The first Titled Tuesday of 2022 went to GM David Howell on January 4. He scored 10/11 for an outright win. In second place, also untied at 9.5/11, was GM Alexey Sarana. Meanwhile, seven players were tied by nine points, with IM Pranav V in third with his particularly strong tie-break score, and GM Vahap Sanal in fourth.
A week after GM Gadir Guseinov won on December 28, 2021, in a field of 370, this week’s Titled Tuesday was joined by 652 title players, the first time cracked 600 since June 8, 2021, and bodes well for 2022. was the usual 11-round Swiss tournament with a 3+1 time control.
This week’s tournament live broadcast hosted by WGM Keti Tsatsalashvili.
The only blemish on Howell’s tournament was a third-round loss to FM Maksim Tsaruk. After that it was clear sailing for Howell, but he only won the tournament in the last round against GM Jeffery Xiong. Both were on 9/10 while the third player with that score, Sarana, tied his match against GM Hikaru Nakamura. Xiong finished in fifth place.
It was Xiong who stopped the final perfect run of the tournament after GM Sanan Sjugirov reached 7/7 with the next win over Sanal.
Pranav’s third place was notable as he came up against unusually strong opponents, much stronger than Howell or Sarana’s above him. Pranav already played in the top-50 in the first round and 10 of his opponents finished in the top 100 by at least 7/11.
He knocked over his biggest name, GM Alexander Grischuk, on the last lap to finish third.
January 4 with the title Tuesday | Final standings (Top 20)
| Number | Rk | fed | Title | user name | Name | To score | SB |
| 1 | 6 | GM | @howitzer14 | David Howell | 10 | 57.5 | |
| 2 | 4 | GM | @mishanick | Alexey Saranan | 9.5 | 54.25 | |
| 3 | 28 | I AM | @vi_pranav | Pranav V | 9 | 64 | |
| 4 | 30 | GM | @SantoBlue | Vahap Virtual | 9 | 60 | |
| 5 | 5 | GM | @jefferyx | Jeffery Xion | 9 | 58.75 | |
| 6 | 10 | GM | @champ2005 | Raunak Sadhwanic | 9 | 58.5 | |
| 6 | 21 | GM | @Zhuu96 | Zhamsaran Tsydypov | 9 | 58.5 | |
| 8 | 34 | GM | @BogdanDeac | Bogdan Daniel Deac | 9 | 57.25 | |
| 9 | 32 | GM | @exoticprincess | Baadur Jobava | 9 | 52.5 | |
| 10 | 26 | GM | @Arseniy_Nesterov | Arseni Nesterov | 8.5 | 56.25 | |
| 11 | 47 | GM | @grandelicious | Nils Grandelius | 8.5 | 55.5 | |
| 12 | 18 | GM | @platy3 | Alan Pichote | 8.5 | 53.75 | |
| 13 | 7 | GM | @rasmussvane | Rasmus Svane | 8.5 | 50.25 | |
| 14 | 1 | GM | @Hikaru | Hikaru Nakamura | 8.5 | 49.25 | |
| 14 | 20 | GM | @Sanan_Sjugirov | Sanan Sjugirov | 8.5 | 49.25 | |
| 14 | 76 | I AM | @Supernotar | Maly Alexey | 8.5 | 49.25 | |
| 17 | 206 | GM | @Buffy7 | Burak Firat | 8.5 | 47 | |
| 17 | 2 | GM | @lachesisQ | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 8.5 | 47 | |
| 19 | 42 | I AM | @MITerryble | Renato Terry | 8 | 55 | |
| 20 | 13 | GM | @FairChess_on_YouTube | Dmitry Andreikin | 8 | 54.5 | |
| 20 | 3 | GM | @Grischuk | Alexander Grischuk | 8 | 54.5 | |
| 51 | 140 | GM | @ChessQueen | Alexandra Kosteniuk | 7.5 | 37.75 |
(The full final standings here.)
Howell made $750 for his win. Sarana won $400 for second, Pranav $150 for third and Sanal $100 for fourth. GM Alexandra Kosteniuk won $100 as the top scoring female player.
Titled Tuesday, Chess.com’s Tournament of Title Players is a Swiss system event played every week at 10:00 AM Pacific Time/7:00 PM Central European.
