Carlsen Beats Arjun To Win Double Gold; Lagno Takes Women's Blitz

GM Magnus Carlsen has added the 2024 Tata Steel Chess India Open Blitz title to his Rapid crown after beating GM Arjun Erigaisi in the penultimate round. He confessed it was a "really, really nervy day," since a five-game drawing streak enabled Arjun to take the lead with three rounds to go. The Indian star then lost the last three games, however, enabling GM Wesley So to snatch second with a six-game winning streak. 

GM Kateryna Lagno clinched the 2024 Tata Steel Chess India Women's Blitz with a round to spare after earlier seeing her lead evaporate. GM Valentina Gunina caught her with five rounds to go and won their last-round encounter to ensure second place, while GM Aleksandra Goryachkina took third, sharing prize money with GM Vantika Agrawal, despite at one point going 11 games without a win.

• Open: Magnus Does It Again!
• Women: Lagno Holds Off Gunina Challenge

Open: Magnus Does It Again! 

When the dust had settled, Carlsen had won his second title in Kolkata in the space of two days by a 1.5-point margin, but the race was much closer than it looks from the final standings.

Carlsen Goes On 5-Game Drawing Streak

The world number-one explained on the live broadcast:

"Yesterday was kind of a difficult day for me. I couldn’t sleep the last night and I was playing off adrenaline yesterday really, and I think today I was well-rested, but my nervous system was still not quite where it should be, so it was a really, really nervy day." 

It was a really, really nervy day. 

—Magnus Carlsen

After grinding out a win against GM Narayanan S.L. Carlsen ground to a halt, making five consecutive draws against a group of players he'd blown away a day earlier.

Seen individually, it was possible to put a positive spin on most of the draws. For instance, the draw with GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu ended the youngster's seven-game winning streak (Praggnanandhaa's challenge was later sunk by a four-game losing streak), while Carlsen was the only player to stop So in eight games, but inevitably it allowed the chasing pack to challenge.

Dubov And Arjun Fight To Catch Carlsen

The world number-one commented:

"I was lucky that Wesley was the one who went on a big streak because he couldn’t realistically catch me. If Pragg or Arjun, or even Dubov, had been consistently strong, I would have really, really struggled. Arjun did it for a while, but I think maybe his nervous system couldn’t handle it right at the end." 

Arjun makes his own luck, but he also got a helping hand early on. GM Nordirbek Abdusattorov had the commentating GM Viswanathan Anand wondering how the Uzbekistan star had gone from a solid middlegame position with a five vs. four pawn edge against Arjun to a lost position where he had none to Arjun's three.

GM Nihal Sarin not only spoiled an advantage but then threatened checkmate-in-one with 35.Qe5??. A very cold shower followed.

GM Daniil Dubov was also playing well, and in round 14 he faced Arjun in a game that would take the winner level with Carlsen in the lead. It was an insane battle that ultimately went Arjun's way, which was a fair result, though there were multiple fantastic draws on offer, while for one move Dubov was winning completely by force.

Arjun Erigaisi beats Daniil Dubov to catch Magnus Carlsen with 4 rounds to go! https://t.co/Wj32ODtY5r#TataSteelChessIndia pic.twitter.com/r967eOyCeS

— chess24 (@chess24com) November 17, 2024

That meant Arjun and Carlsen were tied with four rounds to go. In the next round, Arjun beat Narayanan, and Carlsen was held to a draw by Nihal. Arjun had taken a half-point lead in what was now a two-horse race (Dubov lost again, this time to Vidit), but Carlsen explained that he wasn't feeling panic:

"I wasn’t worried about that per se. Making five draws in a row, I didn’t expect to have a huge lead or anything, so it was more like, let’s see! I felt like I had three very good pairings for me in the last three rounds, with two whites, so I felt like I should have a good chance."

The Tables Turn In A Single Round

Round 16 was arguably the round that determined the final result, with two games that could have gone either way. Arjun stuck to his style, generating what Anand called "chaos on the board."  

"He achieves what he wants, which is chaos on the board!" (Anand on Arjun, who's hunting a 4th win in a row)https://t.co/wKjtLfVh4H#TataSteelChessIndia pic.twitter.com/aGxaxzkvod

— chess24 (@chess24com) November 17, 2024

Arjun's Blumenfeld Countergambit was incredibly difficult to handle in blitz, and sure enough, he was winning with the black pieces in a dozen moves. By move 25 he was completely crushing—even if a 24- to 10-second lead on the clock was a precarious advantage. This is where, in the space of a few moves, everything turned around.

It was the worst-case scenario for Arjun, since Carlsen finally woke up to beat Dubov, though not without suffering a scare! A tricky tactic had a hole in it, but his former employee didn't spot it.

That meant Carlsen was back in the lead going into the showdown with Arjun in the penultimate round. 

