.

 Full Standings | Titled Tuesday Info | CCT Info

Recap

Playing onsite in the Take Take Take studio, 15-year-old Norwegian FM Havard Haug got a big win in the third round, taking out GM Dmitry Andreikin to start 3/3. Haug would eventually finish in 41st place with seven points.

The last perfect players were instead GMs Tuan Minh Le and Ian Nepomniachtchi, who faced off in the seventh round with each on 6/6. Sometimes these contests between the last two perfect players are mainly notable for their impact on the standings, but this was an amazing game on the board as well. Le went into the endgame an exchange ahead after a spectacular queen sacrifice, and he easily converted his advantage.

Le’s bid for perfection ended in the next two rounds after making draws in both. Now, with two rounds to play, there was a four-way tie for first place on 8/9. Bortnyk, whose loss in the fourth round had put him behind 14 different players in the standings at that point, had now finally joined the leaders along with Le, GM Volodar Murzin, and IM Renato Terry.

Against Le in the 10th round, Bortnyk found himself low on time from the get-go after using 101 seconds for his first five moves, but remained unfazed. Neither side gained an advantage on the board, but the queens remained in play, which eventually resulted in a sudden shift in Bortnyk’s favor.

Murzin also won his 10th-round game, resulting in a decisive final-round clash between the 2024 World Rapid Champion and Bortnyk. Howell pointed out in the commentary that Bortnyk chose an opening about which his late friend, GM Daniel Naroditsky, had written a course.

Through no fault of his opening choice, Bortnyk was barely hanging on in the middlegame when he took a chance at the surprising 35.Nf6. Murzin knew something was up, spending 31 of his remaining 60 seconds in choosing a reply, but if you’ve played enough chess, you’ve had at least one of those situations where extra thinking doesn’t stop you from making a blunder. Bortnyk was immediately able to sacrifice his queen for a mate-in-two.

In the meantime, Vachier-Lagrave, who made draws in rounds five through seven, wrapped up a four-game winning streak to take outright second place. 

Le also won in the last round and was able to take third place on tiebreaks as a result, ahead of GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Murzin, and GM Pranav Venkatesh. All of them scored nine points. Kazakhstani IM Zarina Nurgaliyeva took home the women’s prize.

October 28 Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (Top 20)

(Full final standings.)