Article by Anthony Levin on chess.com
GM Wesley So leads at the halfway point of 2026 Tata Steel Chess India Open Blitz with seven points out of nine games. After blundering into a mate-in-one the first game, So stormed back to snatch the lead from GM Arjun Erigaisi, who started with a perfect 5/5.
So’s fellow American, IM Carissa Yip, leads 2026 Tata Steel Chess India Women’s Blitz with six points out of nine. As she started with a four-game winning streak, even two losses in rounds five and six didn’t stop her from finishing the day in pole position.
The blitz tournaments conclude on Sunday, January 11, starting at 4:30 a.m. ET / 10:30 CET / 3 p.m. IST.
Open Blitz: Arjun Starts Strong, So Finishes Better
The standings are much more defined in the Open than in the Women’s. So leads, with Arjun a half-point behind, and GM Nihal Sarin a full point behind Arjun.
Open Blitz Standings After Round 9
Day one of the Open Blitz was a tale of two halves. Arjun dominated the first five rounds with a perfect score, but the second half belonged to So.
Arjun checkmated GM Volodar Murzin in round one, outplayed GM Wei Yi in a queenless middlegame in round two, trapped Nihal’s knight in round three, and played what IM Tania Sachdev called the move of the day against GM Viswanathan Anand in round four. 33…Qc8!! was a seemingly out-of-the-blue queen sacrifice, possible thanks to the checkmate threat on g1.
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