18-year old GM Arjun Erigaisi played his heart out and surprised the international chess community by winning the Category 17 (average Elo: 2658) Tata Steel India Rapid Chess Tournament which ended November 21st in Kolkata, India. The event was a 10-player, single round robin played with a time control of 25 minutes for the entire game with an increment of 10 seconds from Move 1.
Erigaisi ruled an international field of 10 players that included GMs Levon Aronian, Le Quang Liem, Sam Shankland, Parham Maghsoodloo, Santosh Vidit Gujrathi, Adhiban Baskaran, Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Murali Karthikeyan and WGM R.Vaishali. He won 5 games, drew three and lost once.
The final standings: 1. Erigaisi, 6½; 2-4. Aronian, Praggnanandhaa, Vidit, 5½; 5-6. Karthikeyan, Shankland, 5; 7. Maghsoodloo, 4½; 8. Le Quang Liem, 4; 9. Adhiban, 2; 10. Vaishali, 1½.
A blitz tournament featuring Erigaisi and five of the players from the rapid roster plus four additional masters, was played after this event. Aronian won the blitz, but only after beating Erigaisi in the Armageddon playoff.
Erigaisi,A (2627)-Maghsoodloo,P (2706) [D85]
Kolkata (1.3) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.Bd2 c5 6.e4 Nxc3 7.Bxc3 cxd4 8.Bxd4 e5 9.Bxe5 Bb4+ 10.Bc3 Bxc3+ 11.bxc3 Qc7 12.Qc2 0-0 13.Bd3 b6 14.Ne2 Nd7 15.0-0 Bb7 16.Rfd1 Rac8 17.Rac1 Rfd8 18.Nd4 a6 19.f3 b5 20.Bf1 Nb6 21.Qf2 Nc4 22.h4 h5 23.Bxc4 Qxc4 24.Rd2 b4 25.Rdc2 Qd3 26.Ne2 Rd7 27.c4 a5 28.Nf4 Qd4 29.Nd5 Qxf2+ 30.Kxf2 Rc6 31.Ke3 f6 32.Kd4 Kf7 33.Rb2 Ba6 34.a3 bxa3 35.Ra2 Rb6 36.Rxa3 Rb2 37.Rxa5 Bb7 38.Ra7 g5 39.hxg5 fxg5 40.g3 Rb3 41.Ke5 Rxf3 42.Rb1 Bc6 43.Rxd7+ Bxd7 44.Rb7 h4 45.gxh4 1-0
Shankland,S (2708)-Aronian,L (2782) [E04]
Kolkata (1.4) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.g3 dxc4 5.Bg2 c5 6.0-0 Nc6 7.Qa4 Bd7 8.Qxc4 b5 9.Qc3 b4 10.Qd3 Rc8 11.dxc5 Bxc5 12.Nbd2 0-0 13.Nb3 Bb6 14.Be3 e5 15.Ng5 h6 16.Ne4 Bf5 17.Bxb6 axb6 18.Nxf6+ Qxf6 19.Qb5 Nd4 20.Nxd4 exd4 21.Qxb4 Rc2 22.Rad1 d3 23.exd3 Rxb2 24.Qf4 Rxa2 25.d4 Ra4 26.Qe3 Bd7 27.d5 Re8 28.Qb3 Qd6 29.Bh3 Ra3 30.Qxa3 Qxa3 31.Bxd7 Rd8 32.Bc6 g5 33.Rb1 h5 34.Rxb6 h4 35.Rfb1 Rd6 36.R6b3 Qc5 37.Rf3 Qc2 38.Re1 Qd2 39.Rfe3 Rf6 40.R1e2 Qc1+ 41.Re1 Qc2 42.R3e2 Qc5 43.Kg2 h3+ 44.Kxh3 Rxf2 45.Kg4 Qc4+ 46.Re4 f5+ 0-1
