Erdogmus, Arjun Grab 1st Wins To Join Leaders
GMs Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus and Arjun Erigaisi picked up their first wins of the 2026 TePe Sigeman Chess Tournament to reach a five-way tie for the lead with GMs Magnus Carlsen, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, and Andy Woodward. Erdogmus is up to 2711.9 and world number-29 after outplaying GM Zhu Jiner, while Arjun climbed back into the top 10 by winning a race against GM Nils Grandelius. Tense battles ultimately fizzled out in Carlsen-Abdusattorov and Woodward vs. GM Jorden van Foreest.
The fourth round is on Monday, May 4, starting at 9 a.m. ET / 15:00 CEST / 6:30 p.m. IST.
A much quicker day at the office saw two wins and two balanced but hard-fought draws in round three.
Round 3 Results
That means we now have a five-way tie for the lead, while Grandelius and Zhu continue to struggle at the bottom of the table.
Standings after Round 3
The standout game of the day was the world number-one taking on the world number-four, but ultimately they cancelled each other out.
Carlsen ½-½ Abdusattorov
Arguably the greatest drama in this clash came at the very start, as Abdusattorov was left waiting seven minutes for Carlsen to appear at the board. The Uzbek number-one explained to Peter Doggers that this wasn't the first time it had happened:
He does it every time to me! For example, in the Freestyle in Weissenhaus he arrived a little bit late when the round was already started. No, at this point I played him many times, I know his behavior, his attitude. I don’t care, it’s his decision!
I know his behavior, his attitude. I don't care, it's his decision!
—Nodirbek Abdusattorov
When battle did commence, however, we got what Abdusattorov described as "a very high quality game." Carlsen came up with a rare idea in the opening and, at moments during the game, looked as though he might get the kind of positional edge he thrives on. It never turned into anything substantial, however, and arguably the two best players of queen endgames in the world decided not to continue in a drawn position.
That meant only a 1.6-point swing in the world top-five, though there would be more movement a little lower down the live ratings. Arjun's first win this year in Malmo meant India regained a foothold in the top 10, since he climbed above GMs Wei Yi and Wesley So into the ninth spot.
Arjun 1-0 Grandelius
Grandelius had lost his first two games, and many players in his position would have tried to play as solidly as possible. That's never been the approach of the Swedish number-one, however, and he went for one of Black's sharpest options, the Sicilian Dragon.
Arjun stopped to think for six minutes and decided to follow the approach that had won GM Vaishali Rameshbabu the FIDE Women's Candidates Tournament with a win over GM Kateryna Lagno:
I could only recall Vaishali’s last-round win from the Candidates, and I remember even though Black was trying to create some attack, her king was quite safe with this bishop on b3, so I thought I’ll put the bishop on b3 and try to take it from there.
A fascinating struggle developed with a pawn race on opposite sides of the board, but when Grandelius missed the best way to organize his army, Arjun was able to take over. That's our Game of the Day, which GM Rafael Leitao has analyzed below.
Another player to score his first win was 14-year-old Erdogmus.
Zhu 0-1 Erdogmus
Unsurprisingly, the Turkish prodigy admitted he wasn't expecting his Chinese opponent to play 1.Nf3, 2.e3, and 3.b3, but he soon got into the spirit, saying he decided on a rare approach over the board: "I thought OK, it will be fun, let’s just play!"
I thought OK, it will be fun, let's just play!
—Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus
Zhu may have started the game quietly, but would later lash out with 11.g4?!, which Erdogmus called "the critical moment." Zhu postponed castling but never managed to get an attack going, while Erdogmus played powerful, natural moves that enabled him to take full control of the board.
It was already hopeless for White when Zhu, down to just two seconds on her clock, blundered with 34.Ne3?, allowing a queen-winning knight fork on c3. She instantly resigned before that happened on the board.
Erdogmus is up to 2711.9 and world number-29, and has plenty of time to challenge Wei's record of 2721 as the highest rating ever before the age of 16. In fact, "only" another 20 points are needed to top the junior rating list, which would mean overtaking the reigning world champion.
That brings us to the fifth player on the list, Woodward, who in the previous round celebrated his 16th birthday.
Woodward ½-½ Van Foreest
When Van Foreest met 1.d4 with 1...d6, it was clear we were in for a fight, and Woodward didn't back down, playing 5.Rg1 and making his intentions of pushing g4-g5 crystal clear. It was known theory, but the U.S. prodigy chose a new path that got his Dutch opponent thinking at the board. As so often happens, however, the fireworks soon fizzled out, and we got the day's first draw.
It's a sprint in Malmo, and on Monday we already cross into the second half with round four. Abdusattorov vs. Arjun is the one clash of the leaders, but every game will be crucial in the battle for first place.
Round 4 Pairings
The live broadcast was hosted by GMs Erwin l'Ami and Stellan Brynell.
The Tepe Sigeman Chess Tournament takes place May 1-7, 2026, at the Elite Plaza Hotel in Malmo, Sweden. The players compete in an eight-player single round-robin. The time control is 90 minutes for 40 moves, with 30 more minutes for the rest of the game and a 30-second increment per move from move one.
Previous coverage:
Colin McGourty led news at Chess24 from its launch until it merged with Chess.com a decade later. An amateur player, he got into chess writing when he set up the website Chess in Translation after previously studying Slavic languages and literature in St. Andrews, Odesa, Oxford, and Krakow.
