Martínez beats Kramnik in controversial match (2025)

Martínez beats Kramnik in controversial match (1)

Martínez beats Kramnik in controversial match (2)

Chess News

SHOP

Search:

Language:

Search:

Language:

DE

EN

ES

FR

Language:

SHOP

by Carlos Alberto Colodro

6/12/2024 – On June 7-9, former world champion Vladimir Kramnik faced Peruvian GM José Martínez (now representing Mexico) in a blitz match consisting of over-the-board and online games. A total of 36 games were supposed to take place, but only 26 ended up being played due to Kramnik’s complaints regarding technical issues in the online games. In the end, Martínez secured overall victory with two games to spare.

Martínez beats Kramnik in controversial match (9)

ChessBase 18 - Mega package

Winning starts with what you know
The new version 18 offers completely new possibilities for chess training and analysis: playing style analysis, search for strategic themes, access to 6 billion Lichess games, player preparation by matching Lichess games, download Chess.com games with built-in API, built-in cloud engine and much more.

More...

Still no ChessBase Account? learn more > 8 million games online! Updated weekly, our definitive database has all the latest games. With Live Book and Let’s Check!
ONLINE SHOP

The two Video-Courses offer you the chance to solve 66 exercises with multiple questions. These exercises are presented in the interactive format, which makes them accessible for players of different strengths as we will go through the thought process ste

€99.90

A clash of claims

After retiring from classical chess in 2019, former world champion Vladimir Kramnik has remained connected to the royal game, training Indian talents, playing blitz tournaments, trying out the no-castling format in Dortmund, and more recently using forums and social media to question how effective anti-cheating measures are in the world of online chess.

Kramnik has been using his X account to share statistical analyses (often disavowed by other users) about what he considers to be results that should generate serious suspicions of cheating. His main concern is related to online events with prize funds, in which players might have a strong incentive to cheat. Often, he focuses particularly on chess.com’s Titled Tuesday events, which take place twice a week with a $2,500 prize fund on offer per event.

Master Class Vol.11: Vladimir Kramnik

This DVD allows you to learn from the example of one of the best players in the history of chess and from the explanations of the authors (Pelletier, Marin, Müller and Reeh) how to successfully organise your games strategically, consequently how to keep y

As he told Levy Rozman in a recent interview, Kramnik is convinced that cheating is much more prevalent than people might think, and believes that the chess.com representatives choose not to deal with the problem seriously enough.

On the other hand, many of the posts shared by the former world champion on X seem to imply that specific players have cheated either in a single tournament or throughout a number of tournaments. Though he always denies this claim, he has from time to time used particular performances of a single player as examples of why he is so concerned about cheating.

An incident three months ago indicated that Kramnik apparently suspected that a specific player might be cheating. During a Titled Tuesday event, the Russian GM resigned a game after only two moves while playing black against Peruvian GM José Martínez. Also known as Jospem (the nickname he uses on chess.com), Martínez has become well-known for his strong performances in online tournaments.

Currently representing Mexico, Martínez is in fact placed fourth in the Titled Tuesday yearly leaderboard, standing only behind Hikaru Nakamura, Jan-Krzysztof Duda and Alexey Sarana, all of which have a higher classical-chess rating than him — as per Martínez’s FIDE profile, his current ratings are 2612 (standard), 2641 (rapid) and 2703 (blitz).

IM David Martínez, a long-standing coach and outstanding promoter of the game in the Spanish-speaking world, noted that Kramnik and Martínez had the exact same OTB blitz rating (2703), and decided to organize an event to give the Peruvian GM a chance to prove his mettle against the living legend.

Acabo de comprobar que @VBkramnik y @GMJoseMartinez tienen el mismo Elo Blitz presencial, 2703, ocupando el puesto 23 y 24 del mundo. Me gustaría mucho un match entre ellos. 😀 pic.twitter.com/4VZzcBFidg

— David Martínez (@El_Divis) February 28, 2024

David Martínez invited both contenders to play a 36-game blitz match at the Gran Vía Casino in Madrid, with half the games taking place over-the-board and half the games taking place online (with heavy supervision). Kramnik and Martínez agreed, and the match was scheduled for June 7-9.

