GM Alexander Grischuk confirmed his reputation as a blitz specialist with steady play on the second and final day of the 2023 Tata Steel Chess India Open Blitz, winning the title with a score of 12 points from 18 games. GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov and the overnight leader GM Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu finished second and third respectively, with 11 points each.
GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi, who appeared to be one of the main contenders for the title at the end of the first day, had a rough second day, beginning with four losses in a row, and never really recovering from the setbacks.
Watch the Tata Steel India Chess Open Rapid & Blitz
You can watch the event live on Twitch, as well as on our YouTube channels for Chess.com and Chess24. Keep up to date with all the details of the tournament on our live events platform, and follow the games by clicking here.
The broadcast was hosted by GM Robert Hess and IM Tania Sachdev.
Importance Of Draws
Commentating during the live broadcast, GM Viswanathan Anand discussed the best mindset for playing blitz tournaments:
The nice thing in blitz is you need not sit and overthink anything during the rounds. You just go out there and play. If you manage to stay solid, your score is moving up steadily. It is underestimated that you win a tournament with draws, but it does help not to lose. You can win a blitz tournament [even] with a +2 or +3, [because] everyone else can be wobbly.
He also pointed out the reason for Grischuk being one of the best players in the world in blitz for decades now: "Alexander likes blitz, most of all."
Trailing Praggnanandhaa by half a point at the end of the first day, Grischuk played steadily throughout the day, netting four wins, three draws, and a solitary loss to score a total of 5.5 points for the day and finish with 12 points. In comparison, Praggnanandhaa had three wins, three draws, and three losses. thus scoring only 4.5 points and finishing with 11 points.
Vidit, who had actually occupied the second position at the end of the first day, suffered a total of six losses on the day, as well as scoring two draws and a solitary win.
But the best comeback performer of the day was Abdusattorov, who had six wins, two draws and a loss, the high number of wins even enabling him to threaten Grischuk's march to the title. Ultimately he finished on 11 points, along with Praggnanandhaa, and edged him out of the second place.
