Not for the first time, GMs Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlsen were your Titled Tuesday winners on August 12. Nakamura defeated GM Oleksandr Bortnyk in the final round of the first tournament, winning it on tiebreaks over Bortnyk and two others. In the day’s second tournament, Carlsen made a draw in the third round but won every other game, including in round eight against the otherwise-undefeated Nakamura. Carlsen thus won outright half a point while Bortnyk, like Nakamura, finished in the top five in both events.
For Nakamura, it was his 90th Titled Tuesday victory since the tournament moved to 11 rounds in October 2020. For Carlsen, it was his 35th, and his 10th of 2025, more than anyone.
Early Tournament
With 464 players participating in the early tournament, Bortnyk seemed on his way to victory with a 9/9 start giving him a lead of a full point over GMs Mukhiddin Madaminov and Aleksandr Shimanov. Bortnyk’s ninth straight win was a dramatic comeback victory against GM Alireza Firouzja, but the round before, against GM Minh Le, featured a more consistent performance.
The cracks started to show in round 10, however, when Madaminov played Bortnyk to a draw. And then in the final round came Bortnyk’s toughest matchup of the event. Nakamura played the Trompowsky Attack and got a rook on the seventh rank before move 20, which soon cost Bortnyk his queen for two rooks. Once Nakamura’s queen worked her way into Black’s position, with its flimsy king and uncoordinated rooks, the game was effectively over.
Nakamura and Bortnyk now both had 9.5 points, as did Madaminov and GM Vasif Durarbayli, leaving a lot of tiebreaks to sort out. None of them were particularly close, however, with the 2.5-point gap between Nakamura and Bortnyk being the narrowest. Third place went to Madaminov after his win over GM Daniel Naroditsky in the last round. Madaminov’s London System turned into a winning position by move 12, and he never let it go.
The final prizes after the top four belonged to Shimanov in fifth and IM Le Thao Nguyen Pham in 49th for the women’s prize.
August 12 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | 1st Tiebreak |
| 1 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3409 | 9.5 | 82 | |
| 2 | 3 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3203 | 9.5 | 79.5 | |
| 3 | 14 | GM | @Macho_2006 | Mukhiddin Madaminov | 3050 | 9.5 | 76 | |
| 4 | 17 | GM | @Durarbayli | Vasif Durarbayli | 3036 | 9.5 | 72.5 | |
| 5 | 23 | GM | @shimastream | Aleksandr Shimanov | 3073 | 9 | 71 | |
| 6 | 5 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 3093 | 9 | 68 | |
| 7 | 55 | GM | @Jagadeesh_Siddharth | Jagadeesh Siddharth | 2914 | 9 | 57.5 | |
| 8 | 10 | IM | @MITerryble | Renato Terry | 3077 | 8.5 | 77 | |
| 9 | 8 | GM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3103 | 8.5 | 69.5 | |
| 10 | 16 | IM | @scarabee43 | Marco Materia | 3031 | 8.5 | 69 | |
| 11 | 12 | GM | @Anton_Demchenko | Anton Demchenko | 3074 | 8.5 | 65 | |
| 12 | 20 | IM | @hakanazeri2 | Khagan Ahmad | 3006 | 8.5 | 62.5 | |
| 13 | 42 | GM | @Byniolus | Zbigniew Pakleza | 2917 | 8 | 77 | |
| 14 | 45 | FM | @Saidov_B | Bilukhadzh Saidov | 2933 | 8 | 76 | |
| 15 | 48 | IM | @Carnivoras | Quoc Hy Nguyen | 2937 | 8 | 75.5 | |
| 16 | 18 | IM | @Murad_Ibrahimli | Murad İbrahimli | 3012 | 8 | 73 | |
| 17 | 4 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3157 | 8 | 70 | |
| 18 | 29 | GM | @Vaathi_Coming | Aravindh Chithambaram | 2951 | 8 | 69 | |
| 19 | 24 | GM | @sergoy | Sergey Drygalov | 2985 | 8 | 67 | |
| 20 | 65 | IM | @SahibSinghKnight | Sahib Singh | 2854 | 8 | 65.5 | |
| 49 | 136 | IM | @Fh2411 | Le Thao Nguyen Pham | 2718 | 7 | 67 |
Prizes: Nakamura $1,000, Bortnyk $750, Madaminov $350, Durarbayli $200, Shimanov $100, Le $100.