It should be noted that David Martínez is part of the chess.com staff, a conspicuous fact for people in the Spanish-speaking world, as ‘El Divis’ had a leading role in chess24 and has made a name for himself among fans in Spain and Latin America. Kramnik apparently was not aware of this fact, though — a detail which became relevant after the match in Madrid.

During the negotiations for the match, Kramnik highlighted the fact that he had never accused Martínez of cheating.

Una semana para #ClashofClaims. pic.twitter.com/0jQpAFxu2K

— David Martínez (@El_Divis) May 31, 2024

The match

Dubbed the “Clash of Claims”, the match was supposed to consist of 36 blitz games, with a time control of 3 minutes plus 2-second increments per move (the Titled Tuesday tournaments are played with a 3+1 time control), spread over 3 days. Half the games would be played on a physical board, while the remaining 18 would take place online, using the chess.com platform. Each day of action would see 6 OTB games and 6 online games.

As per Kramnik’s request, brand-new laptops were unboxed live before each of the 3 sessions to prevent any manipulation of the operating system.

Master Class Vol.4: José Raúl Capablanca

He was a child prodigy and he is surrounded by legends. In his best times he was considered to be unbeatable and by many he was reckoned to be the greatest chess talent of all time: Jose Raul Capablanca, born 1888 in Havana.

Todo listo en el duelo entre @VBkramnik y @GMJoseMartinez. La cara de @El_Divis en el cara a cara muestra en secuencia que será un encuentro tan interesante como distendido. Magnífica organización. pic.twitter.com/Tyif8Xoewq

— Manuel Azuaga (@mazuagah) June 6, 2024

Day 1: First issues with online games (results ignored)

  • The first 6 over-the-board games saw the contenders trading wins to go into the first session of online games with a 3-3 score.
  • Martínez scored 1½ points in the first 2 online games, but Kramnik protested, noting that his clock was behaving strangely.
    • The arbiters looked into Kramnik’s complaint and agreed with him, realising that the brand-new laptops were running Windows updates while the games were taking place, thus affecting the time synchronization.
    • It was agreed for the two first results of online games to be ignored, and Kramnik refused to continue playing online.
  • Negotiations led to both players agreeing to play four more over-the-board games on the first day of action.
  • Kramnik scored 2 wins and 2 games ended drawn, thus leaving the scoreboard 6-4 in favour of the former world champion.

Day 2: Change of plans

  • The start of the day’s action was delayed, as players and organizers struggled to agree how the match would continue. In the end, it was determined that 4 more OTB games would take place (for a total of 14), and 14 online games would be played on day 3.
  • Martínez won 2 games, Kramnik won 1 game, and 1 game ended drawn, which meant Kramnik had a 7½-6½ lead going into the final day of action.

Day 3: Match ends abruptly, Martínez secures victory

  • The first 3 online games saw a win by Kramnik, a draw and a win by Martínez.
  • At that point, Kramnik again complained about an alleged strange behaviour related to the time increments (probably having to do with network latency, also known as lag).
  • The games resumed, with Kramnik still 1 point ahead in the scoreboard. Martínez began to outplay his famed opponent, winning 4 out of the 7 games that followed.
  • By game 26, Martínez had amassed a 3-point advantage, thus securing overall victory with 2 games to spare (the score was 14½-11½ in favour of the Peruvian).
  • The contenders agreed to play the remaining 2 games, but play was abruptly stopped when a malfunction in Kramnik’s laptop prevented him from continue playing — the move played by Martínez did not show up in Kramnik’s screen, and the platform suddenly indicated that Martínez had won on time. Kramnik had a completely winning position at that point.
  • Kramnik refused to continue playing.

Aftermath

Both the organizers and the players were aware of the fact that it is impossible to assess whether a player is a cheater or not by just playing a match. However, as David Martínez repeatedly asserted during the live webcast, the match had more to do with demonstrating that Martínez is a strong player capable of holding his own against elite opposition.

