World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen and three-time World Women’s Blitz Champion Kateryna Lagno emerged as the leaders at the halfway mark of the Tata Steel Chess India Blitz 2024, being held at the Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium in Kolkata.
Carlsen concluded the first nine rounds with an impressive 6.5 points out of a possible 9. The Norwegian maestro had a dominant start. However, a stunning defeat to India's Arjun Erigaisi in just 20 moves showcased the unpredictable nature of the sport.
Despite this setback, Carlsen bounced back in the final round of the day, as he settled for a draw against Vidit Gujarathi. Young Indian prodigy R Praggnanandhaa is close behind in second place with 6 points, recovering remarkably after losing his first three games to register six consecutive wins. Arjun Erigaisi and Russia’s Daniil Dubov are tied for third with 5.5 points each.
In the Women’s section, Kateryna Lagno leads the field with 7 points, maintaining an undefeated streak with five wins and four draws. Valentina Gunina trails her by a single point in second place, while Rapid Champion Aleksandra Goryachkina occupies third with 5 points. Goryachkina had a strong start with three consecutive wins but managed only four draws in the remaining six games.
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/FKdLhuE3shpic.twitter.com/tUCb7T9a8R
— chess24 (@chess24com) November 16, 2024
“Clearly Magnus just forgot something in his prep,” said India chess legend Viswananthan Anand during the commentary for Chess24.
“He played something very fast and next thing he knew… knight f2 (Nf2, Arjun’s 14th move) is the kind of move that is so unintuitive,” Anand was quoted as saying by theindianexpress.com.
The tournament will conclude on Sunday with nine more Blitz rounds to determine the champions of this prestigious event.
Standings after ninth Blitz round:
Open Section: Magnus Carlsen (6.5); R Praggnanandhaa (6); Arjun Erigaisi (5.5); Daniil Dubov (5.5); Vidit Santosh Gujrathi (5); Abdusattorov Nodirbek (4); Wesley So (3.5); Narayanan S L (3.5); Nihal Sarin (3.5) and Keymer Vincent (2).
Women’s Section: Kateryna Lagno (7); Valentina Gunina (6); Aleksandra Goryachkina (5); Divya Deshmukh (4.5); Vantika Agrawal (4.5); Koneru Humpy (4.5); Harika Dronavalli (4); Alexandra Kosteniuk (4); Vaishali R (3.5) and Nana Dzagnidze (2).