Carlsen Beats Erdogmus, Arjun To Win TePe Sigeman Chess
GM Magnus Carlsen has won the 2026 TePe Sigeman Chess Tournament after grinding out a trademark classical win over GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus and then beating GM Arjun Erigaisi 2-1 in blitz tiebreaks. Arjun began the day as sole leader but needed luck and brilliance to escape after a disastrous opening choice against GM Andy Woodward. Arjun lost the first tiebreak game but hit back in the second before Carlsen clinched victory in the first sudden-death game.
This is a flash report—come back later for full coverage of the final round!
Carlsen had looked likely to make a draw against Erdogmus while Arjun was losing to Woodward, but in the end it was only the world number-one who picked up a classical win in the final round.
Round 7 Results
That meant Arjun and Carlsen were tied for first, while Erdogmus had to be content with sharing third place with Abdusattorov.
Final Standings Before Tiebreaks
The tiebreaks featured two 3+2 blitz games, and when the scores were tied at a win apiece the players switched to playing a potentially endless sequence of sudden-death games, where White gets 2.5 minutes to Black's 3 minutes. Carlsen clinched the title by winning the first such game with the black pieces.
Tiebreaks
Our Game of the Day is Carlsen's first classical encounter with 14-year-old Erdogmus, which GM Rafael Leitao will analyze below.
The live broadcast was hosted by GMs Erwin l'Ami and Stellan Brynell.
The Tepe Sigeman Chess Tournament took place May 1-7, 2026, at the Elite Plaza Hotel in Malmo, Sweden. The players competed in an eight-player single round-robin. The time control was 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:
- Round 6: Arjun Leads Carlsen, Erdogmus Before Final Round In Malmo
- Round 5: Carlsen Bounces Back; Arjun Catches Erdogmus
- Round 4: Van Foreest Beats Carlsen In Thriller; 14-Year-Old Erdogmus Grabs Sole Lead
- Round 3: Erdogmus, Arjun Grab 1st Wins To Join Leaders
- Round 2: Carlsen Beats Grandelius To Catch Leaders
- Round 1: Abdusattorov, Woodward Lead As Carlsen Returns To Classical Chess In Malmo
- Carlsen Makes Surprise Classical Return To Face World's Brightest Young Stars
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.
