GMs Jose Martinez, Alireza Firouzja, and Alexey Sarana won the first three 3 0 Thursday events, held on November 13. It marked the debut set of tournaments for the most popular time control on Chess.com for titled players. The 3 0 Thursday format sits between Titled Tuesday and Freestyle Friday, accelerating as the week progresses. The inaugural 3 0 Thursday attracted many top players, including GMs Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura. Both influenced the race for first place.
After a rough start, losing a game to IM Yoseph Theolifus Taher, Nakamura recovered and defeated Martinez in a long round nine. Martinez remained positioned well with 7.5/9 and secured his 10th win against Sarana. This set the stage for Martinez to win overall, with the white pieces against Carlsen. The victory earned Martinez a share of first and superior tiebreaks over Nakamura. Nakamura achieved a site-record performance, elevating his blitz rating to 3438!
A remarkable note: Hikaru Nakamura’s result helped push his blitz rating to a site-record 3438.
The second event saw GM Vladimir Fedoseev begin strongly, winning his first six games. He was eventually stopped by GM Haik Martirosyan, who forced a blunder in a challenging endgame.
Author’s note: The inaugural 3 0 Thursday events showcased rapid competition among elite players and signaled Chess.com’s continued experimentation with time controls to engage titled players.