Carlsen Crosses 2900 But Arjun, Praggnanandhaa Hit Back
When GM Magnus Carlsen began with 5.5/6, crossed 2900, and took the sole lead in the 2024 Tata Steel Chess India Open Blitz, it looked like another perfect day at the office, but the world number-one ended with a 20-move loss to GM Arjun Erigaisi and nearly losing to GM Vidit Gujrathi. He goes into day two with only a half-point lead over GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, who stormed back from three losses to win six in a row.
GM Kateryna Lagno is the only unbeaten player in either section and leads the 2024 Tata Steel Chess India Women's Blitz on 7/9, a full point ahead of GM Valentina Gunina, whom she beat in the final round of the day. Rapid winner GM Aleksandra Goryachkina started with 3/3, then didn't win another game, and is another point back in third.
The final day's action starts on Sunday, November 17, at 3:30 a.m. ET/09:30 CET/2 p.m. IST.
- Open Blitz: Praggnanandhaa Chases Carlsen After Arjun Beats Leader
- Women's Blitz: Unbeaten Lagno Leads Gunina By A Point
Tata Steel Chess India Blitz Open: Standings After Day 1
Tata Steel Chess India Blitz Women: Standings After Day 1
Open Blitz: Praggnanandhaa Chases Carlsen After Arjun Beats Leader
Magnus Does Magnus Things
The story of the day would ultimately be how unpredictable a game of blitz is—the players have just three minutes to make all their moves, with two seconds added after each move—but it just seemed to be about the world number-one doing what he does. He started fast, with the exchange sacrifice 20.Rxd7!? objectively giving up his advantage against GM Narayanan S.L., but in practice bringing victory three moves later.
Carlsen's sacrifice wasn't entirely sound, but he soon went on to win! https://t.co/9OsLDniM3c #TataSteelChessIndia pic.twitter.com/qGd8AE3wmh
— chess24 (@chess24com) November 16, 2024
In the next game he beat Praggnanandhaa in 26 moves, with the final blow, capturing a knight on d6, one for the crowd.
Arriving late against GM Wesley So didn't work quite so well as it had in the Rapid...
It's So-Carlsen now, with Magnus last to arrive! #TataSteelChessIndia pic.twitter.com/teYIqtiW0r
— chess24 (@chess24com) November 16, 2024
...but tenacious defense saw him save a position an exchange down.
Then normal service was resumed, and with convincing wins over GMs Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Vincent Keymer, Carlsen crossed 2900 on the live rating list.
Magnus Hits 2900 🔥 pic.twitter.com/ScCzB8f9OT
— agadmator (@agadmator) November 16, 2024
He then moved to 5.5/6 with a fine win over GM Nihal Sarin, before making a rock-solid draw against the one player within a point, GM Daniil Dubov. Everything seemed totally under control, but the wheels came off in the last two rounds of the day!
India Strikes Back
Day one of the Blitz in Kolkata was a shocking demonstration of just how volatile speed chess can be. In round one, the usually unshakeable Abdusattorov failed to win a technically won endgame against Dubov and lost the next four games (then won three in a row), while the until-then winless Dubov went on a three-game winning streak.
Another famously solid player, So, lost four games in a row, which should have been five except for an incredible turnaround against Nihal. That was despite starting with a crushing win over Arjun.
Wesley So crashes through against Arjun Erigaisi! https://t.co/aZmZP915gw#TataSteelChessIndia pic.twitter.com/V7yLervgyz
— chess24 (@chess24com) November 16, 2024
Arjun, meanwhile, kept living dangerously...
No one has any respect for Arjun's king! https://t.co/Tlc9GTKz1M#TataSteelChessIndia pic.twitter.com/TF9pe15KJA
— chess24 (@chess24com) November 16, 2024
But he escaped and almost won that game, while he put together an unbeaten 5.5/7 that included a win over none other than Carlsen in round eight.
It's not often you see the world number-one lost on move 12!
He managed to stumble on to move 20 before throwing in the towel.
