Arjun Erigaisi stuns Magnus Carlsen in final of World Blitz Team Championships as team wins silver

Arjun Erigaisi pulled off a magnificent upset of Magnus Carlsen in their individual battle in the final of World Blitz Team Championships even as his team, Team MGD1, which comprised of all Indian players, lost the final to Carlsen’s side WR Chess.

“Beating Magnus Carlsen in any format is special and I really enjoyed playing against him. But more than that win, it’s the collective performance of the team that helped us with the silver medal was very special. The way we bonded and fought for each other makes this medal so special,” Arjun Erigaisi, the Grandmaster from Warangal, said after the win over Carlsen on on the top board.

In the first round of the finals, WR’s top player, Carlsen, played as black on the top board against India’s No 1 and World No 4 player, Arjun Erigaisi. Carlsen ended up with an exchange down and a poor position where he could do nothing more but resign.

Earlier this year, in an exclusive interview with The Indian Express, while talking about the Indian prodigies, Carlsen had singled out Arjun Erigaisi.

“Gukesh is a very calculation-based player. Pragg also calculates well but he’s a little more intuitive. He’s more of a sort of player, in the sense that he’s more of a gamer. Arjun is just a complete mad man at the board. He wants to kill you in every single game. Has crazy preparation and plays extremely ambitiously and that’s what makes him very dangerous,” he had said about Arjun Erigaisi.

The intense one-day event had seen 40 teams compete for the World Blitz Team Championship crown and a prize fund of 100,000 Euros.

Despite Arjun Erigaisi’s win over Carlsen, the Norwegian’s teammates won on the other boards to give the team a comfortable lead. Team MGD1 put up a strong fight in the second round to hold the eventual champions 3:3 but that was not enough to take the match into play-off.

Earlier, Team MGD1, which also had GM Srinath Narayanan, SL Narayanan, B Adhiban, former world championships bronze medallist D Harika and amateur Mihir Shah in their squad, dominated Pool B by winning all their seven matches. In round 3, they demolished World Rapid Team Champions Al-Ain 4.5-1.5 to underline their claim for a podium finish and then lived up to the expectations in the knock-out stage.

The Indian outfit raced through the Round of 16 against Astana-2 and quarterfinals against Israel’s Ashdod Chess Club respectively to reach the last four stage.

MGD1 once again faced Al-Ain in the semifinals and were taken to a tie-breaker after both the rounds ended in a 3:3 draw. The Indians then raised the bar in the Play-off winning 5.5-0.5 to set up a summit clash against WR Chess.

Team MGD1 had also won a bronze medal in the World Rapid Team Championships in 2023.

“It’s a very proud moment for all of us that we have won a silver medal in the World Blitz Team Championships, beating some of the best players in the world. We at MGD1 are committed to the development of chess in India and that is one of the reasons we fielded an all-Indian line-up in Astana and the players rose to the occasion,” said MGD1 co-founder Sreekar Chennapragada.

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