Winners of March 18 Titled Tuesday: Mamikon Gharibyan and Denis Lazavik

GM Mamikon Gharibyan and GM Denis Lazavik emerged as the winners of the March 18 Titled Tuesday tournaments on Chess.com, both securing victory by a narrow margin. Lazavik came within half a point of sweeping the day, finishing second in the early tournament and then delivering a brilliant final game in the late tournament against none other than GM Magnus Carlsen, who needed just a draw to secure his second consecutive win.

Despite Carlsen’s strong performance, he now leads the Titled Tuesday Grand Prix standings. On the women’s side, GM Alexandra Kosteniuk moved into second place in the women’s Grand Prix standings after dominating this week’s women’s prizes with an impressive combined score of 15.5/22.

In the early tournament, 20-year-old GM Mamikon Gharibyan from Armenia, a two-time world youth champion, emerged victorious after defeating strong opponents like Vincent Keymer, Oleksandr Bortnyk, Denis Lazavik, and Andrey Esipenko. His crucial win against Lazavik in the eighth round proved to be the turning point in the tournament.

In the late tournament, Lazavik continued his strong performance, ultimately claiming the top spot with a stellar performance. Bortnyk, Carlsen, Christiansen, and Kosteniuk also secured prizes in the field of 475 players.

The Grand Prix standings saw some reshuffling, with Minh Le moving into the top eight and Carlsen taking the lead. In the women’s standings, Kosteniuk climbed to second place, with no new entrants in the top eight this week.

Titled Tuesday is Chess.com’s weekly tournament for titled players, with two tournaments held each Tuesday. The next Titled Tuesday with over 1,000 participants will feature a doubled prize pool to celebrate the increasing registrations for the event.