Caruana Back Atop Titled Tuesday In Photo Finish

GM Fabiano Caruana finished just ahead of GM Denis Lazavik to win Titled Tuesday on February 17, after Caruana defeated GM Wesley So in the final round but Lazavik only made a draw with GM Hikaru Nakamura (in a rematch of the 3rd Place Match in the Speed Chess Championship nine days prior). With both Caruana and Lazavik on 9.5 points, only half a tiebreak point separated them, which was ultimately enough to give Caruana his first Titled Tuesday victory in nearly three years.

Caruana will still need another strong performance in next week’s Titled Tuesday to qualify for the Chess.com Global Championship via the winter split path (although there is also a play-in route to the CGC). Lazavik, who is already in the Esports World Cup via his SCC performance, could also still reach the CGC and improved his position in the winter split standings to fourth.

Broadcast

If you missed the Take Take Take broadcast with GM David Howell, WFM Maud Rodsmoen, and CM Jon Kristian Haarr, you can catch it below!

CCT Standings

Titled Tuesday’s role in the Champions Chess Tour (CCT) continues as the split that will determine Chess.com Global Championship qualifiers nears conclusion. The updated top 10 for the Winter Split is as follows—the top eight qualify for the CGC and only one week remains to jostle for position.

Full Standings | Titled Tuesday Info | CCT Info | CCT Standings

Tournament Recap

After 17 players reached 4/4, six made it to 5/5, which fell to three perfect players after six rounds. None of the three were the eventual co-leaders; instead, it was So, GM Arjun Erigaisi, and GM Alexander Grischuk. It was only So who would reach 7/7, as he beat Grischuk. 

Lazavik took down Arjun, meanwhile, and then took control in the next round. There, he defeated So and became the only player on 7.5/8 entering the second break.

Lazavik would be held to a draw in the ninth round by GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, which allowed Arjun and So to rejoin a share of the lead, and GM Haik Martirosyan (last week’s Freestyle Friday winner) hit 8/9 as well. Arjun only needed 25 moves to topple GM Sina Movahed.

But Lazavik and So would win in the 10th round against Martirosyan and Arjun to reach 9/10, while Nakamura and Caruana defeated Nepomniachtchi and Movahed, respectively, to reach 8.5 points each. That left the group of Lazavik, So, Caruana, and Nakamura as the only four players with a chance to win the tournament in the final round.

With Lazavik already playing So in round eight, and Caruana and Nakamura drawing in round seven, the matchups instead came down to Lazavik–Nakamura and So–Caruana. The situation made a come-from-behind victory more likely than if the co-leaders played each other, and that’s what happened, albeit barely. First, So dropped an exchange to some tactics on moves 19-23, and he could not offer much resistance the rest of the way as Caruana reeled in the victory.

In the other game, Nakamura was pessimistic early on about his winning chances, and moments after So resigned against Caruana, his game with Lazavik indeed ended in a draw.

Tiebreaks between Caruana and Lazavik remained extremely unclear until every game in the tournament was finished. Under the old system, Lazavik would have held the advantage, but the current tiebreak format gave Caruana a 77.5-77 lead. Arjun, So, Nakamura, and GM Volodar Murzin rounded out the top six while WIM Kalyani Sirin won the women’s prize.

February 17 Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (Top 20)

(Full final standings.)