Fedoseev, Niemann Claim Titled Tuesday Victories
GM Vladimir Fedoseev won his first Titled Tuesday in nearly a year, while GM Hans Niemann earned his first-ever victory. For the first time in the three weeks since Titled Tuesday expanded to two tournaments, no one placed in the top five in both the early and late events.
Early Tournament
481 players participated in the early tournament, with Fedoseev jumping out to an 8/8 start and holding on to win with 9.5 points out of the 11 rounds. The top five spots were rounded out by GMs Eltaj Safarli (9.5), Baadur Jobava (9.5), Alexey Sarana (9), and Yannick Gozzoli (9).
Live broadcast of the early tournament, hosted by WIM Anna-Maja Kazarian.
It was Sarana with a draw in round nine and then Jobava with a win in round 10 that ended Fedoseev's bid for a perfect tournament.
However, Fedoseev recovered in the final round to topple GM S.L. Narayanan and claim first place on tiebreaks by a single point over Safarli.
Despite actually leading up entering round 11, Jobava was left in third after he could only draw against Sarana.
February 15 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 16 | GM | @Bigfish1995 | Vladimir Fedoseev | 3027 | 9.5 | 63.5 | |
| 2 | 62 | GM | @Eltaj_Safarli | Eltaj Safarli | 2926 | 9.5 | 62.5 | |
| 3 | 37 | GM | @exoticprincess | Baadur Jobava | 2951 | 9.5 | 56 | |
| 4 | 2 | GM | @mishanick | Alexey Sarana | 3069 | 9 | 64.5 | |
| 5 | 215 | GM | @Noukii | Yannick Gozzoli | 2779 | 9 | 55.5 | |
| 6 | 60 | GM | @Jumbo | Rinat Jumabayev | 2863 | 9 | 51 | |
| 7 | 40 | GM | @Indianlad | S.L. Narayanan | 2914 | 8.5 | 55.25 | |
| 8 | 25 | GM | @Micki-taryan | Haik Martirosyan | 2954 | 8.5 | 53 | |
| 9 | 26 | GM | @Oleksandr_Bortnyk | Oleksandr Bortnyk | 2951 | 8.5 | 52.75 | |
| 10 | 44 | GM | @moro182 | Luca Moroni Jr | 2915 | 8.5 | 49.25 | |
| 11 | 23 | GM | @Shield12 | Shamsiddin Vokhidov | 2934 | 8.5 | 48.25 | |
| 12 | 10 | GM | @Duhless | Daniil Dubov | 3007 | 8.5 | 44.75 | |
| 13 | 63 | FM | @Reader777 | Read Samedov | 2853 | 8.5 | 42.75 | |
| 14 | 29 | GM | @FormerProdigy | David Navara | 2929 | 8 | 49.75 | |
| 15 | 51 | GM | @Harsha_Bharathakoti | Harsha Bharathakoti | 2892 | 8 | 49 | |
| 16 | 12 | GM | @Grischuk | Alexander Grischuk | 2994 | 8 | 48.75 | |
| 17 | 47 | GM | @Beca95 | Aleksandar Indjic | 2851 | 8 | 47 | |
| 18 | 19 | GM | @erichansen | Eric Hansen | 2942 | 8 | 46.75 | |
| 19 | 100 | IM | @FGHSMN | Bharath Subramaniyam.H Harishankkar | 2737 | 8 | 46.25 | |
| 20 | 30 | GM | @Fandorine | Maksim Chigaev | 2942 | 8 | 46 | |
| 20 | 27 | GM | @VladDobrov | Vladimir Dobrov | 2942 | 8 | 46 | |
| 25 | 134 | GM | @Vanina1989 | Valentina Gunina | 2706 | 8 | 41.5 |
(Full final standings here.)
The usual prizes were awarded: $1,000 to Fedoseev for first place, $750 to second-place Safarli, $300 to Jobava in third, $150 for fourth-place Sarana, and $100 to Gozzoli for his fifth-place finish. The $100 prize for the highest-scoring female player was won by GM Valentina Gunina, with an 8/11 score.
