None of the three winners in 3 0 Thursday tournaments on May 21 has even reached 20 years of age. The three teenagers—FM Artin Ashraf, GM Denis Lazavik, and Pranesh M—all scored victories ahead of their much more experienced colleagues. On the women’s side, FM Iren Lyutsinger kept up the teenage champion trend in the first event, while adults WIM Margarita Potapova and WFM Hoang Minh Tho Do took the podium in the 2nd and third tournaments.Â
First Tournament: Ashraf Surpasses Top Seeds
Prior to this week, only GMs and IMs had won 3 0 Thursday tournaments. However, Ashraf is not a typical FM. He boasts a FIDE rating of 2470 and will likely achieve the GM title soon. He played strong, attacking chess throughout the first tournament of the day. Check out his eighth round game against GM Bardiya Daneshvar.
Heading into the final round, IM Aleksandr E Usov led the event with 8.5/10. A draw against Ashraf would likely have won him the tournament. However, Ashraf won a pawn early in the game and converted without issues.
That victory gave Ashraf 9/11, which reached a tie for first with GM Jonas Buhl Bjerre. Ashraf took first on tiebreaks, while Usov took third.
Second Tournament: Lazavik Wins Wild Finish
In the second event, Lazavik won by a full point, but the final round could have gone very differently. At first, everything looked smooth. Lazavik even won his sixth-round game with a perfect Game Review score!
Lazavik entered the last round a half-point ahead of his nearest competitors, but his game with Daneshvar was chaotic, with both players winning at various points. In the end, Lazavik was the faster player in the time scramble, winning the game and the tournament.
Behind Lazavik’s 10/11, GM Haik Martirosyan took second with nine points, followed by GM Cristobal Henriquez with 8.5.
Third Tournament: Pranesh Best Among Equals
In the third tournament of the day, Pranesh managed to score first place despite giving up five draws. His undefeated 8.5/11 bested IMs Yoseph Theolifus Taher and Anthony Atanasov on tiebreaks. Pranesh’s decisive games were convincing wins, such as this round-three battle against FM Havard Haug.
In the seventh round, Pranesh faced GM Jose Martinez, who has won more 3 0 Thursdays than anyone else.Â
There was a fun moment in round seven when a married couple, IMs Eric Rosen and Irene Sukandar were paired together. Rosen expressed mixed emotions on his stream. “I don’t want to go for a dirty flag. I also want to show no mercy.” He eventually won a back-and-forth game.
3 0 Thursday is a set of three weekly Swiss tournaments for verified titled players featuring their favorite time control. Each of the three tournaments is an 11-round Swiss with a 3+0 time control. The combined prize fund is $3,000 every week.