Le,Quang Liem (2709)-Vidit,SG (2727) [A35]
Kolkata (2.3) 2021
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.e3 e6 5.d4 d5 6.cxd5 exd5 7.Bb5 cxd4 8.exd4 Bd6 9.0-0 0-0 10.h3 h6 11.Re1 Bf5 12.Ne5 Rc8 13.Bf4 Re8 14.Rc1 Re6 15.Bh2 Bh7 16.Bxc6 bxc6 17.Na4 Qa5 18.a3 Qb5 19.Re3 Ne4 20.f3 Nf6 21.Nc5 Bxc5 22.Rxc5 Qxb2 23.Rb3 Qa2 24.Bf4 Nh5 25.Be3 f6 26.Nd3 Bxd3 27.Qxd3 Ng3 28.Rb7 Qa1+ 29.Kf2 Nh1+ 30.Ke2 Rce8 0-1
Le,Quang Liem (2709)-Aronian,L (2782) [D20]
Kolkata (4.1) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.e4 e5 4.Nf3 exd4 5.Bxc4 Nc6 6.0-0 Be6 7.Bxe6 fxe6 8.Qb3 Qd7 9.Qxb7 Rb8 10.Qa6 Nge7 11.Nbd2 Ng6 12.a3 Bd6 13.g3 0-0 14.Ne1 e5 15.Qe2 a5 16.Nc4 Qc8 17.Nd3 Qa6 18.Qc2 a4 19.Bd2 Rb3 20.Rac1 h5 21.f4 exf4 22.gxf4 Qb5 23.e5 Be7 24.Be1 Rxd3 25.Qxd3 Nxf4 26.Qe4 Nh3+ 27.Kg2 Ng5 28.Rxf8+ Bxf8 29.Qf5 Qd5+ 30.Kf1 Nf3 31.Bg3 d3 32.Ne3 d2 33.Rd1 Qb5+ 34.Kg2 Qe2+ 35.Kh1 Ncd4 36.Qe4 h4 37.Bf4 Qe1+ 38.Kg2 Qe2+ 39.Kh1 Qe1+ 40.Kg2 Ng1 41.h3 Ndf3 42.Qd5+ Kh7 43.e6 Qe2+ 44.Kh1 Bd6 45.Qh5+ Kg8 46.Qf7+ Kh7 47.Nf5 1-0
Erigaisi,A (2627)-Le,Quang Liem (2709) [E46]
Kolkata (5.5) 2021
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e3 0-0 5.Bd2 d5 6.Nf3 b6 7.cxd5 exd5 8.Bd3 Bb7 9.0-0 Nbd7 10.Ne5 Nxe5 11.dxe5 Nd7 12.f4 Nc5 13.Bc2 d4 14.Na4 a5 15.Bxb4 axb4 16.Nxc5 bxc5 17.exd4 cxd4 18.Bd3 g6 19.Qd2 Qd5 20.Rae1 Rfe8 21.Be4 Qb5 22.Bxb7 Qxb7 23.f5 Qd5 24.f6 d3 25.Kh1 Qc5 26.e6 Rxe6 27.Rxe6 fxe6 28.Qxd3 Qd5 29.Qc2 Rf8 30.Qxc7 Rxf6 31.Qb8+ Kg7 32.Qa7+ 1-0
Erigaisi,A (2627)-Shankland,S (2708) [D02]
Kolkata (6.2) 2021
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bf4 e6 4.e3 Bd6 5.Bd3 0-0 6.Nbd2 b6 7.Ne5 c5 8.c3 Qc7 9.Qf3 Nbd7 10.Qg3 Ne8 11.Ndf3 cxd4 12.cxd4 Bxe5 13.dxe5 g6 14.0-0 Nc5 15.Rac1 a5 16.Qh4 Ba6 17.Bxa6 Rxa6 18.g4 Ng7 19.Qh6 1-0
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PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE, MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Re4!, and Black’s futile options are: 1…Nf7 2.Qb7#; 1…Nc6 2.Qe6#; 1…Kxe4 2.Qf5#; 1…Bxe4 2.Nf4#.
