Martinez Perfect After Carlsen Continues Run
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.
No pude expresar bien mi tweet por la emocion, "Sin ella no seria el jugador que llegue a ser...
— Jose Martínez Alcántara (@GMJoseMartinez) August 27, 2024
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.
It's not often you see Magnus Carlsen with a lost position on move 6! https://t.co/3Upm75wxAo #TitledTuesday pic.twitter.com/EMh2lhfR9T
— chess24 (@chess24com) August 27, 2024
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.
Congratulations to @MagnusCarlsen on winning today's early #TitledTuesday with 9.5/11! 🎉🏆 pic.twitter.com/4LblCYdHAB
— chess24 (@chess24com) August 27, 2024
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 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).