The next era of Titled Tuesday began on September 2 with GM Alexey Sarana taking home the honors in the day’s only tournament. With 9.5 points, Sarana was able to come out ahead of GM Andrey Esipenko on tiebreaks for his second consecutive victory, after winning last week’s last-ever “late tournament” as well. Sarana’s path through the 407-player field was far from easy, but he ultimately never lost a game on his way to winning the tournament.
After the second of his three draws in round seven, he won three games in a row against GMs Leon Livaic, Magnus Carlsen, and Alireza Firouzja. The ninth round also saw Esipenko defeat GM Hikaru Nakamura in the featured game of the broadcast. Yes, the broadcast is back after several years without one.
The other big game of the ninth round was Sarana-Carlsen, with both players commenting about it in the post-tournament interviews. Sarana realized that he “got a terrible position, but I [fought] quite well and managed to outplay him eventually, while Magnus lamented, “I was better, and then I lost control and he took his chances perfectly.” Here are both the Sarana-Carlsen and Esipenko-Nakamura games:
The 10th round Sarana-Firouzja encounter showcased another new element of Titled Tuesday, namely the lack of an increment. (Tournament victor Sarana is a fan: “I believe you should control your time to not get flagged.”) With both players scrambling at the end of the game, Sarana was able to win on the board as well as the clock, after Firouzja dropped a bishop with 3.6 seconds remaining.
No increment also means games are ending at roughly the same time, and it was right into the decisive 11th round after that. Sarana and Esipenko drew with each other, securing a share of first where only GM Minh Le could join them atop the standings. But Carlsen won their game, moving into fifth.
Of four players on nine points, GM Dmitry Andreikin had the best tiebreaks and took third, while GM Denis Lazavik finished fourth and IM Renato Terry sixth. All of them, including Terry, received some winnings in the new prize format. IM Padmini Rout took home the women’s prize on seven points.
With Titled Tuesday now divided into seasonal splits, Sarana also got an early jump at the $5,000 prize that will go to the best player from September through November.
September 2 Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | 1st Tiebreak |
| 1 | 11 | GM | @mishanick | Aleksei Sarana | 3149 | 9.5 | 75.5 | |
| 2 | 13 | GM | @Andreikka | Andrey Esipenko | 3141 | 9.5 | 71 | |
| 3 | 5 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3226 | 9 | 76 | |
| 4 | 4 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 3247 | 9 | 74.5 | |
| 5 | 2 | GM | @MagnusCarlsen | Magnus Carlsen | 3353 | 9 | 68.5 | |
| 6 | 10 | IM | @MITerryble | Renato Terry | 3126 | 9 | 55.5 | |
| 7 | 8 | GM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 3176 | 8.5 | 78 | |
| 8 | 7 | GM | @Parhamov | Parham Maghsoodloo | 3165 | 8.5 | 72 | |
| 9 | 23 | GM | @Dr_Tyger | Haowen Xue | 3057 | 8.5 | 69 | |
| 10 | 33 | GM | @dropstoneDP | David Paravyan | 3033 | 8.5 | 65.5 | |
| 11 | 36 | IM | @DonkyDonkyDonkey | Eray Kilic | 3023 | 8.5 | 64.5 | |
| 12 | 32 | IM | @Murad_Ibrahimli | Murad İbrahimli | 3014 | 8.5 | 63 | |
| 13 | 3 | GM | @Firouzja2003 | Alireza Firouzja | 3248 | 8 | 76.5 | |
| 14 | 29 | GM | @Elsa167 | Leon Livaic | 3013 | 8 | 70.5 | |
| 15 | 22 | IM | @hakanazeri2 | Khagan Ahmad | 3047 | 8 | 69.5 | |
| 16 | 63 | GM | @OhanyanEminChess | Emin Ohanyan | 2934 | 8 | 69 | |
| 17 | 12 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 3117 | 8 | 69 | |
| 18 | 16 | IM | @Rud_Makarian | Rudik Makarian | 3078 | 8 | 67.5 | |
| 19 | 55 | GM | @Kosak12 | Jakub Kosakowski | 2936 | 8 | 66.5 | |
| 20 | 46 | IM | @Sardaukar-2 | Dmytro Danylenko | 2961 | 8 | 64 | |
| 54 | 209 | IM | @AccioChess | Padmini Rout | 2620 | 7 | 57 |
Prizes: Sarana $1,000, Esipenko $750, Andreikin $350, Lazavik $250, Carlsen $150, Terry $100, Padmini $100.
Titled Tuesday is Chess.com’s weekly tournament for titled players. It begins at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Standard Time.