Kramnik himself complimented his opponent’s behaviour, noting that Martínez was both very polite and a strong chess player.

It was made clear once again that playing online is not exactly the same as playing on a physical board, as has been often highlighted by Levon Aronian, among others.

Nevertheless, Kramnik continued to question the organizers regarding the technical conditions and the server issues that impeded the match to take place smoothly. As mentioned above, the former world champion was surprised to find out that David Martínez works for chess.com.

First question for Divis,the main organiser, do you work at chesscom? Yes or no please 🙂

— Vladimir Kramnik (@VBkramnik) June 10, 2024

Master Class Vol.14 - Vasily Smyslov

Smyslov cultivated a clear positional style and even in sharp tactical positions often relied more on his intuition than on concrete calculation of variations. Let our authors introduce you into the world of Vasily Smyslov.

Levy Rozman, a.k.a. Gotham Chess, commentated the games live, and later published an excellent recap of what transpired in Madrid.

All games (results in games 8 and 9 were ignored)

Links

  • Kramnik on life after chess, young talents and Magnus Carlsen
  • The man who took down Garry Kasparov: Vladimir Kramnik
  • Chessable Masters Play-In: Martínez and Anton top scorers
Advertising

Martínez beats Kramnik in controversial match (16)Books, boards, sets: Chess Niggemann

Martínez beats Kramnik in controversial match (17)
Books, boards, sets: Chess Niggemann

Carlos Alberto ColodroCarlos Colodro is a Hispanic Philologist from Bolivia. He works as a freelance translator and writer since 2012. A lot of his work is done in chess-related texts, as the game is one of his biggest interests, along with literature and music.

News

ChessBase 18 Premium-Package

Winning starts with what you know – ChessBase 18

€499.90

Catalan Powerbook 2025

Catalan Powerbook based on over 470,000 high-class games, most of them played by engines.

€9.90

Catalan Powerbase 2025

Catalan Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains 9158 high-class games from the Mega 2025 or the Correspondence Database 2024, 936 of which are annotated.

€9.90

The Funky Löwenthal Variation in 60 Minutes

Whether you’re looking for thrilling attacks, or steady positional play, the Löwenthal Variation has more to offer than meets the eye.

€9.90

ChessBase Magazine 223

World Chess Championship 2024 - all games with analyses by Giri, Shankland, So and others. Kasimdzhanov, King and Ris show new opening ideas in the video. 10 repertoire articles from the English Opening to the King's Indian and much more.

€21.90

Opening Surprise Weapons in 60 Minutes

This 60-minute course is a selection of exciting and practical openings that are both easy to learn and enjoyable to play.

€9.90

The delayed Alapin in 60 Minutes

Looking to surprise your opponents and sidestep the well-known Sicilian defenses? The Delayed Alapin offers a unique way to cut off many standard variations, making it an ideal weapon even against top-level players, including Grandmasters.

€9.90

Modern Classics

Top trainers strongly recommend regular study of well-explained classical games to improve your understanding of chess in the long term. 33 modern classics are explained in details on this video course.

€39.90

Privacy policy| Imprint | Contact | licenses | Home
© 2017 ChessBase GmbH | Osterbekstraße 90a | 22083 Hamburg | Germany
coldest news

Martínez beats Kramnik in controversial match (2025)
Top Articles
Latest Posts
Recommended Articles
Article information

Author: Mr. See Jast

Last Updated:

Views: 6452

Rating: 4.4 / 5 (75 voted)

Reviews: 90% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Mr. See Jast

Birthday: 1999-07-30

Address: 8409 Megan Mountain, New Mathew, MT 44997-8193

Phone: +5023589614038

Job: Chief Executive

Hobby: Leather crafting, Flag Football, Candle making, Flying, Poi, Gunsmithing, Swimming

Introduction: My name is Mr. See Jast, I am a open, jolly, gorgeous, courageous, inexpensive, friendly, homely person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.