Carlsen Gets His Revenge Vs. Arjun

Carlsen's lead was half a point before the penultimate round game, with the world number-one commenting, "Obviously going into the game with him, being ahead after he lost a completely winning position to Vidit, that was a bit lucky, but there you go!"

Arjun still had White, however, and for the early part of the game, it looked as though he might make it a 2-0 sweep over Carlsen. Instead mistakes crept into his play, and the leader pounced to win the game and the tournament.

The final moments as @MagnusCarlsen beats Arjun Erigaisi to win the #TataSteelChessIndia Blitz with a round to spare! https://t.co/ZcoJRk2Hic pic.twitter.com/E1RuH9DT5Y

— chess24 (@chess24com) November 17, 2024

That clash is our Game of the Day, which has been annotated by GM Dejan Bojkov below.

After Carlsen wrapped up the title, there was little at stake for him in the final game against Vidit, who was on a four-game winning streak, but he nevertheless managed to win a fine game in 30 moves.

Carlsen gave a sober assessment of his tournament: "Overall the tournament win is good, the score is not great but very decent, so I’m happy!"

The score is not great but very decent, so I'm happy!

—Magnus Carlsen

one of the great elo-losing performances of all time pic.twitter.com/eKisJ4Wn7R

— MrDodgy (@ChessProblem) November 17, 2024

He pointed out his 6.5/9 each day is an "average" score which may not be enough to win a tournament, and he might have had one eye on So who, after a four-game losing streak on day one, scored a stunning 8/9 on the second.

That means that So, while not exactly setting the world on fire in Kolkata for the first four days, was the next most successful player after Carlsen. He not only took second in the Blitz but tied for second (pushed to third by Praggnanandhaa on tiebreaks) in the Rapid.

For Arjun, the bitter finish continued, as he lost to Praggnanandhaa, the only player to beat him 2-0, and he had to settle for sole third place. Carlsen said of his rival, "He has a very challenging style which is not always the best in blitz, but he’s still very, very good," while adding that the main thing the Indian players were currently lacking was just experience.

"I think experience is so important when it comes to faster formats. You see someone like Alireza who does well among the youngsters in faster chess—he’s played probably a lot more games with time trouble than the Indian kids have, so I think that’s part of it."

Carlsen, meanwhile, has done it all and is heading to Singapore for a Freestyle Chess Match against GM Fabiano Caruana, and then some tourism!

Carlsen: "I’m going to Singapore in a few hours and doing a bit of promotion for Freestyle Chess there, playing a match with Fabi in a few days as well. That should be fun, and being a tourist at least for a couple of days at the World Championship will be fun!" pic.twitter.com/aeCRN9PhLU

— chess24 (@chess24com) November 17, 2024

Women: Lagno Holds Off Gunina Challenge

Three-time Women's World Blitz Champion Lagno won the Women's title, though the final standings, with a half-point gap at the top, hide her dominance. 

She went into the final day as the only unbeaten player in either section in blitz and, until she won the title, there was just one slipup—missing a fatal fork against GM Vaishali Rameshbabu. 

The loss against the player who pushed her closest, Gunina, came in the final round when it no longer mattered.

Lagno accelerated just when she needed to when Gunina had caught her in the lead after round 13. She won in the next two rounds while Gunina slipped to two defeats, with the loss to Goryachkina in round 15 particularly tough—the winner of the Rapid had gone a staggering 11 games without a win since starting with 3/3.

In that same round, Lagno was rewarded for not taking a draw by repetition against one of her rivals for the top spots, Vantika.

That miniature essentially wrapped up victory for Lagno, since she had a two-point lead with just three rounds to go. A shaky draw against GM Koneru Humpy and a rock-solid one against GM Harika Dronavalli clinched the title, so a loss to Gunina was only important for guaranteeing Gunina second.

Goryachkina remarkably took third despite her mid-tournament slump, which meant she could be very pleased with her haul of medals in Kolkata.

22-year-old Vantika was fourth on tiebreaks but tied for third and shares the prize money with Goryachkina.

The margins were small—on a day of blunders everywhere you looked this was arguably the most painful. In an equal position vs. GM Nana Dzagnidze, Vantika, with five seconds on her clock, played 44.Kc2??, overlooking the game-stopping 44...Qd1# checkmate.

So it could have been even better for Vantika, but it was a tournament where everyone could say the same. We hope you enjoyed the show!

Tata Steel Chess India 2024 took place in the Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium in Kolkata on November 13-17 and featured 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) were 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) were a double round-robin at a 3+2 time control. 

Previous Coverage

• Day 4: Carlsen Crosses 2900 But Arjun, Praggnanandhaa Hit Back
• Day 3: Carlsen, Goryachkina Win Tata Steel India Rapid With Round To Spare
• Day 2: Carlsen Beats So, Arjun To Snatch Sole Lead
• Day 1: Abdusattorov Leads Carlsen, So, Narayanan As Tata Steel Chess India Begins
• Tata Steel Chess India 2024: All The Information