IM Renato Terry won yet another 3 0 Thursday tournament on December 11, his fourth consecutive week winning one of the three tournaments. Terry’s success came in the third event of the day, following victories by GMs Sina Movahed and Jose Martinez, respectively.
Movahed Dominates First Tournament
The first tournament each Thursday is typically the largest event with the strongest field. It didn’t bother Movahed, who won his first seven games, including victories against upcoming and past world championship candidates, GM Matthias Bluebaum and GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda. The challenges only increased in round eight when Movahed faced GM Magnus Carlsen in the Magnus Variation of the Sicilian. Carlsen reached a winning endgame, but one mistake allowed Movahed to escape.
Movahed won in the ninth round against GM David Paravyan and clinched victory with a round to spare by defeating Martinez.
That win brought Movahed to 9.5 points, and even a final round loss against GM Parham Maghsoodloo didn’t allow anyone to catch up to him. Duda recovered from his loss to Movahed and finished second with nine points, edging out third place, GM Jeffery Xiong, on tiebreaks. The top woman’s prize went to FM Rose Atwell with six points.
Martinez Wins Again In Second Tournament
In the second tournament, Martinez and IM Yoseph Theolifus Taher started well, each winning their first six games. In round six Taher handed Movahed his second loss of the event, seemingly taking him out of contention. However, Movahed won the rest of his games, including another win against Martinez, which repeated the first 13 moves of their game from earlier in the day.
That win allowed Movahed to catch Martinez, and Taher’s defeat by GM Alexey Sarana in round 10 left six players tied for first with 8/10 going into the final round. In that last game, Martinez defeated Sarana to claim first on tiebreaks. Taher took down Duda to take second, and Movahed beat GM Haik Martirosyan to claim third. Repeat winner IM Karina Ambartsumova claimed the top woman’s prize with six points.
Martinez’s best win may have been his second round victory over IM Levy Rozman, better known as GothamChess. Rozman has been in great form recently, reaching an all-time personal best blitz rating of 2954 by defeating Duda in the previous round!
The win was Martinez’s second in 3 0 Thursdays and the first since he won the inaugural tournament on November 13. He’s just the second repeat winner, after IM Renato Terry.
Terry Wins Again In Third Tournament
Terry has won one of the Thursday tournaments every week since November 20, and in the third event he continued his run of success. He started well, scoring 8/9 before losing to GM Tuan Minh Le in the 10th round. That defeat allowed Minh Le and Xiong to catch Terry in first place. In the final round, after sacrificing a rook against Xiong, Minh Le took a perpetual check in a winning position in the game’s closing seconds.
While his closest rivals drew, Terry turned around a tough position against CM Georgijs Germanovs, allowing him to win the tournament with nine points.
Minh Le took second on tiebreaks, ahead of Xiong with 8.5 points. The top woman’s prize went to IM Anna Sargsyan with six points, highlighted by her victory over 3012-rated FM James Chirilov.
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.
