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Martinez Perfect After Carlsen Continues Run

Martinez Perfect After Carlsen Continues Run

NathanielGreen
NathanielGreen
| 50 | Chess Event Coverage

GM Magnus Carlsen won his fourth Titled Tuesday in the last five weeks in the early tournament on August 27, but his 9.5 points were overshadowed by GM Jose Martinez scoring a perfect 11/11 in the late tournament, joining Carlsen and GM Hikaru Nakamura as one of the only players ever to do so. 

Since Titled Tuesday became a two-tournament event in 2022, it was Carlsen's 20th victory and Martinez's 10th. In 2024, it was Carlsen's eighth and Martinez's second. Martinez dedicated his victory to his mother, who recently passed away. 

Late Tournament

As usual when there is a perfect performance in the late event, we'll start there. This week there were 527 late participants, including Nakamura and Carlsen—both of whom Martinez beat on his way to his 100% score.

GM Oleksandr Bortnyk (who scored 9/9 in a Titled Tuesday all the way back in 2016) was with Martinez every step of the way... for seven steps. In round eight, Martinez finally took the tournament's sole lead, needing just 31 moves after playing the French Defense. Obviously, Martinez never gave that lead back.

But things got no easier for Martinez at that point as Nakamura was next. Martinez offered his knight on f5 in order to land a passed pawn, and it would end up a square away from queening by the time Nakamura resigned.

After another win in the 10th round against GM Frederik Svane, it was Carlsen standing between Martinez and history. At 109 moves, it was the victor's longest game of the day by a lot as none of his others exceeded 60 moves. And no knight sacrifice this time, just the long endgame grind, the type of which Carlsen wins much more often than he loses. But not this game; this game was a win for Martinez, his 11th, a perfect tournament complete.

All Martinez's Games | Late Titled Tuesday | August 27, 2024

August 27 Titled Tuesday | Late | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number Rk Fed Title Username Name Rating Score Tiebreak 1
1 11 GM @Jospem Jose Martinez 3141 11 75
2 2 GM @Hikaru Hikaru Nakamura 3272 9.5 75
3 13 GM @mishanick Aleksei Sarana 3071 9 77
4 7 GM @BogdanDeac Bogdan Daniel Deac 3118 9 74
5 20 GM @Kiborg95 Denis Kadric 3029 9 70.5
6 8 GM @Msb2 Matthias Bluebaum 3094 9 70
7 12 GM @Oleksandr_Bortnyk Oleksandr Bortnyk 3106 9 69.5
8 3 GM @FairChess_on_YouTube Dmitry Andreikin 3164 8.5 75.5
9 14 GM @frederiksvane Frederik Svane 3050 8.5 71.5
10 23 IM @MITerryble Renato Terry 2964 8.5 69.5
11 6 GM @DanielNaroditsky Daniel Naroditsky 3102 8.5 68
12 37 GM @Durarbayli Vasif Durarbayli 2900 8.5 63.5
13 42 GM @Beca95 Aleksandar Indjic 2895 8.5 57
14 1 GM @MagnusCarlsen Magnus Carlsen 3290 8 76
15 21 GM @vugarrasulov Vugar Rasulov 3006 8 74
16 29 GM @Vaathi_Coming Aravindh Chithambaram 2952 8 73
17 5 GM @jefferyx Jeffery Xiong 3103 8 70
18 39 GM @alexrustemov Alexander Rustemov 2886 8 66
19 103 IM @Rutricks Rubén Domingo Núñez 2738 8 66
20 19 GM @cibarra José Carlos Ibarra Jerez 3001 8 63.5
69 127 WGM @Sanyura Aleksandra Maltsevskaya 2646 7 55.5

(Full final standings here.)

Martinez won $1,000. Nakamura scored 9.5 points for sole second and $750. GMs Alexey Sarana, Bogdan-Daniel Deac, and Denis Kadric rounded out the top five for $350, $200, and $100, respectively. WGM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya had the highest score out of the women who played the event, earning $100 herself.

Early Tournament

In an early field of 775, the third-largest field of the year so far, no one was perfect. In fact, no one scored even 10 points. Instead, four players tied for the lead on 9.5 points. In the end, half a tiebreak point separated Carlsen from second place GM Daniel Naroditsky. The tiebreaks were rather less close between Naroditsky's second, GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov's third, and GM Dmitry Andreikin's fourth places. 

The only matchup between any of them was a Mamedyarov-Naroditsky draw in the very last round, and none of the four were the last perfect player, either.

