GM Javokhir Sindarov won Titled Tuesday on March 3 as the spring split, the third and final portion of the 2025-26 Titled Tuesday season, opened. Sindarov defeated GM Nihal Sarin in the final round and emerged as the victor on tiebreaks after coleaders GMs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Dmitry Andreikin settled for a quick draw earlier in the round. The win was Sindarov’s second in the last four weeks, and third of 2026, more than anyone else (with GM Magnus Carlsen, who didn’t play today, the only other with two wins so far this year).
Broadcast
If you missed the Take Take Take broadcast with GM David Howell, WFM Maud Rodsmoen, and CM Jon Kristian Haarr, you can catch it below!
CCT Standings
Sindarov gets the first 10 points of the spring split.
| Pos | Fed | Player | Points | Week 1 |
| 1 | GM Javokhir Sindarov | 10 | +10 | |
| 2 | GM Dmitry Andreikin | 7 | +7 | |
| 3 | GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 5 | +5 | |
| 4 | GM Arjun Erigaisi | 4 | +4 | |
| 5 | GM Nikolas Theodorou | 3 | +3 | |
| 6 | GM Jose Ibarra | 2 | +2 | |
| 7 | GM Hikaru Nakamura | 2 | +2 | |
| 8 | GM Bogdan-Daniel Deac | 1 | +1 | |
| 9 | IM Marco Materia | 1 | +1 | |
| 10 | GM Amin Tabatabaei | 1 | +1 |
Full Standings | Titled Tuesday Info | CCT Info | CCT Standings
Tournament Recap
Of the 16 players starting 4/4, three made it to 6/6: Sindarov, Vachier-Lagrave, and GM Hikaru Nakamura. In a battle of candidates, it was Nakamura who delivered Sindarov’s first defeat of the tournament, moving to 7/7 with a rather easy win out of the Scandinavian Defense.
Vachier-Lagrave also advanced to 7/7, defeating GM Denis Lazavik to set up a big eighth-round matchup with Nakamura. Right out of the opening, Vachier-Lagrave forced Nakamura to give up the bishop pair, but that seemingly minor setback was enough given that Nakamura also fell behind a solid minute on the clock. Before the game was even over, Nakamura was lamenting, “everything that could go wrong this game did go wrong.” Soon after, it was Vachier-Lagrave who moved to the perfect 8/8.
Nakamura was still one of seven players tied for second with 7/8 entering the second break, with Nihal among the others, but not Sindarov.
Here Vachier-Lagrave got White after two straight games with Black, but was unable to gain an advantage. Nihal won a pawn in the rook endgame, and soon began singing and bobbing his head, until he allowed a drawn position in a pure pawn ending. Vachier-Lagrave was unable to hold the opposition, however, and soon the tournament’s final chance at having an 11/11 player was over.
In the same round, Andreikin delivered Nakamura’s second straight loss, while the other matchup between players on 8/9, between Vachier-Lagrave and Bharath, went the Frenchman’s way. Only one player, Sindarov, had 8.5/10.
Tied for first place on 9/10 and with similar tiebreaks, Vachier-Lagrave and Andreikin settled for the “Berlin Draw” to clinch a top-three spot in the first Titled Tuesday of the spring split.
That gave Sindarov the opening he needed to move into first place. Facing Nihal, Sindarov sacrificed his queen and ended up with a material imbalance of two rooks, two bishops, and an extra pawn versus a queen, rook, and bishop. It wasn’t enough for a real advantage, but just as the commentators began to doubt Sindarov’s chances, another aspect of the position became important. All three of Nihal’s weakened kingside pawns soon went down, and Sindarov didn’t have much problem converting after that.
When the tiebreaks settled, Sindarov had the best ones by a slim margin over Andreikin, who took second place over Vachier-Lagrave on an even slimmer tiebreak margin. The final paid spots went to GM Arjun Erigaisi in fourth, GM Nikolas Theodorou in fifth,
GM Jose Ibarra in sixth, and WGM Dinara Wagner scoring 8/11 to win the women’s prize.
March 3 Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | 1st Tiebreak |
| 1 | 6 | GM | @Javokhir_Sindarov05 | Javokhir Sindarov | 3250 | 9.5 | 74 | |
| 2 | 10 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 3225 | 9.5 | 72 | |
| 3 | 4 | GM | @LyonBeast | Maxime Vachier-Lagrave | 3280 | 9.5 | 71.5 | |
| 4 | 5 | GM | @GHANDEEVAM2003 | Arjun Erigaisi | 3244 | 9 | 72.5 | |
| 5 | 12 | GM | @NikoTheodorou | Nikolas Theodorou | 3191 | 9 | 70.5 | |
| 6 | 27 | GM | @jcibarra | José Carlos Ibarra Jerez | 3073 | 9 | 62 | |
| 7 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 3359 | 8.5 | 81 | |
| 8 | 8 | GM | @BogdanDeac | Bogdan Daniel Deac | 3210 | 8.5 | 76.5 | |
| 9 | 42 | IM | @scarabee43 | Marco Materia | 3051 | 8.5 | 70.5 | |
| 10 | 13 | GM | @amintabatabaei | Amin Tabatabaei | 3183 | 8.5 | 69 | |
| 11 | 3 | GM | @DenLaz | Denis Lazavik | 3314 | 8.5 | 66.5 | |
| 12 | 32 | CM | @Romik2012 | Роман Носач | 3033 | 8.5 | 66 | |
| 13 | 158 | FM | @Stephenzinho | Stephen Jessel | 2754 | 8.5 | 55 | |
| 14 | 33 | GM | @Angry_Twin | Andrey Drygalov | 3041 | 8 | 75 | |
| 15 | 2 | GM | @nihalsarin | Nihal Sarin | 3334 | 8 | 73.5 | |
| 16 | 50 | GM | @FGHSMN | Bharath Subramaniyam.H Harishankkar | 3014 | 8 | 73.5 | |
| 17 | 21 | IM | @yosephtaher | Yoseph Theolifus Taher | 3091 | 8 | 71 | |
| 18 | 56 | GM | @mitrabhaa | Mitrabha Guha | 2968 | 8 | 68 | |
| 19 | 87 | FM | @AllCer7 | Allahverdi Hamidov | 2919 | 8 | 68 | |
| 20 | 16 | GM | @xiaotong2008 | Xiao Tong | 3138 | 8 | 67.5 | |
| 32 | 189 | WGM | @bsnsun | Dinara Wagner | 2693 | 8 | 52 |
(Full final standings.)
Prizes: Sindarov $1,000, Andreikin $750, Vachier-Lagrave $350, Arjun $250, Theodorou $150, Ibarra $100, Wagner $100. Streamers’ prizes to be posted on the events page.
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.