Grandmaster Haik Martirosyan claimed his first Titled Tuesday title on April 14, scoring 10 out of 11 points after racing to a 9/9 start. GM Sina Movahed took second place with 9.5 points, maintaining his lead in the spring split standings. The event featured intense battles among top titled players on Chess.com.
Martirosyan entered the tournament strongly, reaching 5/5 after the first break alongside GM Jose Martinez, FM Havard Haug, and CM Vladimir Mikhailovsky. In round six, he defeated Mikhailovsky with White, while Martinez beat Haug. Their round-seven clash saw Martirosyan gain an extra exchange and a passed pawn to secure the win, pulling ahead alone on 6.5/7 as others drew. GM Parham Maghsoodloo challenged him next, but Martirosyan prevailed in a time scramble to hit 8/8. Coming out of the break, he built Alekhine's gun against GM Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in round nine, staying two points from perfection. In round 10, Martirosyan drew with Movahed after a 149-move thriller marked by mutual chances and a late time scramble. GM Arjun Erigaisi won quickly against GM Amin Tabatabaei, tying Martirosyan at 9/9. The final round pitted the leaders against each other: Arjun's Greek Gift sacrifice yielded an extra pawn, but Martirosyan held, counterattacked in the rook endgame, and flagged his opponent to clinch the tournament. Movahed beat GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda for second, with Arjun third ahead of GM Zhamsaran Tsydypov on tiebreaks. Martirosyan's victory earned him $1,000 and ninth place in the CCT spring split standings, where Movahed leads by 10 points over GM Nihal Sarin. The top six included GM Aravindh Chithambaram and Tabatabaei, while IM Polina Shuvalova won the women's prize.
