Nakamura Ends 2023 With Another Win
GM Hikaru Nakamura and GM Matthias Bluebaum were the winners of Titled Tuesday on December 26, the last one of the year 2023. For Nakamura, it wrapped up yet another fabulously successful year of Titled Tuesdays. For Bluebaum, it was his first win of the year after 17 previous top-five finishes.
Both winners scored 9.5 points out of 11, ahead of GM Jose Martinez who finished as the runner-up in both tournaments.
Early Tournament
A combination of the holiday season and day one of the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championships led to a fairly small early field of 393 players. Nakamura made draws in two of the first six rounds while GM Wesley So led for most of the tournament until he didn't play in the final round (for reasons that aren't clear).
So reached a perfect 8/8 start against GM Frederik Svane. Twice the computer wanted Svane to sacrifice a knight on d4; the second time that he did not, So gained and then kept a clear advantage.
In the ninth round, Nakamura held So to his first draw. Nakamura then won his last two games, both times with the black pieces, against IM Milosz Szpar and GM Aleksandr Lenderman. Lenderman never blundered catastrophically, he just made a couple of subpar moves that Nakamura brutally punished with a checkmate on move 35.
So made a second straight draw in the 10th round before mysteriously leaving the tournament, and as a result Nakamura's win over Lenderman earned him first place, his 18th of the year in Titled Tuesday. So ended up in third place.
December 26 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
| 1 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3228 | 9.5 | 72 | |
| 2 | 2 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3089 | 9 | 77 | |
| 3 | 4 | GM | @GMWSO | Wesley So | 3078 | 9 | 69.5 | |
| 4 | 8 | GM | @BogdanDeac | Bogdan-Daniel Deac | 3009 | 9 | 67.5 | |
| 5 | 14 | GM | @frederiksvane | Frederik Svane | 2969 | 8.5 | 76 | |
| 6 | 3 | GM | @GeorgMeier | Georg Meier | 3041 | 8.5 | 75 | |
| 7 | 25 | FM | @Bauman_Guy | Konstantin Popov | 2906 | 8.5 | 69.5 | |
| 8 | 35 | GM | @AlexanderL | Aleksandr Lenderman | 2888 | 8.5 | 67 | |
| 9 | 21 | GM | @viviania | Vasyl Ivanchuk | 2916 | 8.5 | 65.5 | |
| 10 | 12 | GM | @Angry_Twin | Andrey Drygalov | 2955 | 8.5 | 64.5 | |
| 11 | 28 | GM | @Zhigalko_Sergei | Sergei Zhigalko | 2902 | 8 | 73.5 | |
| 12 | 20 | CM | @stollenmonster | Egor Baskakov | 2929 | 8 | 73.5 | |
| 13 | 34 | GM | @Durarbayli | Vasif Durarbayli | 2936 | 8 | 72 | |
| 14 | 7 | GM | @wonderfultime | Tuan Minh Le | 2994 | 8 | 72 | |
| 15 | 15 | GM | @sergoy | Sergey Drygalov | 2944 | 8 | 70.5 | |
| 16 | 32 | IM | @Szparu | Milosz Szpar | 2903 | 8 | 70 | |
| 17 | 9 | GM | @Elsa167 | Leon Livaic | 2962 | 8 | 67 | |
| 18 | 46 | FM | @Iball95 | Igor Vakhlamov | 2808 | 8 | 64 | |
| 19 | 66 | IM | @LikeWater | Alexander Velikanov | 2786 | 8 | 64 | |
| 20 | 19 | IM | @mbojan | Bojan Maksimovic | 2906 | 8 | 61 | |
| 48 | 155 | FM | @anasta10 | Anastasia Avramidou | 2614 | 7 | 57 |
(Full final standings here.)
Nakamura won $1,000, Martinez $750, and So $350 with their podium finishes. The remaining prizes were $200 to GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac in fourth place, $100 to Svane in fifth, and $100 to FM Anastasia Avramidou with the women's highest score of the tournament.
Late Tournament
While Nakamura won the early tournament outright, Bluebaum needed tiebreaks to pass Martinez. The end result was still Bluebaum's first Titled Tuesday win of the year, in a field of 383 that is not atypical for the late tournament.
Like Nakamura earlier, Bluebaum made three draws, including two in the first six rounds, but did not lose a game. Unlike Nakamura, Bluebaum's last draw did not come against the tournament's longtime leader, in this case GM Vasif Durarbayli. Instead, Bluebaum defeated him in their ninth-round matchup. By the end of the game, Durarbayli's king cover had been ripped bare, with checkmate imminent.
