So and Yip are Tata Steel India Blitz 2026 Champions, Nihal and Vantika second, Arjun Erigaisi third
Wesley So (USA) scored 12/18 to win Tata Steel Chess India Blitz 2026 Men. He won the tournament with a round to spare when he drew against Hans Niemann (USA) in Round 17. Thus, his last round loss against R Praggnanandhaa did not affect the outcome. Despite starting and ending with losses, what So did from Round 2 to 17 made all the difference. He had a five-game winning streak on the previous day and a double hat-trick of draws on the last day. Nihal Sarin and Arjun Erigaisi scored 11/18 each to finish at second and third place. Both Nihal and Arjun showed consistency in Rapid and Blitz events. IM Carissa Yip (USA) and IM Vantika Agrawal scored 10.5/18 each in the Women's event. Carissa defeated Vantika 1.5-0.5 in the Playoffs to become the champion. Thus, Vantika finished second. The total prize fund was US$ 41500. The top three prizes in the Rapid were $10000, $6000 and $3000. For Blitz they were $7500, $4000 and $2500. Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani
Carissa wins the Playoff after Vantika's valiant efforts in the must-win Playoff
GM Divya Deshmukh drew against IM Carissa Yip (USA) in Round 18 Women. IM Vantika Agrawal defeated GM Kateryna Lagno to tie the score 10.5/18 each. Carissa won the first Playoff game against Vantika. In the second bishop vs knight endgame, Vantika made a lot of effort, yet Carissa thwarted all her attempts. First threefold/photographic draw claim was denied by the arbiters as it was not correct. After few moves, Carissa correctly claimed a 50-move draw and it was validated. Thus, she became the champion. So won this event in his sixth appearance out of seven editions whereas Carissa won it in her first appearance. It goes without saying that all four winners enjoyed playing here in front of the audience and they expressed their desire to be back in the future edition.
In a rare occurence, power went off momentarily during Round 14 twice.
Replay live stream
Format
There will be two tournaments: a men's and a women's event. The tournaments will be played in two formats - Rapid and Blitz. For the second time, both Men's and Women's event will take place simultaneously. Three rounds of Rapid games will be played on the first three days, followed by nine rounds of Blitz per day on the remaining two days of each event. The time control is 15 minutes for the entire game with an increment of 10 seconds from move no.1. For Blitz, the time control is 3 minutes with an increment of 2 seconds from move no.1.
Venue
Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium in Kolkata, West Bengal. The tournament is open to all spectators and entry is free for all.
Replay Round 10-18 Men games
Replay Round 10-18 Women and Playoff games
Round 18 Men results
| Bo. | White | Result | Black | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GM | Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr. | 0 - 1 | GM | Niemann, Hans Moke | |||
| 2 | GM | So, Wesley | 0 - 1 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | |||
| 3 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | ½ - ½ | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | |||
| 4 | GM | Anand, Viswanathan | 1 - 0 | GM | Murzin, Volodar | |||
| 5 | GM | Nihal, Sarin | 1 - 0 | GM | Wei, Yi |
Final standings
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | GM | So, Wesley | USA | 2781 | 12 | 0 | 101,25 | 8 | |
| 2 | 1 | GM | Nihal, Sarin | IND | 2705 | 11 | 0 | 94 | 9 | |
| 3 | 3 | GM | Erigaisi, Arjun | IND | 2777 | 11 | 0 | 85,75 | 9 | |
| 4 | 5 | GM | Niemann, Hans Moke | USA | 2686 | 10 | 1 | 86,75 | 8 | |
| 5 | 7 | GM | Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi | IND | 2671 | 10 | 2 | 82,25 | 7 | |
| 6 | 6 | GM | Praggnanandhaa, R | IND | 2691 | 9,5 | 0 | 85,25 | 7 | |
| 7 | 9 | GM | Wei, Yi | CHN | 2705 | 8,5 | 0 | 69,75 | 5 | |
| 8 | 2 | GM | Anand, Viswanathan | IND | 2720 | 8 | 0 | 62,75 | 5 | |
| 9 | 8 | GM | Murzin, Volodar | FID | 2656 | 6 | 0 | 48,75 | 5 | |
| 10 | 10 | GM | Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr. | IND | 2585 | 4 | 0 | 39 | 2 |
Round 18 Women results
| Bo. | White | Result | Black | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | WGM | Rakshitta, Ravi | 0 - 1 | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | |||
| 2 | GM | Dronavalli, Harika | 0 - 1 | GM | Dzagnidze, Nana | |||
| 3 | GM | Divya, Deshmukh | ½ - ½ | IM | Yip, Carissa | |||
| 4 | GM | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | 0 - 1 | IM | Tsolakidou, Stavroula | |||
| 5 | GM | Lagno, Kateryna | 0 - 1 | IM | Vantika, Agrawal |
Final standings
| Rk. | SNo | Name | FED | Rtg | Pts. | TB1 | TB2 | TB3 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | IM | Yip, Carissa | USA | 2347 | 10,5 | 1 | 0 | 90 | |
| 2 | 9 | IM | Vantika, Agrawal | IND | 2246 | 10,5 | 2 | 0 | 95,5 | |
| 3 | 8 | IM | Tsolakidou, Stavroula | GRE | 2410 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 87,75 | |
| 4 | 2 | GM | Goryachkina, Aleksandra | FID | 2444 | 9,5 | 0 | 1 | 83,25 | |
| 5 | 5 | GM | Vaishali, Rameshbabu | IND | 2372 | 9,5 | 0 | 2 | 78 | |
| 6 | 1 | GM | Lagno, Kateryna | RUS | 2445 | 8,5 | 0 | 1 | 78 | |
| 7 | 3 | GM | Divya, Deshmukh | IND | 2375 | 8,5 | 0 | 2 | 73,75 | |
| 8 | 6 | GM | Dzagnidze, Nana | GEO | 2310 | 8,5 | 0 | 3 | 78,25 | |
| 9 | 4 | GM | Dronavalli, Harika | IND | 2357 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 72,75 | |
| 10 | 10 | WGM | Rakshitta, Ravi | IND | 2177 | 6,5 | 0 | 0 | 58,75 |
Schedule
Everyday round starts at 3 p.m. IST. The Rapid event will take place from 7th to 9th January, followed by the Blitz event on 10th and 11th January.
Prize
The total prize fund remains the same as the previous two editions - US$ 41500. The top three prizes in the Rapid are - $10000, $6000 and $3000. For Blitz they are - $7500, $4000 and $2500. Most importantly, the prizes remain equal in both Open and Womens events.
Links
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