Carlsen Beats So, Arjun To Snatch Sole Lead
"Today couldn't have gone better!" said GM Magnus Carlsen as he powered to wins over GMs Narayanan S.L., Wesley So, and Arjun Erigaisi to take the sole lead after day two of the 2024 Tata Steel Chess India Open Rapid. GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov is just half a point behind, however, and has White vs. Carlsen in the final round.
GM Aleksandra Goryachkina matched Carlsen's perfect 3/3 and is also the sole leader of the 2024 Tata Steel Chess India Women's Rapid with the same score of 5/6. Her closest pursuer, GM Nana Dzagnidze, is a full point behind.
Day three starts on Friday, November 15, at 3:30 a.m. ET/09:30 CET/2 p.m. IST.
Tata Steel Chess India Rapid Open: Standings After Day 2
Tata Steel Chess India Rapid Women: Standings After Day 2
Open Rapid: Magnus Carlsen Takes Over
Carlsen, despite topping the world rankings for 13 years, is known as a slow starter, and we saw some signs of rust in the two draws with which he began the event. That was potentially a problem since, unlike the Grand Chess Tour events, scores for rapid and blitz in Kolkata aren't combined—the first champions will already be crowned after the next day.
The rust had well and truly been shaken off on day two, however, as Carlsen powered to three wins, making it four wins in a row.
He smoothly outplayed one of the players he started the day tied with, Narayanan, later telling IM Sagar Shah, "I kind of played old man’s chess in that game—no long variations, just positional chess, and I think he made a couple of crucial positional mistakes and then it was very, very difficult for him."
I kind of played old man's chess in that game.
—Carlsen on his win vs. Narayanan
That saw him catch Abdusattorov in the lead, but they were also joined by So, who played a brilliant game that finally proved that there are some holes even Arjun can't dig himself out of.
30.Bh6!! was an exquisite blow that caused GM Viswanathan Anand to comment: "I think we should tell the computer to shut up for a few seconds before it puts the exclams on the board, just so we get a chance!"
Both Carlsen and So were on a roll, and they met in round five.
Carlsen had surprised the commentators by being at the board on time or even before his opponents some days, but not for this round.
Magnus Carlsen arrives late for the big showdown with co-leader Wesley So! https://t.co/40us6qUQ1v#TataSteelChessIndia pic.twitter.com/ES07Fwm1Yy
— chess24 (@chess24com) November 14, 2024
So didn't start the clock and would later joke at a press conference:
"I didn’t want to start the clock because it’s rapid and he won’t lose on time, but if it was blitz I would start it for sure. I’m waiting for him to be late for a blitz game and I will start it even before the arbiter tells me!"
The bigger puzzle, however, was his opening choice. Anand commented on the live broadcast:
"I did not expect Wesley to go for a line which... it's sad, this line! Why would you play this line in the Petroff when you have so many better openings?"
Why would you play this line in the Petroff when you have so many better openings?
—Viswanathan Anand
The three-time U.S. Champion did tackle that topic, commenting, "It turns out [Carlsen] checks Hans Niemann’s games!" since So had recently played the same Petroff to gain a comfortable draw against GM Hans Niemann in the U.S. Championship, though the games diverged on move 12.
Here Niemann played 12.Bxe5, while Carlsen went for 12.Nb5, after which Black's best reply is to sacrifice a pawn, as So did, with 12...0-0-0 13.Nxa7.
So lamented, "I was hoping that maybe, just maybe, Magnus wouldn’t be prepared, or at the very least I would survive the endgame, but it turns out he was prepared… he knew everything!"
Objectively, however, as Carlsen commented to Shah, "The game against Wesley pretty much hinged on one move," about which So thought "for what felt like 12 minutes."
In fact, he spent 13 minutes after 21.Rg1, before playing the losing 21...Bf3?. A puzzled Carlsen wondered if So just assumed everything was lost, which was more or less confirmed when So commented, "Even with best play it’s very hard for Black to survive."
That win gave Carlsen the sole lead, and he kept it in the final round when he faced his new 2800-club colleague Arjun. The unpredictable Indian talent had tried to bounce back from the loss to So by playing the Center Game (1.e4 e5 2.d4) against GM Vincent Keymer, perhaps inspired by a recent book.
new: The Center Game
— New In Chess (@NewInChess) November 12, 2024
Don't you ever get tired of learning all these main lines against the Ruy Lopez, the Italian, and the Petroff and still not getting a playable position? Here's a solution! Outsmart your opponent on move 2! pic.twitter.com/dm9oY09ML5
He barely escaped alive, however, and for the clash with Carlsen, he seemed to have decided to go for main lines as he faced his opponent's Sicilian. Carlsen had other ideas, however, making a rare capture on move seven. When Arjun sacrificed a pawn, things escalated fast, with the players attacking on opposite wings.
"The position is just too complicated to play accurately with little time," said Carlsen, and while that applied to both players, it applied especially to Arjun, who was playing on seconds in the final stages.
That's our Game Of The Day and has been annotated by GM Rafael Leitao below.
Carlsen is far from home and dry yet, however, since Abdusattorov, who began the day as the sole leader but drew his first two games, scored a win against Narayanan that was topped off by a beautiful final move.
33...Rg3! relied on the fact that 34.hxg3 Rxh3# is checkmate, while it shows how tough chess is that Narayanan had been doomed by a single loose move earlier.
That leaves Abdusattorov just half a point behind the leader. Carlsen commented, "Nodirbek is putting together a very good performance and I’m playing him with Black in the last round, so probably that game will be decisive, but 5/6 is great, so I’m very happy!"
It's hard to argue with that game deciding the tournament. Day two saw first wins for GMs Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu and Keymer, both over the luckless GM Nihal Sarin, but they're well off the pace, with third-placed So 1.5 points behind with just three points in play on the final day. It's worth noting that we'll get a playoff if players are tied for first place.
Women's Rapid: Aleksandra Goryachkina Opens Up 1-Point Lead
Goryachkina is matching Carlsen's score and has an even more comfortable one-point lead after winning all three games on day two.
Like Carlsen, her wins are getting more convincing as the tournament progresses (she had a winning position against GM Kateryna Lagno in 16 moves), though that doesn't mean she hasn't got a helping hand at times. Vaishali, who had a 0/3 day to forget, had no reason to lose an ending with knight and bishop vs. rook but went for an unfortunate pawn grab, overlooking the refutation.
Goryachkina's closest pursuer is the still-unbeaten Dzagnidze, who defeated Vaishali and GM Koneru Humpy on day two, though one player to watch out for is reigning Women's World Blitz Champion GM Valentina Gunina.
She trails by 1.5 points but faces both Goryachkina (in the final round) and Dzagnidze and would surprise no one if she won (or lost!) all three games.
How to watch? Tata Steel Chess India
You can watch the event live on Twitch, as well as on our YouTube channel. The games can also be checked out on our dedicated Tata Steel Chess India events page.
The broadcast was hosted by IM Tania Sachdev and GM Sahaj Grover, with former World Champion Viswanathan Anand and IM Sagar Shah also joining.
Tata Steel Chess India 2024 is taking place in the Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium in Kolkata on November 13-17 and features an Open and a Women's section, each consisting of 10 players and with the same prize fund. The first three days of rapid chess (first prize $10,000) are a single round-robin with a 25-minute/game + 10-second increment/move time control. The last two days of blitz (first prize $7,500) are a double round-robin at a 3+2 time control.
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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.