Carlsen suffered an early setback.

That distinction belonged to Sarana before he was finally held to draws by Mamedyarov and Andreikin in the ninth and 10th rounds. Then, in the 11th round, Carlsen leapt over him after finding the knight leap 21.Nc7.

It wouldn't have been enough for Carlsen either had there been a decisive game in Naroditsky-Mamedyarov. The ninth round ended up being key in the dynamic between the latter two, when Mamedyarov had his draw with Sarana while Naroditsky needed just 27 moves to dispatch GM Gata Kamsky. Not bad for a Ponziani Opening.

Mamedyarov's third place finish ultimately relied on defeating the hero of the later event in the 10th round. Martinez would also lose in the 11th round here, but by the end of the day, he surely didn't much care.


August 27 Titled Tuesday | Early | Final Standings (Top 20)

Number Rk Fed Title Username Name Rating Score Tiebreak 1
1 1 GM @MagnusCarlsen Magnus Carlsen 3290 9.5 82
2 11 GM @DanielNaroditsky Daniel Naroditsky 3102 9.5 81.5
3 24 GM @Azerichess Shakhriyar Mamedyarov 3030 9.5 77.5
4 3 GM @FairChess_on_YouTube Dmitry Andreikin 3164 9.5 65.5
5 17 GM @artooon Pranesh M 3061 9 81
6 21 GM @mishanick Alexey Sarana 3071 9 77
7 7 GM @Javokhir_Sindarov05 Javokhir Sindarov 3118 9 75
8 23 GM @viditchess Vidit Gujrathi 3013 9 74.5
9 2 GM @Hikaru Hikaru Nakamura 3272 9 74
10 13 GM @dropstoneDP David Paravyan 3058 9 70.5
11 46 IM @MatthewG-p4p Matvey Galchenko 2933 9 67.5
12 31 GM @xxysoul6 Xu Xiangyu 3000 9 65
13 32 GM @AryanTari Aryan Tari 2985 9 63
14 8 GM @Msb2 Matthias Bluebaum 3094 8.5 72.5
15 29 GM @Shield12 Shamsiddin Vokhidov 2985 8.5 71.5
16 72 FM @BardArtem Artem Bardyk 2888 8.5 69
17 71 GM @Zhigalko_Sergei Sergei Zhigalko 2877 8.5 61.5
18 10 GM @Jospem Jose Martinez 3141 8 80
19 9 GM @BogdanDeac Bogdan-Daniel Deac 3118 8 76
20 74 GM @SantoBlue Vahap Sanal 2894 8 73.5
41 337 WFM @Speshka Anna Shukhman 2603 8 53.5

(Full final standings here.)

Carlsen won the $1,000 for first place with Naroditsky, Mamedyarov, and Andreikin settling for $750, $350, and $200 respectively despite the identical scores. Nine players scored nine points, but only GM Pranesh M won the $100 fifth place prize. WFM Anna Shukhman won the $100 women's prize with eight points.

Titled Cup Standings

Martinez moved into third place in the annual standings, and there is now a tie atop the women's standings. 

Open

# Username Score Player
1 @Hikaru 198.5 GM Hikaru Nakamura
2 @MagnusCarlsen 190.5 GM Magnus Carlsen
3 @Jospem 186.0 GM Jose Martinez
4 @Polish_fighter3000 185.5 GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda
5 @mishanick 185.0 GM Alexey Sarana

Women

# Username Score Player
1 @ChessQueen 141.0 GM Alexandra Kosteniuk
1-t @Flawless_Fighter 141.0 IM Polina Shuvalova
3 @Goryachkina 140.5 GM Aleksandra Goryachkina
4 @Meri-Arabidze 138.0 IM Meri Arabidze
5 @Sanyura 136.0 IM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya

Other Category Leaders

Juniors: GM Denis Lazavik (182.0 points)

Seniors: GM Gata Kamsky (169.0 points)

Girls: WCM Veronika Shubenkova (117.5 points)

The Titled Cup fantasy game Chess Prophet continues as well. Current standings can be found here. (Login required.)

Titled Tuesday

Titled Tuesday is Chess.com's weekly tournament for titled players, with two tournaments held each Tuesday. The first tournament begins at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Standard Time, and the second at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time/23:00 Central European/2:30 Indian Standard Time (next day).

NathanielGreen
Nathaniel Green

Nathaniel Green is a staff writer for Chess.com who writes articles, player biographies, Titled Tuesday reports, video scripts, and more. He has been playing chess for about 30 years and resides near Washington, DC, USA.

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