Magnus Carlsen defeated Yagiz Kaan in a must-win situation in the classical game and then beat Arjun Erigaisi twice with black pieces in the blitz tiebreak. The result gave the Norwegian world number one the TePe Sigeman & Company chess title in Malmo, Sweden, on Thursday. It was the first classical tournament for Carlsen in almost 11 months, and he made it memorable after tying with Arjun on five points.
Arjun's Resilience
Arjun, leading by half a point overnight with 4.5, showed great resilience in the seventh and last round of the classical phase against Andy Woodward. In a precarious situation, he kept asking questions to the 15-year-old American. When the teenager fumbled, Arjun eked out half a point to ensure that he would either win the crown if the Carlsen versus Yagiz game ended in a draw or get a chance to play a tiebreaker against the winner of that game.
Carlsen's Masterclass
Forcing the opponent to play a series of correct and tricky moves is a hallmark of many great and resilient players. But those acts are generally done to draw a game from a lost position. However, Carlsen has an additional talent: he forces opponents to play many more correct moves in equal positions to earn half a point. It is a show like no other as it invites depression from the rivals.
Yagiz reacted to Carlsen's pawn push to g6 with a panic-ridden defensive king move with less than two minutes remaining, instead of pushing his own f-pawn. That allowed Carlsen a threefold advantage simultaneously in the bishop and three pawns versus knight and three pawns endgame. Carlsen attacked the a-7 pawn with the king, gave up an advanced pawn by drawing the rival knight away from his other two pawns, and stopped the rival pawn from queening by creating a defensive route for his bishop. This was simply jaw-dropping stuff. Yagiz shed a tear or two behind his palm in front of Carlsen before extending his hand in resignation.
Tiebreak Drama
After holding Woodward to an invaluable draw, Arjun lost the first of two tiebreak games (3 minutes plus 2 seconds increment) against Carlsen but bounced back to win the second game with black pieces. The tournament regulations then took the match to sudden-death territory as a player with white pieces got only two and a half minutes versus Black's three minutes. A drawn result in such a game would mandate another such game with colors reversed.
