Sindarov Takes Tuesday Out Of All-Uzbek Final

GM Javokhir Sindarov took home Titled Tuesday honors on January 13 after holding a draw against countryman GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the final round. The result gave Sindarov outright first place with 9.5 points after GM Alexey Sarana went on to lose to GM Denis Lazavik. Lazavik and Abdusattorov ended up tied with three other players on nine points, and after tiebreaks GM Arjun Erigaisi finished in second place, GM Fabiano Caruana in third, Lazavik in fourth, Abdusattorov in fifth, and GM Ian Nepomniachtchi in sixth, while WGM Anna Shukhman won the women’s prize.

Broadcast

If you missed today’s Take Take Take broadcast with GM David Howell and WFM Maud Rodsmoen, catch it below!

CCT Standings

Titled Tuesday’s role in the Champions Chess Tour (CCT) continues, with the second of three splits now halfway concluded. That’s still early enough for a lone tournament win to crack the top 10, as Sindarov has now done. The updated top 10 for the Winter Split are as follows:

Tournament Recap

Three of the 440 total players in a stacked field were perfect through six rounds. Surprisingly, none of them were GMs Magnus Carlsen or Hikaru Nakamura after Nakamura lost to GM Rinat Jumabayev in the fourth round and Carlsen to Sarana in the fifth. Returning from the scheduled break between those rounds, Carlsen arrived 30 seconds late—dubbed the “Magnus Gambit” by Rodsmoen, as it’s not the first time he’s been late to a game—but kept the contest against Sarana in hand, as usual, until he unexpectedly dropped a pawn in an equal rook ending… very much not as usual.

With three players on 6/6 entering round seven, no one stayed 100% as all three games involving players on 5.5/6 or better ended in draws. The final result between Caruana on 5.5 and IM Renato Terry still on six only happened when the position repeated three times, shocking Terry, who was ahead by a pawn and 13 seconds. His king had come from h2 the first time the position repeated and then from g4 the second and third time, perhaps catching Terry off guard, but the rule is about position not moves.

Soon after, Sindarov and Sarana made a draw, ending everyone’s chance at the coveted 11/11 score. On board three, Nakamura flagged GM Bogdan Daniel Deac, although he admitted to being “cooked out of the opening” on stream.

With three players on 6.5/7 and another 12 players on six points, it was still anyone’s tournament. Sindarov and Terry played their second straight draw, giving Sarana the opportunity to take sole lead. Facing Nakamura, Sarana got the W, moving to 2/2 against the standard tournament favorites and 7.5/8 overall with a break and three rounds to play.

Six players were just behind, however, and Sarana’s time with the lead to himself did not last long. All of the top four boards went under 45 seconds per player, but Sarana’s game was the first to end, doing so in a draw with GM Jeffery Xiong. Sarana would then be joined on 8/9 by GM Vahap Sanal and Sindarov, who had a crushing advantage despite a wild material imbalance against Jumabayev, and induced resignation soon after.

In round 10, Sarana quickly played his second straight draw, this against GM Pranav Venkatesh. He would be passed by Sindarov, who defeated Sanal, and by Abdusattorov, who put Carlsen away for good by going a piece up and placing two picturesque knights.

And so the second Titled Tuesday of the year came down to Uzbekistan. Sarana also remained in range of the lead, but the players on 8/10 could not possibly even tie for first place. Sindarov would either win or draw to move to at least 9.5 points, or Abdusattorov would win and reach 9.5 himself.

Sindarov used a lot of time early, nearly two minutes in an opening Howell would note has been known theory since the 1990s, but his position on the board was completely fine. In fact, at no point did either player have a big advantage, but Abdusattorov had the chance to try to flag Sindarov. Instead, with Abdusattorov at 1:16 on his clock and Sindarov at just 30 seconds, the two players agreed to a draw.

In the meantime, Lazavik was coasting to victory, meaning that there would be no tie for first.

Arjun would end up coming out of the shadows to finish in second place. After losing in rounds six and eight, he was 1.5 points out of the lead with just three rounds remaining. But three straight wins brought him nearly all the way back, the last of them coming against Nakamura in just 29 moves with Black out of a rare variation of the Ruy Lopez—which you might think was Nakamura’s “fault” but was actually Arjun’s idea.

Caruana took third, completing the podium, with a win on time in an otherwise desperate situation against GM Liem Le—another bit of good fortune for Caruana after the Terry draw. But with the stakes now attached to Titled Tuesday, he’ll take it.

January 13 Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (Top 20)

(Full final standings.)