Late Tournament
Nakamura actually scored higher in the late field of 328 than he had earlier in the day, but finished in a lower position thanks to Carlsen’s dominance. Early on, however, it appeared Nakamura’s 7/7 start might carry him to a sweep of both the day’s events, which would have been his ninth.
But the ensuing individual matchup in round eight also ended up with Carlsen ahead of Nakamura. Carlsen held a small pull throughout most of the middlegame until Nakamura dropped a pawn, and the deficit soon ballooned into an insurmountable one. Don’t miss Carlsen’s 34th move!
Naturally, the result turned a Nakamura tournament lead into a Carlsen lead. But, with five players including Nakamura just half a point behind Carlsen and three rounds to go, the tournament leader could not let up.
And he didn’t. Carlsen won each of his last three games as well, against Bortnyk, IM Aldiyar Ansat, and GM Javokhir Sindarov. Every last win was necessary, too, with Nakamura going 3/3 against GMs Alexey Sarana, Naroditsky, and Jose Martinez—and ending with the better tiebreaks had it come to that.
For both of them, the ninth-round win was most interesting. Before Naroditsky and Martinez made one-move blunders (Naroditsky’s into a mate-in-one), Sarana forced Nakamura to find several only-moves before winning an endgame. Just compare the coordination between each side’s pieces in the final position.
For Carlsen’s part, after defeating Nakamura he immediately had to face Bortnyk, who was in fine form all day. Carlsen responded with a vintage performance, gradually building an endgame advantage before grinding it out without ever losing grip on the position.
The contests against Ansat and Sindarov were also decided in the endgame, although the competitive portions of those games ended more suddenly.
Ultimately, nobody else besides the big two finished with more than nine points. Bortnyk, who had even better tiebreaks than either Magnus or Hikaru, took third place. Sarana ended in fourth and IM Kirill Klukin was the best of three players on 8.5 points, finishing fifth. WIM Zarina Nurgaliyeva scored 7.5 points, finishing in 21st to win the women’s prize.
August 12 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | 1st Tiebreak |
| 1 | 2 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3308 | 10.5 | 72.5 | |
| 2 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3409 | 10 | 77 | |
| 3 | 3 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3203 | 9 | 82.5 | |
| 4 | 6 | GM | @mishanick | Aleksei Sarana | 3147 | 9 | 71.5 | |
| 5 | 24 | IM | @Kirill_Klukin | Kirill Klukin | 2971 | 8.5 | 73 | |
| 6 | 7 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3157 | 8.5 | 68.5 | |
| 7 | 28 | FM | @GoltsevDmitry2000 | Goltsev Dmitry | 2945 | 8.5 | 65.5 | |
| 8 | 69 | IM | @ansprvt | Aldiyar Ansat | 2838 | 8 | 75.5 | |
| 9 | 9 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3100 | 8 | 70 | |
| 10 | 4 | GM | @Javokhir_Sindarov05 | Javokhir Sindarov | 3171 | 8 | 70 | |
| 11 | 8 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 3093 | 8 | 68 | |
| 12 | 26 | FM | @BardArtem | Artem Bardyk | 2940 | 8 | 66 | |
| 13 | 10 | GM | @GM_dmitrij | Dmitrij Kollars | 3084 | 8 | 65.5 | |
| 14 | 44 | FM | @NikitaShandrygin | Nikita Shandrygin | 2885 | 8 | 65 | |
| 15 | 86 | FM | @Cosi43 | Marek Zakrzewski | 2744 | 8 | 63 | |
| 16 | 84 | IM | @Kaufman_David | David Kaufman | 2773 | 8 | 62.5 | |
| 17 | 122 | FM | @ChristopherGarz | Christopher Garzón Zapatanga | 2686 | 7.5 | 67.5 | |
| 18 | 56 | FM | @Skatchkov_V | Valery Skatchkov | 2832 | 7.5 | 66.5 | |
| 19 | 23 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 2942 | 7.5 | 66 | |
| 20 | 88 | FM | @SaqoChess_Coach | Sargis Manukyan | 2753 | 7.5 | 66 | |
| 21 | 68 | WIM | @Zarinur | Zarina Nurgaliyeva | 2774 | 7.5 | 63 |
Prizes: Carlsen $1,000, Nakamura $750, Bortnyk $350, Sarana $200, Klukin $100, Nurgaliyeva $100. Daily totals: Nakamura $1,750, Bortnyk $1,100.
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 | 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).
