The tournament leaders going into the final round of all three 3 0 Thursday tournaments on January 22 all lost their games and their leads. The chaotic day ended with GM Alexey Sarana winning a tournament for the third straight week, GM Hikaru Nakamura winning for the third time overall, and IM Renato Terry winning his record sixth championship. Meanwhile, IM Meri Arabadize won the women’s prize in the first event, followed by WFM Anastasiia Hnatyshyn winning the prize in the second and third tournaments of the day. Hnatyshyn’s win in the third tournament was especially impressive, as she reached 6.5 points despite missing the first two rounds!
1st Tournament: Sarana Catches Nakamura
Nakamura started the first tournament on a tear, winning his first seven games, including defeating Sarana in the seventh round. He seemed to be cruising toward first place with two draws and a win in rounds 8-10. That meant that Nakamura needed only a draw in the last round to clinch first place. However, GM Pranav Venkatesh never let Nakamura reach a comfortable game, kept the pressure up and prevailed in a sharp endgame.
Despite the loss, Nakamura still had chances to win the tournament, but Sarana caught him by defeating GM Cristobal Henriquez in a sharp game.
That win gave Sarana first on tiebreaks, followed by Nakamura and GM Bogdan Daniel Deac. Pranav ended up fourth on tiebreaks with the same 9/11 score.
2nd Tournament: Nakamura Puts It Out Of Reach
Winning the first seven rounds wasn’t enough for Nakamura in the first tournament, so to make up for, he won the first nine rounds in the second event! That amazing start allowed him to some room to slow down at the end and still finish a point clear of the field with 9.5/11.
In the seventh round, Nakamura scored a critical win against GM Jose Martinez.
In the very next round Nakamura kept going by crushing GM Oleksandr Bortnyk.
GM Alexander Grischuk actually beat Nakamura in the final round, but at that point first place was well decided. Grischuk finished with 8.5/11 and came in fourth, behind GM Dmitrij Kollars and GM Sergei Zhigalko on tiebreaks.
Popular streamer IM Levy Rozman had a great event as well, nearly reaching a 3000 blitz rating. He offered his own recap.
3rd Tournament: Terry Gets Back On Track
Terry has won more 3 0 Thursdays than anyone else, but hadn’t won any since his five-week winning streak concluded on December 18. One month later, Terry was back in first place. Like the previous two events, the leader after ten rounds lost at the finish line. Martinez defeated GM Haik Martirosyan to pass him and reach 8.5 points. That was only good for second on tiebreaks, however, as Terry defeated Sarana in a critical game.
The top two finishers had played in round six, with Terry winning that battle as well.
Behind Terry and Martinez’s 8.5 points, Bortnyk finished third with 8/11.
