Nepomniachtchi Ends 20-Month Titled Tuesday Drought

The $10,000 weekly prize fund isn’t quite here yet in Titled Tuesday, but participation was up significantly on May 12, to 436 players after last week’s 343 participants. GM Ian Nepomniachtchi won a dramatic tournament on tiebreaks ahead of GM Jeffery Xiong, both players having scored 9.5 points. The win was Nepomniachtchi’s first in the event since the early tournament (back when there was an early tournament) on September 10, 2024. GM Hikaru Nakamura finished third with the best tiebreaks among players on nine.

CCT Standings

The only change in the top ten for the spring split was Nakamura and Tsydypov flipping. 

Full Standings | Titled Tuesday Info | CCT Info | CCT Standings

In the full CCT standings, which also include results from the Speed Chess Championship and Chess.com Open, 12 players qualify for the Esports World Cup (EWC), not counting GM Magnus Carlsen, who was already qualified from winning last year’s EWC. Here are the current top 19:

These last two weeks of the Titled Tuesday Spring Split represent everyone’s last chance at EWC qualification; sweeping both would produce a 20-point gain for that player, and the above chart is the full list of players 20 points or fewer behind the current occupant of the last qualifying spot, GM Wesley So.

Tournament Recap

Nine players began 4/4, including Nakamura trying to become the first player to win back-to-back since Carlsen did it September 9-16, 2025, but not Nepomniachtchi, who had made a draw in round four. Round five was a marquee matchup between world championship challenger GM Javokhir Sindarov and Nakamura, decided only by Sindarov’s late blunder as Nakamura became one of five to reach five-of-five. Another 10 on 4.5/5, including Nepomniachtchi, and the tournament was still wide open.

Only one person moved to 6/6, and it wasn’t Nakamura, who missed a couple of winning chances before making a draw with GM Dmitry Andreikin. It was GM Bharath Subramaniyam, who took advantage of GM Sam Sevian’s late error to deliver checkmate on move 79.

And against whom was Bharath assigned to defend his perfect score but Nakamura? Things looked promising for Bharath early on, and then for Nakamura, but the game devolved into a time scramble where Bharath did well to get a draw. Joining him in the lead on 6.5/7 was GM Arjun Erigaisi, who defeated Andreikin.

The ensuing Bharath-Arjun game saw neither player take control as it ended in a quiet draw despite a material imbalance that involved two knights for Bharath against a rook for Arjun. A solid six players joined them on 7/8, including Nepomniachtchi after an unusual conclusion to his game: with a king, two knights, and no pawns against GM Rasmus Svane’s king and pawn, Svane ran out of time on move 106, and Nepomniachtchi technically had enough mating material to get the win instead of a draw.

With eight players within a half-point, round nine was key. Out of the four games between those eight players, Nepomniachtchi’s win over Bharath was the first result.

Niemann then clawed back to defeat GM Aleksandar Indjic just as CM Roman Al Nosach secured his win over Arjun. The last game remained equal and, just as GM Jeffery Xiong was running out of time, he was able to force a repetition against Nakamura. With victories on lower boards, GMs Fabiano Caruana, Pranesh M, and Zhamsaran Tsydypov joined Xiong and Nakamura in the runner-up position behind Nepomniachtchi, Niemann, and Al Nosach.

Once again in round 10, four games dominated the proceedings. Xiong was the first player to take control, sacrificing an exchange, and converting into an easily winning position against Pranesh.

Nepomniachtchi began pressing Nakamura with a bishop against a knight and a two-to-one queenside pawn majority, but Nakamura liquidated the queenside pawns and looked safe. Niemann’s win (below) over Nosach was actually the first game to end, but Pranesh capitulated soon after. The last two games still appeared headed for draws, and then ended as such.

Now Niemann had the sole lead with one round remaining, with Xiong and Nepomniachtchi half a point back. Players on 8/10 were left jockeying for spring split points and backend monetary compensation. Niemann took White against Nepomniachtchi in his clinching attempt. Xiong also had White, against Caruana, needing a win to keep first-place chances alive.  

Niemann developed an early edge, although hardly decisive, thanks to control of the d5-square and Nepomniachtchi’s knight finding itself rather out of play on g4. The tide began to turn as Nepomniachtchi ended up with a passed pawn on h5; meanwhile, Xiong sprung a tactic on Caruana and was up an exchange for a pawn. Soon after, Nepomniachtchi was up a pawn and doing very well for it with a second passed pawn as well, then three. At the same time, Xiong was having difficulty converting as Caruana began trading off pawns. With Xiong at just one pawn left but still fighting for victory, Niemann was forced to resign, and Nepomniachtchi found himself in the lead.

Xiong ended up with more winning chances in being up about 30 seconds on the clock than in his slim material advantage, and the “dirty flag” attempt was on. With sole control over pawn pushes, Caruana began racing toward the 50-move rule, with his pawn and bishop protecting each other. But, with Caruana just four moves away from locking it in, Xiong found his moment: take Caruana’s last pawn, reset the count, and hope Caruana had pre-moved something besides the recapture. Here came Xiong’s 110.Rxe4; 0.1 seconds later, Caruana’s 110…Kf6. The swindle had worked, and soon Xiong had a share of first, leaving the final result to tiebreaks.

Unfortunately for Xiong but fortunately for Nepomniachtchi and for fans with an aversion to games that largely come down to the clock, Nepomniachtchi had rather better tiebreaks. Niemann, after his last-round loss, settled for fourth place, while Arjun managed fifth and GM Nihal Sarin took sixth. WFM Anastasiia Hnatyshyn won the women’s prize with seven points.

May 12 Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (Top 25)

Full final standings.