Former world champion Vladimir Kramnik takes on Mexico’s Jose Martinez in a special hybrid match called the Clash of Blames. (PHOTO: World Chess via X)
Former world champion Vladimir Kramnik defeated Jose Martinez in a special Clash of Blames event. Martinez is a Mexican grandmaster that the Russian had reportedly accused of cheating in online events, although the former world champion disputes this by saying that he has ever named Martinez in cheating allegations.
Known online as Jospem, Martinez is Mexico’s number-one player across all time controls. He is one of the best blitz players in the world, featuring among FIDE’s top 25 players in the time control.
What was Clash of Blames event?
The three-day Clash of Blames event saw six online and six over-the-board games played daily with the participant who gained 18.5 points being declared the winner. The offline games were held at Guild Esports in Shoreditch, London.
Kramnik had started Day 3 a point behind the Mexican grandmaster but surged ahead by winning six out of eight games. Martinez won three games at one stage and was on the brink of victory in the final game to force tiebreaks, but time pressure took its toll, and he narrowly lost.
The Clash of Blames finished with a score of 19:17 favouring Kramnik.
What was Clash of Claims?
The Clash of Blames event was a sequel to the Clash of Claims event that was held in June this year at Madrid’s Casino de Gran Via. The Clash of Claims — which had consisted of a 36-game 3+2 blitz match, half of which was played online and the other half over the board — was won by Martinez.
The Mexican beat the former world champion Kramnik 14.5-11.5 in the three-day hybrid match. However, Kramnik had raised a hue and cry by pointing out technical issues — Kramnik was upset about clock synchronisation and software update issues — while playing the online portion and claiming that it was reason enough to invalidate the event.
Kramnik’s arguments had led to the Clash of Blames, which was organised by World Chess. The organisers, on their website, said: “The Clash of Blames event seeks to determine whether widespread cheating in online chess is a reality or merely a grandmaster’s suspicion.”
Before the final day’s matches began on Wednesday, Kramnik had revealed that his opponent was playing despite facing a heartbreaking personal loss.
“I have just learned few minutes ago that Jose’s mother passed away a week or two before the match. Jose decided to play the event anyways in memory of her. Just learned from organizers now. My sincere, deepest condolenses to Jose,” he tweeted before replying to an X user: “Jose decided to play despite organizers offering him to postpone. Just tonight I learned this. Of course, I would agree also to any choice of Jose in such circumstances.”
