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Erigaisi Wins Tata Steel Chess India Rapid
Vishy Anand (left) with tournament winner Arjun Erigaisi on stage. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess India.

Erigaisi Wins Tata Steel Chess India Rapid

PeterDoggers
| 26 | Chess Event Coverage

After making a great impression at the Lindores Abbey Blitz tournament last week, GM Arjun Erigaisi did even better in Kolkata, India as the winner of the Tata Steel Chess India rapid tournament. The talented 18-year-old Indian GM clinched the rapid title on Friday as he finished a point ahead of GMs Levon Aronian, Praggnanandhaa R., and Vidit Gujrathi.

How to watch?
The Tata Steel Chess India tournament continues with two days of blitz on Saturday and Sunday. You can watch the games here.


After two editions in 2018 and 2019, the pandemic made a third tournament impossible in 2020, but the Tata Steel Chess India tournament returned to the calendar this year. No longer part of the Grand Chess Tour, the event consists of two stand-alone tournaments, following the familiar format of three days of rapid and two days of blitz.The field of players this year isn't as strong as in 2018 and especially 2019 when GM Magnus Carlsen played. The world champion, who is busy preparing for his fifth world championship match starting in a week from now, said in a video message before the start of the tournament that he does intend to return to Kolkata.

A number of players are playing both the rapid and blitz tournaments, including Aronian, Vidit, GMs Sam Shankland, Parham Maghsoodloo, and Le Quang Liem. Normally, GM Baskaran Adhiban—who got married to Srinithi just a few days before the tournament—would play in both as well, but he has withdrawn from the blitz and the logical choice for his replacement was... Erigaisi.

GM Murali Karthikeyan and WGM Vaishali R. played only the rapid and, for the blitz, we'll see new names join tomorrow: GMs Nihal Sarin, Gukesh D., Raunak Sadhwani, and Harika Dronavalli.

Tata Steel Chess India 2021 opening ceremony
Players on stage at the opening ceremony on Tuesday. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess India.

Wednesday, the first day of play, was dominated by Aronian. The Armenian grandmaster, who will soon start representing the U.S. and who recently moved to St. Louis, started with a perfect 3/3. Shankland was close to a draw in the first round, but allowed his fortress to be broken with a careless king move:

Tata Steel Chess India 2021 playing hall
The games are played in the National Library of India in Kolkata. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess India.

A nice twist in that first round was the clash between brother Praggnanandhaa (16) and sister Vaishali (20), a big fight that ended in a draw: 

Vaishali Praggnanandhaa Kolkata 2021
Praggnanandhaa (left) and Vaishali with a fist bumb at the start of their game. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess India.

Whereas Aronian had used up most of his ammunition on the first day (scoring a loss and five draws in the remainder), it was Erigaisi who surged to the top on the second day—setting a perfect 3/3—and stayed there by finishing with three draws on Friday.

Erigaisi's win in round three against his compatriot Karthikeyan showed that the London System doesn't always lead to quiet positions out of the opening:

Tata Steel Chess India 2021 playing hall
Another shot of the playing hall. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess India.

A turning point in Aronian's tournament was his (spectacular) loss to Le in round four where he was winning in an incredibly complicated middlegame:

Le Quang Liem
Le Quang Liem showed strong nerves there. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess India.

Erigaisi's win vs. Le was another key game for the final result of the tournament. White's last move shows the power of a queen to the full extent as it attacks g7 and protects g1 all the way from a7 in the final position:

Arjun Erigaisi Tata Steel India
Arjun Erigaisi with IM Sagar Shah in the commentary studio. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess India.

Erigaisi called it "such a great feeling" and "a dream come true" afterward while not having big expectations beforehand: "I just wanted to play good chess." 

Arjun Erigaisi Kolkata 2021
Arjun Erigaisi on stage after the final round.

All games

Vishy Anand opening Tata Steel Chess India 2021
Vishy Anand was present throughout the tournament in different roles—here, he speaks during the opening ceremony... Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess India.
Tania Sachdev Vishy Anand Sagar Shah
...while he also joined the live broadcast (left Tania Sachdev, right Sagar Shah). Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess India.
Baskaran Adhiban wife
The organizers arranged another wedding cake for Baskaran Adhiban and his wife, Srinithi. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess India.
Praggnanandhaa Vaishali
Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess India.
Parham Maghsoodloo
Parham Maghsoodloo. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess India.
Sam Shankland India
Sam Shankland. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess India.
Levon Aronian India
Levon Aronian started strongly but couldn't keep it up. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess India.
Fans Kolkata chess
Lots of spectators witnessed the third edition of the tournament. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess India.
Tania Sachdev selfie Kolkata
Tania Sachdev taking a goodbye-selfie. Photo: Lennart Ootes/Tata Steel Chess India.
PeterDoggers
Peter Doggers

Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”

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