Report by Colin McGourty for chess.com
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!
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.
