Kolkata: It’s unfair to expect an upset in a tournament that features Magnus Carlsen. But he sure didn’t waltz past the competition. The defeat to Arjun Erigaisi on Saturday must have pricked his pride, while Wesley So kept up the pressure throughout the second and final day of blitz by winning six of the last eight games and finishing on 11.5 points. But Carlsen, who started the second half of the blitz event with a half-point lead, finished with 13 points to complete a sweep at the Tata Steel Chess India here on Sunday.
Five consecutive draws against R Praggnanandhaa, So, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Vincent Keymer and Nihal Sarin had eaten into Carlsen’s lead, making the last few rounds a riveting watch. An opportunity emerged for Erigaisi to overtake Carlsen, but he faltered and lost three consecutive games, paving the way for Carlsen to seal the title.
“It was a really, really nervy day. I was lucky that Wesley was the one who went on a big streak because he couldn’t realistically catch me,” said Carlsen after the win. “Overall, the tournament win is good, the score was not great but very decent, so I’m happy.”
American So was runner-up, followed by Erigaisi. Carlsen winning the blitz was more or less a foregone conclusion, but Viswanathan Anand pointed out that he wasn’t as dominating as expected. “The interesting thing for me was he dominated the rapid even more than blitz. Blitz is his favourite format but full credit to Arjun who really pushed him yesterday but also overtook him (for a while),” said Anand.
“In a sense you have to laud his courage for being the only one to push Carlsen. If you look at the final standings it’s a pity because it doesn’t show how close and exciting it was for two rounds.”
Among the Indians, the highlight of the blitz section was the way Erigaisi displayed his talent. “I would say that Prag didn’t manage to fight for first place at any point but he was the most stable throughout,” said Anand. “In terms of actually fighting for first place, Arjun was closer than Prag.”
In the women’s section, three-time world blitz champion Kateryna Lagno dominated with an impressive 11.5 points to emerge the champion. Valentina Gunina closed in on Lagno with five rounds to go and won their last-round encounter to ensure second place, while Aleksandra Goryachkina took third, sharing prize money with Vantika Agrawal, despite at one point going 11 games without a win.
Final Standings, blitz:
Open section: Magnus Carlsen (13); Wesly So (11.5); Arjun Erigaisi (10.5); R Praggnanandhaa (9.5); Vidit Gujrathi (9); Daniil Dubov (9); Nodirbek Abdusattorov (8); Nihal Sarin (7); SL Narayanan (6.5); Vincent Keymer (6).
Women’s section: Kateryna Lagno (11.5); Valentina Gunina (11); Aleksandra Goryachkina (9.5); Vantika Agrawal (9.5); Alexandra Kosteniuk (9); Koneru Humpy (9); Harika Dronavalli (8.5); R Vaishali (8) Divya Deshmukh (7.5); Nana Dzagnidze (6.5).