Martinez Magic Makes For Another Titled Tuesday Victory

GM Jose Martinez won Titled Tuesday on June 30 without much trouble, going undefeated and scoring 10/11 for his second victory in the last six weeks. No one came within even half a point, but five players scored nine points, with GM Fabiano Caruana taking second place with the best tiebreaks ahead of third-place GM Levon Aronian and the others.

Recap

Martinez and Caruana were among 16 players to start with 4/4, but only Martinez was among the seven to go 5/5. With moves like 35.f5!! in round three against GM Alex Rustemov, securing his g6-knight and luring Rustemov into capturing an irrelevant rook with his key defensive bishop, Martinez’s form was not in doubt.

Martinez, Aronian, and GM Aleksandr Shimanov stayed perfect on 6/6, but all three made draws in the seventh round. Thus the perfect score bounty continues to grow, next week representing a second-place equivalent of $1,500.

Aronian, in his eighth-round game against Shimanov, was down a pawn and at risk of losing another, but turned the tide before settling for a repetition. Thus, facing GM Zhamsaran Tsydypov with Black, Martinez became the only player to move to 7.5/8 after finding 20…Bxf5! (instead of the mortally obvious 20…Bxf1) followed by the mate-threatening 21…Qh6.

Joining Aronian and Shimanov on 7/8 were Caruana, GMs Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Haik Martirosyan, Alexey Sarana, and FM Artin Ashraf.

Martinez’s victories after the second break weren’t quite as convincing as the ones before, but they counted. With White against Duda in the ninth round, Martinez fell behind an exchange, which Duda turn into two extra passed pawns on the queenside. Martinez showed his fighting spirit, working his way back to equality at one point, then even winning on the clock while still down a pawn. Only two players stayed within half a point, Aronian defeating Ashraf (below) and Martirosyan defeating Sarana to both reach 8/9.

Against Aronian in round 10, Martinez got in trouble for second straight game, Aronian having a much better bishop, planting a knight on e5, and doubling rooks on the c-file. But Martinez worked his way back again and ended up ahead by as many as four pawns. Aronian repaid the favor and had the winning position for the last several moves, but was hopelessly behind on the clock and lost on time.

Elsewhere in round 10, Caruana and GM Dmitry Andreikin won against Martirosyan and IM Patryk Cieslak, respectively, to move to 8.5/10. Caruana was never worse and the game ended abruptly when Martirosyan, while already behind on the board and clock, allowed mate-in-one.

Draws ruled the day in round 11. With Caruana and Andreikin exactly one point back, Martinez had locked up a tie for first, but not the outright position, which was indeed the situation last time he won the tournament but lost the final game. This time, the top three boards—Martinez vs. Andreikin, Caruana vs. Duda, and Martirosyan vs. GM Hikaru Nakamura—all ended in uneventful draws, as only Nakamura among the six showed much interest in winning the game.

Standings Table (Top 25)

Full final standings.