International Master Renato Terry won the second 3 0 Thursday tournament on March 5, 2026, with a score of 9.5 out of 11, marking his eighth title in the series. GM Hikaru Nakamura took the first tournament on tiebreaks, while IM Reza Mahdavi claimed the third after a strong comeback. The events featured titled players competing in rapid online chess on Chess.com.
The 3 0 Thursday series, held weekly for titled players, consisted of three tournaments on March 5 at 11 a.m., 4 p.m., and 9 p.m. ET. In the first event, IM Sina Movahed started strongly, leading with 7.5 out of 8 points after defeating GM Hikaru Nakamura in round seven with the move 32.Nxf7!!. However, Movahed lost to compatriot Reza Mahdavi in round nine, allowing Mahdavi and Nakamura to tie for the lead. Nakamura then drew with IM Yoseph Taher in the final round, securing first place on tiebreaks over Movahed.
The second tournament saw IM Renato Terry dominate, overcoming IM Levy Rozman in round three and GM Jose Ibarra in round four. He drew GM Arjun Erigaisi in round five and maintained a strong position alongside Erigaisi until the final round, where GM Vladimir Fedoseev defeated Erigaisi. Terry clinched victory by winning a bishop-versus-knight endgame against Alexey Sarana, finishing with 9.5/11.
In the third tournament, Mahdavi recovered from two early losses to CM Vidip Kona and FM Lucas Cunha, winning 6.5 of his last seven games. Arjun Erigaisi led with a perfect 7/7 start, including wins over GMs Tuan Minh Le, Matthias Bluebaum, and Oleksandr Bortnyk, but scored only one point in his final four games. Mahdavi defeated Erigaisi in the penultimate round and Bluebaum in the last to win outright, achieving his third consecutive 3 0 Thursday title.
Top women's performers were WGM Savitha Shri B with 7.5/11 in the first, WFM Veronica Shubenkova with 5.5/11 in the second, and FM Rose Atwell with 6/11 in the third.
