Maghsoodloo Joins CCT Top 10 With Titled Tuesday Win

GM Parham Maghsoodloo won Titled Tuesday on October 21, scoring 9.5 points and winning on the tiebreak score over GM Hikaru Nakamura after Nakamura and GM Magnus Carlsen made a draw with each other in the final round. In his post-tournament interview, Maghsoodloo would dedicate his victory to the recently passed GM Daniel Naroditsky.

Broadcast

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

CCT Standings

With his victory this Tuesday, Maghsoodloo moved into seventh place in the Champions Chess Tour (CCT) autumn standings. The full CCT Standings, which will determine six spots in the next Esports World Cup, are as currently follows:

Recap

While Nakamura and Carlsen would go on to play a high-stakes game in the final round, they faced early setbacks: Nakamura lost in the first round to IM Maksim Schekachikhin, and Carlsen in the second to FM Matfey Rogov. Nobody really went on an early heater, with an eight-way tie on 5.5 points after six rounds.

Two rounds after that, however, Maghsoodloo had begun to establish himself, taking an outright lead on 7.5/8 after defeating GM Jose Ibarra.

That lead did not last long. Nakamura, who was perfect from rounds two through 10, took a share of the lead in the ninth by taking down Maghsoodloo himself. 

GMs Denis Lazavik and Pranesh M joined Nakamura at the top with two rounds to go. Of the three, only Nakamura won in the 10th, giving him the inside track on the tournament with one round left. 

That all set up a dramatic conclusion. Despite now leading outright, Nakamura got matched with Carlsen in the final round and needed a win. A draw would allow Maghsoodloo, were he to get a win over Lazavik, to catch up in the standings, and Nakamura’s tiebreaks were bad thanks to his early setback. Unfortunately for both Nakamura and Carlsen, neither of them was able to make much progress, and the position repeated a third time after 62 moves of maneuvering.

No such thing happened between Maghsoodloo and Lazavik. Lazavik played the King’s Indian Defense, but Maghsoodloo did not allow any of the attacking chances that Black usually hopes to achieve in that opening. Toward the end of the middlegame, Maghsoodloo ended up ahead by two pawns, and he would convert them into victory with ease.

Maghsoodloo was obviously pleased with his victory: “When Magnus and Hikaru are both playing, winning Titled Tuesday is very special,” he said after the event, before later concluding with his dedication to Danya.

The draw with Nakamura was not ideal for Carlsen’s final standing, either, but he still managed fourth place, behind GM Dmitry Andreikin but ahead of Pranesh and IM Renato Terry, all of them on nine points. The women’s prize went to IM Polina Shuvalova.

October 21 Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (Top 20)

(Full final standings.)