GMs Denis Lazavik, Alexey Sarana, and Oleksandr Bortnyk won the three 3 0 Thursday tournaments on January 8. It was Bortnyk’s first victory in the event, while the other GMs took their second title. IM Anna Sargsyan won the women’s prizes in the first two tournaments, giving her an impressive seven victories, tied for the overall lead in that category. FM Rose Atwell won the third women’s prize, her second overall.
Lazavik Win His Second 3 0 Thursday
The first tournament of the day is always the largest and tends to feature the strongest competition. On his way to an undefeated first place, Lazavik faced the second- and third-place finishers—five-time tournament champion, IM Renato Terry, and two-time world title challenger, GM Ian Nepomniachtchi—and the highest-rated player in the field, GM Hikaru Nakamura. His eighth-round game with Nakamura was exciting and critical to the tournament standings.
After that win Lazavik was in clear first place, which he maintained with a score of 9/10 heading into the final round. He needed just a draw with GM V Pranav to secure first place. Lazavik kept control, but both players missed one tactic that could have swung the tournament.
That draw left Pranav in third place with 8.5 points, while M Pranesh took second with nine points.
The second tournament was also a triumph for an undefeated player. Sarana gave up draws in the second and fifth rounds, but a winning streak in rounds six through nine launched him into first place. His victory over GM Jeffery Xiong in the eighth round was hard-fought and an important step in the fight for first.
Heading into the final round, Sarana held a half-point lead over Xiong and Terry. Sarana’s wild time scramble with GM Elham Amar decided first place.
That game brought Sarana to first place on 9.5 points. Xiong took second with 8.5, and GM Jose Martinez came in third with the same score.
Bortnyk Wins With A Round To Spare
Bortnyk started the third tournament on a tear, reaching 8.5/10 and a full point lead over the field. He scored an impressive win in round eight in one of his favorite lines, the Jobava London.
He won with another of his specialty openings, the Alekhine’s Defense in round 10.
Bortnyk needed all of his full-point cushion going into the final round, as he lost a time-scramble against GM Sergei Zhigalko in the final game. Despite the loss, Bortnyk prevailed on tiebreaks over GM Narayanan S. L., while Zhigalko took third place.
3 0 Thursday features three tournaments every week for titled players. The events are on Thursday every week at 11 a.m., 4 p.m., and 9 p.m. ET / 17:00, 22:00, and 3 a.m. (+1) CET / 9:30 p.m., 2:30 a.m. (+1), and 7:30 a.m. (+1) IST.
