Match Kramnik - Martinez, Clash of Blaims

Two Grandmasters played 36 games (18 online, 18 OTB) with a tempo 3+2, and as already much have been written about clash(es) of these two, I was mainly interested in what was going on over the board.

https://www.chess.com/events/2024-clash-of-blames/games

We have seen good start of Martinez, initially took the lead by 7:5 but the Kramnik started to play well, overtook the leading role and had +4 lead (18:14) close to the end. Then Martinez scored 3/3 and came just to -1 (18:17). In dramatic last game, Martinez missed chance to go for a win in better rook endgame and lost the game. Final score was 19:17 for Vladimir Kramnik. Amazing to see, all 36 games were played with first move 1.e4. All his games with black pieces, Kramnik started with Sicilian while on the other side, Martinez mostly responded with 1...e5 and just in two games he tried Sicilian (he lost both games).

Full article for now available here: https://diagram64.blogspot.com/2024/09/match-kramnik-martinez-clash-of-blaims.html .