GMs Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Oleksandr Bortnyk and IM Renato Terry all continued their recent strong blitz form with wins in 3 0 Thursday tournaments on April 30. For Duda, winning the first event was a nice complement to his victory in Titled Tuesday two days prior. For Bortnyk, the second tournament was his second consecutive Thursday with a tournament win his sixth title overall. Terry’s win in the third event extended his record for most overall tournament victories with 12. WCM Milena Kawka won the first women’s prize with 6.5/11. IM Karina Ambartsumova won in the second event with 5.5/11, her 14th prize in 3 0 Thursdays! FM Anastasia Avramidou won the final women’s prize of the day with a fantastic 7.5/11.
First Tournament: Duda Wins Again
Fresh off of his success in Titled Tuesday, Duda cruised to an undefeated first place in the opening 3 0 Thursday tournament. He won eight games, and all three draws came against past winners of the tournament: IM Yoseph Theolifus Taher, GM Benjamin Bok, and Bortnyk. In the ninth round, he defeated GM Shamsiddin Vokhidov in a tricky Berlin Endgame.
After his tenth round draw with Bortnyk, Duda won a complicated game in the Sicilian Dragon against GM Dmitry Andreikin to clinch first place.Â
Behind Duda, GM Haik Martirosyan took second place with nine points, followed on tiebreaks by GM Haowen Xue.Â
The next day, Duda completed his tournament hat-trick, winning Freestyle Friday as well.
For the second time, @GM_JKDuda won both #TitledTuesday and #FreestyleFriday in the same week!https://t.co/HMdI2LTnAy
— chess24 (@chess24com) May 1, 2026
Second Tournament: Bortnyk Wins Second Straight Week
Bortnyk finished one point off of the lead in the first tournament, but would not be denied in the second. After a 5/6 start, he played one of his main competitors, Terry, in the seventh round.
In the ninth round, Duda played Bortnyk’s favorite Alekhine’s Defense against him. Bortnyk played well, but wasn’t quite fast enough to win, and had to settle for a draw.
That kept the tournament close, with Bortnyk’s game against Martirosyan deciding first place. Can you spot the winning combination?
That victory gave Bortnyk first place with 9.5 points, just ahead of Duda and GM Jose Martinez, who each had nine.
Third Tournament: Terry Wins His 12th 3 0 Thursday
After losing to Bortnyk in the second tournament, Terry got his revenge, winning a complicated endgame in the seventh round of the third event.
Terry continued his rapid pace, reaching 8.5/10, but still needed a victory in the last round to win the tournament, as FM Havard Haug and GM Aravindh Chithambaram were both just half a point behind. Terry successfully clinched first by defeating GM Bardiya Daneshvar.
That win brought Terry to 9.5 points and the victory. Haug and Aravindh also won to clinch second and third place respectively.Â
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.