Late Tournament
This week's late tournament was joined by 307 players. Unlike the early winner Fedoseev, Niemann lost as early as game two. After that, however, a draw in round seven was the only game he didn't win. GM Haik Martirosyan tied Niemann in the standings after stopping Fedoseev in round 11, but he was well behind in tiebreaker score.
Live broadcast of the late tournament, hosted by NM James Canty III.
Niemann's toughest matchup came last when he faced GM Daniil Dubov in the 11th round with both players (and Martirosyan) tied at 8.5/10.
The other big final-round game, Martirosyan-Fedoseev, ended when Fedoseev flagged in a somewhat worse but equal material ending.
February 15 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | SB |
| 1 | 18 | GM | @HansOnTwitch | Hans Niemann | 2974 | 9.5 | 63.5 | |
| 2 | 14 | GM | @Micki-taryan | Haik Martirosyan | 2994 | 9.5 | 57.25 | |
| 3 | 91 | GM | @Koksik_13 | Maxim Lugovskoy | 2783 | 9 | 67.5 | |
| 4 | 5 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xiong | 3033 | 9 | 65.25 | |
| 5 | 22 | GM | @champ2005 | Raunak Sadhwani | 2948 | 9 | 59.5 | |
| 6 | 8 | GM | @Duhless | Daniil Dubov | 3025 | 8.5 | 52.25 | |
| 7 | 134 | FM | @1800_strength | Dachey Lin | 2786 | 8.5 | 49 | |
| 8 | 38 | FM | @Twitch_ElhamBlitz05 | Elham Abdrlauf | 2875 | 8 | 48.75 | |
| 9 | 40 | GM | @GMKrikor | Krikor Sevag Mekhitarian | 2878 | 8 | 48.5 | |
| 10 | 4 | GM | @Bigfish1995 | Vladimir Fedoseev | 3031 | 8 | 47.75 | |
| 11 | 3 | GM | @BogdanDeac | Bogdan Daniel Deac | 3049 | 8 | 46.5 | |
| 12 | 26 | GM | @AryanTari | Aryan Tari | 2902 | 8 | 46 | |
| 13 | 108 | FM | @panmichel1996 | Panagiotis Michelakos | 2706 | 8 | 45.5 | |
| 14 | 169 | IM | @Vusatiuk_Vladimir | Volodymyr Vusatiuk | 2575 | 8 | 43.5 | |
| 15 | 58 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 2844 | 8 | 41 | |
| 16 | 41 | GM | @Beca95 | Aleksandar Indjic | 2855 | 8 | 40 | |
| 17 | 6 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3007 | 8 | 39.75 | |
| 18 | 50 | GM | @Zkid | Steven Zierk | 2859 | 8 | 38.5 | |
| 19 | 10 | GM | @Grischuk | Alexander Grischuk | 2992 | 7.5 | 44 | |
| 20 | 42 | GM | @GrigorGrigorov | Grigor Grigorov | 2860 | 7.5 | 43 | |
| 36 | 73 | WGM | @Meri-Arabidze | Meri Arabidze | 2724 | 7 | 36 |
(Full final standings here.)
Niemann took home the $1,000 first prize, with Martirosyan taking $750 for second. GM Maxim Lugovskoy finished third for $300, GM Jeffery Xiong in fourth for $150, and GM Raunak Sadhwani $100 for placing fifth, with WGM Meri Arabidze winning the $100 as the best female player.
Titled Tuesday is Chess.com's weekly event for titled players, with two tournaments played each Tuesday. The tournaments are Swiss events which start at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time/17:00 Central European and 2:00 p.m. Pacific Time/23:00 Central European.
Nathaniel Green is a staff writer for Chess.com who writes articles, player biographies, Titled Tuesday reports, video scripts, and more. He has been playing chess for about 30 years and resides near Washington, DC, USA.
