Kramnik Beats Martinez In 'Clash of Blames' Match

GM Vladimir Kramnik defeated GM Jose Martinez 19-17 on Wednesday in their 36-game Clash of Blames blitz match in London. The event was a follow-up to the Clash of Claims match held in June of this year in Madrid.

Martinez (25), the Peruvian blitz specialist (based in Mexico), better known as Jospem on Chess.com, took a 7-5 lead on Monday after Kramnik (48) spoiled winning positions and flagged in his last two over-the-board games. The 14th world champion had a better second day when he brought down the margin to a single point. Martinez played badly on day three but then almost completed a remarkable comeback. Kramnik, however, avoided a fourth loss in a row that would have tied the match.

Final Score

The final game of the first day was exemplary for many games in the match. With a modest opening setup, Martinez rarely got much out of the opening and was often outplayed in the middlegame, as can be expected against one of the legends of the game. 

The Peruvian once again showed himself to be a true blitz specialist as he somehow managed to keep the game going for quite a while until Kramnik's clock started to play a decisive role.

This first day saw several special guests. GM Hans Niemann visited the playing hall before traveling to Paris for his match with GM Etienne Bacrot, and England's brightest talent came by as well:

WFM Bodhana Sivanandan, a remarkable young talent who picked up chess during the pandemic, has quickly risen to become one of England’s top players. Her record-breaking performances have stunned the chess world, making headlines globally. Last year, she became England’s first… pic.twitter.com/TTogp9O4II

— World Chess (@theworldchess) August 20, 2024

On what was clearly a better second day for him, Kramnik leveled the score in game 18 by making the most of a seemingly equal endgame:

Until that point, the match had only seen three draws, but suddenly, the next five games were not decisive. Martinez finished the second day with a win, grabbing the lead once again. Kramnik blundered in a dead-drawn queen endgame:

The third day initially saw a complete meltdown for Martinez, who lost the online segment, normally his strongest suit, 4.5-1.5, and then lost the first two over-the-board games as well. With a score of 18-14, Kramnik only needed a draw in the remaining four games to win the match. On the other hand, Martinez needed to win all four—and almost succeeded.

He won three games back to back and reached a winning position in the final game, but Kramnik managed to find enough counterplay in a double rook endgame and even ended up checkmating the enemy king.

"I played bad, sometimes it happens," said Martinez afterward. 

Kramnik said that the match proved an important point he has been trying to make: that there should not be a big difference in the level of play by a player between online and offline play. He also complimented his opponent.

"Jose was fighting back extremely well today," said Kramnik. "I relaxed a bit already when it was almost over and suddenly he started to play amazing chess and it was not easy until the very last minute."  

Martinez played under what was far from the best circumstances for him. As became known only during the second day of the event, his mother passed away very recently, but the Peruvian grandmaster decided to play anyway.

I have just learned few minutes ago that Jose's mother passed away a week or two before the match. Jose decided to play the event anyways in memory of her. Just learned from organizers now. My sincire deepest condolenses to Jose

— Vladimir Kramnik (@VBkramnik) August 20, 2024

In June of this year, Martinez defeated Kramnik 14.5-11.5 in a match with the same format called the Clash of Claims. The name, inspired by the mobile game Clash of Clans, referred to the many claims that had been made in recent months about cheating in chess.

Kramnik himself has posted numerous controversial tweets with statistics that indirectly pointed to hundreds of players, including Martinez. Initially, this second match would be named Clash of Claims 2, but after some protests, it was renamed to Clash of Blames. 

GM Hikaru Nakamura's coverage of the second day.

Interestingly, on the final day, the American professor and statistician Kenneth Regan joined the official broadcast and commented: "I supported at the time the Chess.com report on Titled Tuesday that was posted in late April. I have my own independent verification that there is not widespread, large scale cheating in Titled Tuesdays. There is some, but my statistical methods are able to show that with hundreds of thousands of data points overall they match the expectation quite closely."

On the broadcast, IM Lawrence Trent also asked for Regan's opinion about Kramnik's posts on Twitter/X. Regan replied, "They're not normalized. He does not do the statistical techniques that are required to establish a benchmark of reference, whereas I have. I have a predictive analytic model, I set expectations, I know the confidence intervals around them. These are basic statistical vocabularies that have been known since the 1700s but absent from his posts."

The 2024 Clash of Blames match took place August 19-21, 2024, in London, UK. The format was a match between Kramnik and Martinez, with half of the games played over the board and half played on the online platform chessarena. The time control was 3 minutes for the entire game plus a 2-second increment starting on move one.

See also:

• Martinez Beats Kramnik In Clash Of Claims