IMAGE: Arjun Erigaisi defeated Magnus Carlsen in Spherical 9 of FIDE World Blitz Championship 2025 in Doha on Monday. {Photograph}: Type courtesy ChessBase India/X
High Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi demonstrated robust endgame approach and fast calculation to stun Magnus Carlsen and emerge joint chief, with the Norwegian world No.1 slamming the desk in frustration, on day one of many World Blitz Championships in Doha.
Erigaisi then went on to defeat one other high GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov of Uzbekistan and drew three different video games to emerge joint chief late on Monday.
With Erigaisi — who ended day one on 10 factors from 13 video games and was tied for the highest spot with Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and American Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana — in menacing type, it was Carlsen who misplaced a tense endgame in Spherical 9.
Erigaisi had simply 9 seconds on his clock whereas Carlsen was down to 3. Simply because the Norwegian — who had additionally slammed the desk after dropping to India’s D. Gukesh in Norway Chess earlier this yr — was about to make a queen transfer, it slipped from his hand and flew off the desk.
Alexander Grischuk, who occurred to be passing by at that second, jumped and tried to maneuver out of the way in which shortly. By the point Carlsen picked up his queen and put it again on the board, his time had already run out. The Norwegian could not conceal his anger and slammed his fist on the desk to provide it a mighty tremor, although Erigaisi remained unruffled by the drama.
The leaders are trailed by six gamers on 9.5 factors. The co-champions within the 2024 version of World Blitz, Carlsen and Ian Nepomniachtchi, sit on 9/13.
Dutchman Jorden van Foreest emerged as the primary sole chief within the ‘Open’ part after Spherical 6. The 26-year-old, who gained the Dutch championship this yr, defeated the likes of Alireja Firouzja and Erigaisi, who suffered his solely loss on Monday to the Dutch participant.
Nonetheless in Spherical 7, van Foreest fell to Abdusattorov, who briefly joined a six-way tie for the lead at 6/7. However issues did not go effectively for them after that, and each completed the day on 8/13.
By the top of Spherical 10, Erigaisi stood alone on the high with 8.5/10, having drawn solely as soon as (with Firouzja) and misplaced as soon as (to van Foreest). Getting into the ultimate spherical of the day, three gamers had been tied at 9.5/12.
Carlsen completed on 9/13, struggling a second setback on the day in opposition to Caruana after overlooking a rook.
Six extra rounds might be performed on Tuesday to achieve the semifinals, adopted by the ultimate. Carlsen, who’s aiming for his ninth World Blitz title to go along with his sixth Fast crown he gained on Sunday, can be eager to beat the setbacks along with his never-say-die perspective.
Humpy, Deshmukh slip in ladies’s blitz
Two-time World Fast champion Koneru Humpy couldn’t recreate the shape she displayed on option to the bronze on Sunday within the Fast part, slipping to joint 61st place after 10 spherical, concluding her day on 5 factors with main Chinese language GM Tan Zhongyi for firm. The 38-year-old Indian misplaced 5 video games.
Teenage ladies’s World Cup winner Divya Deshmukh was joint thirtieth with six factors, whereas GMs D Harika and R Vaishali had been additional down on 5.5 factors.
Dutch Worldwide Grasp Eline Roebers emerged as an unlikely sole chief with 8.5/10 factors, whereas Aleksandra Goryachkina, winner of the Girls’s World Fast crown on Sunday, was joint second with two others on eight factors.
5 extra rounds might be performed on Tuesday with the top-four gamers shifting into the semifinals, adopted by the ultimate.
