Magnus Carlsen imposed a defeat in 40 moves over Arjun Erigaisi, the latest entrant of the 2800-rating club, in Round 6 of the Tata Steel India chess tournament at the Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium in Kolkata.
Playing with black pieces, Magnus Carlsen opted for a Taimanov variation of the Sicilian Defence. Magnus Carlsen had started to claw out an advantage on the clock as early as the 11th move, when he had nearly 23 minutes while Arjun’s time had trickled down to 15 minutes in the rapid game.
The tournament’s live broadcast caught a sight of Magnus Carlsen sitting back in his chair yawning away while his opponent was hunched over the board trying to diffuse the ticking explosive in front of him. A few moves later, as Arjun contemplated another fork in the road, Carlsen leaned over on one side of his chair looking slightly bored.
Both players were in an aggressive mood, with all four knights getting slain on the board inside the first 13 moves.
By the 21st move, Magnus Carlsen’s queen was staring down at Arjun’s king, which had taken to hiding behind a sparse cover of just two pawns. The World No 1 had managed to create significant tension on the queen-side of the board and was up by twice as much time on the clock — over 14 minutes to Arjun’s seven — as his Indian opponent.
On move 25, Magnus Carlsen’s queen, backed on the file by the rook, moved within one square of Arjun’s king giving it a massive fright.
Magnus Carlsen thinks about his next move against Arjun Erigaisi at the Tata Steel India Rapid and Blitz chess tournament on Thursday at the Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium in Kolkata. (Express photo by Partha Paul)
Two moves later, he went up a pawn on the king side even as his opponent worked his pieces to stabilise the volatility on the queen-side.
Move 31 saw Arjun blunder, by shifting his rook on the third rank in front of his king, whose life was under threat. But in doing so he had allowed Magnus Carlsen’s pawn on the h file an unfettered run to the end zone to promote. It was that pawn’s run that would eventually force Arjun into a massive imbalance in terms of material.
By this stage, Arjun’s time was down to seconds. And Magnus Carlsen’s pieces were still piling on pressure on Arjun’s king.
Eventually, Arjun’s defence crumbled and he waved the white flag of surrender on move 40.
INTERACTIVE: How Magnus Carlsen beat Arjun Erigaisi
For Arjun Erigaisi, this was a forgettable day. He lost to Wesley So in round 4, which was the first clash of Thursday. He then managed to salvage a draw from a teethering position against Vincent Keymer before the loss to Magnus Carlsen.
The 21-year-old from Warangal has otherwise had a standout season, where he had been ranked No 3 in the world in the official FIDE rankings and has touched the elusive 2800-rating mark in the live ratings. He also won an individual gold on the third board at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest for India.
At the end of Thursday’s games, the Indian trio of Arjun Erigaisi, Nihal Sarin and Vidit Gujrathi are at the bottom of the 10-player standings with two points each. Meanwhile, Magnus Carlsen goes into Friday as the sole leader in the open section with five points.
Vantika in chase for women’s title
In the women’s section, the young Vantika Agrawal is giving a measure of her calibre by ending round 6 as the top ranked Indian player in the women’s section, which is no mean feat considering the other women in action are Koneru Humpy, Harika Dronavalli and Vaishali R — the only three women’s players from India to have a grandmaster title — besides Divya Deshmukh, who was one of the stars of the Chess Olympiad gold medal winning Indian women’s team.
Vantika played on the fourth board herself for India at the Olympiad where she, like Divya, Arjun and Gukesh, had an individual gold medal as well.
Leading the women’s section ahead of Vantika are Aleksandra Goryachkina (five points) and Georgian Grandmaster Nana Dzagnidze (four points).