Arjun Erigaisi crushes Magnus Carlsen in 20 moves with the black pieces — the World no. 1's 1st loss in #TataSteelChessIndia this year! https://t.co/FKdLhuE3sh pic.twitter.com/tUCb7T9a8R
— chess24 (@chess24com) November 16, 2024
That spectacular twist in the day's plotline is our Game of the Day, which has been annotated by GM Dejan Bojkov below.
Carlsen would end the day in the sole lead, but only after pulling off a miraculous escape against another Indian star, Vidit, in the final round.
Carlsen had stayed true to his style of trying to hit back immediately, but blowing open the position, and especially the g-file, had left him in dire straits, with 29.Nxg7! the best illustration of how bad things were. Still, he somehow survived!
The most remarkable player when it came to a comeback, however, was Praggnanandhaa, who started with three losses before racking up six wins!
Praggnanandhaa called the first game "unlucky," since he'd been winning against Vidit but ultimately blundered a fork in a drawn position on move 104.
"After I knew I messed it up, I should just have taken a draw," the 19-year-old said later in a press conference, before explaining how he was able to turn things around:
"I just tried to calm myself down and stop thinking about the result. I just wanted to have fun in the remaining games, and I think the first win was crucial. The more wins I got, the momentum started to go in my favor."
I just wanted to have fun in the remaining games.
—Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu
Praggnanandhaa turned around a difficult position against So in round four, and from there on there was no looking back, as it was his opponents who began to do all the blundering. In round seven he inflicted the first loss of the Blitz on the high-flying Dubov, keeping his wits about him in a very tricky endgame.
Then in the final round of the day, Praggnanandhaa also took down second-placed Arjun, who could have caught Carlsen with a win.
Praggnanandhaa is just half a point behind the leader and will have white against him in the second round of the final day. He should be feeling good. As he said in the press conference, "I think today gives me confidence because I’m not someone who wins in a streak, six in a row or something!"
Women's Blitz: Unbeaten Lagno Leads Gunina By A Point
At first it seemed the Rapid winners were both going to dominate the Blitz as well, with Goryachkina racing to 3/3, at that point outscoring even Carlsen. Two of those wins involved a decent amount of good fortune, however, and next Goryachkina didn't manage a single win, as other players took over.
Above all, three-time Women's World Blitz Champion Lagno was the only player to end the day unbeaten.
Of course, remaining unbeaten in blitz always involves some luck. For instance, this is the position after Lagno played the desperate 36...Rxd5 in a lost position against GM Vaishali Rameshbabu. If both players hadn't been down to their last seconds, the game would undoubtedly have ended differently!
Lagno's play got more impressive as the day went on, however, and in the final round she scored a crucial win against two-time World Blitz Champion Gunina, who would end the day without making a single draw.
Lagno found a way to force two rooks against her opponent's queen and later said, "Maybe she can hold it, but with such time pressure it’s much easier to play for me—and she just collapsed immediately!"
Here are the final stages:
Goryachkina is two points behind Lagno but certainly can't be ruled out, while another half-point back are three Indian stars, GM Koneru Humpy and IMs Divya Deshmukh and Vantika Agrawal.
Join us for the final day of this year's Tata Steel Chess India!
How to watch? Tata Steel Chess India
You can watch the event live on Twitch, as well as on our Chesscom India YouTube channel. The games can also be checked out on our dedicated Tata Steel Chess India events page.
The broadcast was hosted by IM Tania Sachdev and GM Sahaj Grover, with former World Champion Viswanathan Anand and IM Sagar Shah also joining.
Tata Steel Chess India 2024 is taking place in the Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium in Kolkata on November 13-17 and features an Open and a Women's section, each consisting of 10 players and with the same prize fund. The first three days of rapid chess (first prize $10,000) are a single round-robin with a 25-minute/game + 10-second increment/move time control. The last two days of blitz (first prize $7,500) are a double round-robin at a 3+2 time control.
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Colin McGourty led news at Chess24 from its launch until it merged with Chess.com a decade later. An amateur player, he got into chess writing when he set up the website Chess in Translation after previously studying Slavic languages and literature in St. Andrews, Odesa, Oxford, and Krakow.
