GM won on March 21 in what was the closest yet of the nine tournaments so far, but ultimately, his second win . And while Bortnyk lost in the final round, which created a five-way tie for first place, his remained best in the field. Also finishing on nine points were GMs , , , and , with Tabatabaei in the unfortunate position of finishing outside the money with the worst tiebreak scores.
GM , who entered the tournament having won it three times in a row, had another solid showing but finished 19th. A spot behind him was IM , taking home the women’s prize in 20th after barely missing out on it last week.
Bortnyk built his lead by winning nine of the first 10 games, his only setback to that point coming against Naroditsky in round six. Bortnyk’s successes included a shocking 10-move win over eventual second-place finisher Vachier-Lagrave—only in freestyle can one of the 25 highest-rated players in the world be pretty much dead lost on move two.
When Bortnyk won in the next round as well, it seemed that he might run away with the tournament. But Lazavik, who also earlier this week, said not so fast. And speaking of not so fast, the game lasted for 102 moves before Lazavik won the endurance test.
The runaway was now chaos, as Lazavik would not be the only person to now move into a tie with Bortnyk. Vachier-Lagrave completed a recovery from his ninth-round disaster by winning in the final two rounds. GM , who traded a piece for three pawns rather early on, was his victim in the 11th after that decision failed to pay off.
Naroditsky, who beat not only Bortnyk but GM a round after that before dropping two games in a row, also won his last two to enter the top four. GM played the first moves of the final round well but erred once a was reached.
In the end, the largest tiebreak gaps came between first and second and between fourth and fifth, the two most important distinctions in terms of winning the tournament and winning a prize.
March 21 Freestyle Friday | Final Standings (Top 25)
Rank
Seed
Fed
Title
Username
Name
Rating
Score
Tiebreak
1
5
GM
@Oleksandr_Bortnyk
Oleksandr Bortnyk
2765
9
79
2
10
GM
@LyonBeast
Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
2736
9
72.5
3
7
GM
@DenLaz
Denis Lazavik
2748
9
72
4
16
GM
@DanielNaroditsky
Daniel Naroditsky
2640
9
70.5
5
13
GM
@amintabatabaei
Amin Tabatabaei
2680
9
65
6
8
GM
@mishanick
Aleksei Sarana
2744
8.5
74.5
7
1
GM
@MagnusCarlsen
Magnus Carlsen
2831
8.5
71
8
39
GM
@Durarbayli
Vasif Durarbayli
2319
8
71.5
9
19
GM
@vugarrasulov
Vugar Rasulov
2577
8
71
10
28
IM
@PiliposyanRobertChess
Robert Piliposyan
2514
8
70
11
14
GM
@jefferyx
Jeffery Xiong
2656
8
69.5
12
22
GM
@wonderfultime
Tuan Minh Le
2551
8
62
13
81
CM
@Germanovs_Georgijs
Georgijs Germanovs
1969
8
58
14
26
GM
@Msb2
Matthias Bluebaum
2508
7.5
65.5
15
32
GM
@Sam_ChessMood
Samvel Ter-Sahakyan
2416
7.5
64
16
43
IM
@GeorgiosSouleidis
Georgios Souleidis
2199
7.5
61
17
3
GM
@gmsolver
Kacper Piorun
2754
7
69.5
18
38
GM
@Gareth-Bale11
Mamikon Gharibyan
2273
7
67.5
19
12
GM
@GHANDEEVAM2003
Arjun Erigaisi
2648
7
66
20
66
IM
@karinachess1
Karina Ambartsumova
2054
7
65
(.)
Prizes: Bortnyk $400, Vachier-Lagrave $250, Lazavik $150, Naroditsky $100, Ambartsumova $100.
Freestyle Friday is Chess.com’s weekly tournament dedicated to for titled players. The tournament begins at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Standard Time.
