GM Haik Martirosyan scored 10/11 to win his first-ever Titled Tuesday on April 14, starting out 9/9 and (after playing 267 moves to split his last two games) carrying that to his first ever win in the event. Last week’s victor GM Sina Movahed scored 9.5 points to finish second and continue leading the spring split standings.Â
CCT Standings
Martirosyan’s win brought him into ninth place in the current split standings, which Movahed now leads by 10 points—the value of a first-place tournament finish—ahead of GM Nihal Sarin.
| Rank | Fed | Player | Score | Week 8 |
| 1 | GM Sina Movahed | 27 | +7 | |
| 2 | GM Nihal Sarin | 17 | ||
| 3 | GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 15 | +1 | |
| 4 | GM Zhamsaran Tsydypov | 14 | +4 | |
| 5 | GM Hans Niemann | 13 | ||
| 6 | GM Parham Maghsoodloo | 12 | ||
| 7 | GM Tuan Minh Le | 12 | ||
| 8 | GM Arjun Erigaisi | 12 | +5 | |
| 9 | GM Haik M. Martirosyan | 10 | +10 | |
| 10 | GM Javokhir Sindarov | 10 |
Full Standings | Titled Tuesday Info | CCT Info | CCT Standings
Tournament Recap
Thirteen players entered the first break on 4/4 points, but only four made it to 5/5: Martirosyan, GM Jose Martinez, FM Havard Haug, and CM Vladimir Mikhailovsky. The two GMs took over in the sixth round, Martinez with Black defeating Haug and Martirosyan with White over Mikhailovsky. GMs Arjun Erigaisi, Zhamsaran Tsydypov, and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave each moved just behind to 5.5/6.
Martinez and Martirosyan did indeed face off in round seven. Martirosyan gradually took over and won an extra exchange, and had a decisive passed a-pawn to boot.
Everyone on 5.5 made another draw, so Martirosyan now led the field by a full point. Of the 10 players on six points, it was GM Parham Maghsoodloo who challenged Martirosyan. Maghsoodloo saved a middlegame into an equal rook-and-pawn ending, but in the time scramble, Martirosyan took over again and moved to 8/8.
Coming out of the break, Martirosyan’s run continued as he built Alekhine’s gun on the d-file in the ninth round against Vachier-Lagrave, and was soon two points from 11/11.
Only one player was now within a point of Martirosyan, which was Arjun, who had defeated Nepomniachtchi. But in the 10th round, Martirosyan faced Movahed instead, while Arjun played GM Amin Tabatabaei.
In Movahed-Martirosyan, both players had their chances to win before the time scramble, but it took 149 moves—half of them in the last 40 seconds of play—to decide things. In the end, Martirosyan’s run at perfection was over, after missing that single fleeting millisecond where he had a chance at a mate-in-one.
Arjun, meanwhile, had won against Tabatabaei in just 22 moves. For the first time since the sixth round, there was a tie for first in the standings.
And so the tournament came down to this, with Arjun facing Martirosyan, both on 9/10. If they drew, Movahed could tie them by beating GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda.
In the aftermath of a Greek Gift sacrifice, Arjun had an extra pawn, and it was a mighty one on d7. But Martirosyan was able to hold it at bay, and soon he had the extra pawn, now in a rook ending. Once again, time was the deciding factor. This time, Martirosyan was able to flag and win both the game and the tournament.
Movahed did indeed win his last game, which gave him second place.
Despite the tough final-round loss, Arjun finished in third place ahead of Tsydypov on tiebreaks. GM Aravindh Chithambaram and Tabatabaei rounded out the top six, while IM Polina Shuvalova won the women’s prize.
April 14 Titled Tuesday | Final Standings (Top 20)
| Rank | Seed | Fed | Title | Username | Name | Rating | Score | 1st Tiebreak |
| 1 | 19 | GM | @Micki-taryan | Haik Martirosyan | 3213 | 10 | 77.5 | |
| 2 | 3 | GM | @Sina-Movahed | Sina Movahed | 3277 | 9.5 | 77 | |
| 3 | 9 | GM | @GHANDEEVAM2003 | Arjun Erigaisi | 3253 | 9 | 76 | |
| 4 | 14 | GM | @Zhuu96 | Zhamsaran Tsydypov | 3221 | 9 | 75.5 | |
| 5 | 23 | GM | @Vaathi_Coming | Aravindh Chithambaram | 3147 | 8.5 | 73 | |
| 6 | 22 | GM | @amintabatabaei | Amin Tabatabaei | 3158 | 8.5 | 67.5 | |
| 7 | 6 | IM | @FaustinoOro | Faustino Oro | 3230 | 8.5 | 66.5 | |
| 8 | 26 | GM | @bardiya_Daneshvar | Bardiya Daneshvar | 3111 | 8.5 | 58.5 | |
| 9 | 12 | GM | @Jospem | Jose Martinez | 3211 | 8 | 72.5 | |
| 10 | 1 | GM | @Polish_fighter3000 | Jan-Krzysztof Duda | 3281 | 8 | 72 | |
| 11 | 16 | GM | @mishanick | Alexey Sarana | 3180 | 8 | 71 | |
| 12 | 4 | GM | @Parhamov | Parham Maghsoodloo | 3247 | 8 | 69.5 | |
| 13 | 10 | GM | @vi_pranav | Pranav V | 3208 | 8 | 68.5 | |
| 14 | 44 | GM | @Sam_ChessMood | Samvel Ter-Sahakyan | 3016 | 8 | 67.5 | |
| 15 | 8 | GM | @lachesisQ | Ian Nepomniachtchi | 3221 | 8 | 66.5 | |
| 16 | 18 | IM | @MITerryble | Renato Terry | 3171 | 8 | 64.5 | |
| 17 | 47 | GM | @pouya21 | Pouya Idani | 3013 | 8 | 64.5 | |
| 18 | 32 | GM | @abhidabhi | Abhimanyu Puranik | 3036 | 8 | 61 | |
| 19 | 38 | GM | @HVillagra | Cristobal Henriquez | 3045 | 7.5 | 69.5 | |
| 20 | 76 | CM | @vovachesss | Vladimir Mikhailovsky | 2902 | 7.5 | 69 | |
| 42 | 58 | IM | @Flawless_Fighter | Polina Shuvalova | 2925 | 7 | 62.5 |
Full final standings.
Prizes: Martirosyan $1,000, Movahed $750, Arjun $350, Tsydypov $250, Aravindh $150, Tabatabaei $100, Shuvalova $100. Streamers’ prizes to be posted on the Events page.
Titled Tuesday is Chess.com’s weekly tournament for titled players. It begins at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time/17:00 Central European/20:30 Indian Standard Time.