Bluebaum made a draw with tournament co-leader GM Vugar Rasulov in the 10th round, giving other players the chance to catch up to first place. GM Sam Shankland became one of three players to enter a five-way tie entering the last round, simultaneously delivering Nakamura's second loss of the tournament to knock him out of contention for the sweep.
Of the five now in first, only Bluebaum and Martinez won their 11th-round game. Bluebaum got the chance to face FM German Bazeev, who was a half-point back in the standings, and took advantage. Durarbayli and Rasulov, both from Azerbaijan, played on for 74 moves before a draw locked up top-five finishes.
Martinez defeated Shankland in a wild 92-move fight, securing a second straight second-place finish by ending on a seven-game winning streak.
December 26 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | Tiebreak 1 |
| 1 | 7 | GM | @Msb2 | Matthias Bluebaum | 3037 | 9.5 | 74 | |
| 2 | 3 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3089 | 9.5 | 66.5 | |
| 3 | 18 | GM | @h4parah5 | Jaime Santos Latasa | 2939 | 9 | 78 | |
| 4 | 28 | GM | @Durarbayli | Vasif Durarbayli | 2936 | 9 | 72.5 | |
| 5 | 15 | GM | @vugarrasulov | Vugar Rasulov | 2950 | 9 | 71.5 | |
| 6 | 12 | GM | @Shankland | Sam Shankland | 2987 | 8.5 | 75 | |
| 7 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3228 | 8.5 | 72 | |
| 8 | 53 | FM | @TanitoluwaAps116 | Tanitoluwa Adewumi | 2780 | 8.5 | 70.5 | |
| 9 | 24 | GM | @GABUZYAN_CHESSMOOD | Hovhannes Gabuzyan | 2918 | 8.5 | 69.5 | |
| 10 | 2 | GM | @DanielNaroditsky | Daniel Naroditsky | 3107 | 8.5 | 69.5 | |
| 11 | 57 | IM | @Alexander_Khlebovich | Alexander Khlebovich | 2827 | 8.5 | 64 | |
| 12 | 6 | GM | @BogdanDeac | Bogdan-Daniel Deac | 3009 | 8 | 72.5 | |
| 13 | 39 | GM | @baag | Dambasuren Batsuren | 2860 | 8 | 68 | |
| 14 | 40 | GM | @Kiborg95 | Denis Kadric | 2910 | 8 | 66.5 | |
| 15 | 63 | FM | @Maitreia | Tamaz Mgeladze | 2706 | 8 | 65.5 | |
| 16 | 75 | FM | @UmutErdemGunduz | Umut Erdem Gunduz | 2724 | 8 | 63.5 | |
| 17 | 47 | IM | @FontVella8 | Daniel Garcia Ramos | 2786 | 8 | 62.5 | |
| 18 | 81 | GM | @grandemestregringo | Raven Sturt | 2725 | 8 | 58.5 | |
| 19 | 32 | FM | @German_Bazeev | German Bazeev | 2857 | 8 | 57 | |
| 20 | 19 | IM | @mbojan | Bojan Maksimovic | 2906 | 8 | 55 | |
| 38 | 113 | WIM | @sheldons73tshirt | Narmin Mammadova | 2685 | 7 | 57 |
(Full final standings here.)
Bluebaum won the last $1,000 prize of the year, while Martinez won another $750 and was the day's biggest winner with a total of $1,500. GM Jaime Santos Latasa took third place for $350, Durarbayli fourth for $200, and Rasulov fifth for $100. WIM Narmin Mammadova won the last $100 women's prize of the year.
The 10 players who earned the most prize money in Titled Tuesday in 2023 were:
| # | Player | Earned | Won | Placed |
| 1 | GM Hikaru Nakamura | $29,500 | 18 | 37 |
| 2 | GM Magnus Carlsen | $15,850 | 9 | 23 |
| 3 | GM Jose Martinez | $11,600 | 3 | 26 |
| 4 | GM Dmitry Andreikin | $10,350 | 6 | 21 |
| 5 | GM Alireza Firouzja | $9,900 | 5 | 16 |
| 6 | GM Nihal Sarin | $8,800 | 5 | 16 |
| 7 | GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda | $8,250 | 4 | 13 |
| 8 | GM Aram Hakobyan | $8,150 | 3 | 15 |
| 9 | GM Fabiano Caruana | $7,350 | 1 | 12 |
| 10 | GM Oleksandr Bortnyk | $7,300 | 3 | 18 |
Next year's Titled Tuesdays should be even more competitive with the introduction of the Titled Cup.
Titled Tuesday is Chess.com's weekly tournament for titled players, with two tournaments held each Tuesday. The first tournament begins at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Standard Time, and the second at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time/23:00 Central European/2:30 Indian Standard Time (next day).
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.
