Tepe Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament

Photo: Peter Doggers

Arjun Erigaisi has now joined the lead group containing five players who all have 2 points after round 3 in the TePe Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament in Malmo (Abdusattorov, Carlsen, Erdogmus, Erigaisi and Woodward.) This came after an important win against Swedish grandmaster Nils Grandelius.

The game was an even battle with pawns racing down both the a-file and the h-file. Who would get there first? Finally, Erigaisi was victorious (see end of report for a deeper analysis of the game by Carl Cederstam.)

‘A Fighter’

Nils Grandelius is a fighter, and remains in good spirits after the games. The turnaround might come at any point, and on Monday, he will get another chance to get on the board. However, 14-year-old Turkish prodigy Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus will be a tough opponent. He is the youngest player ever to achieve a rating above 2700.

Erdogmus won against Jiner Zhu in a game where he defended well. Jiner played some less exact moves and her attack faded. 34.Ne3 allowed a fork at the c3 square and Zhu gave up before Erdogmus could play the decisive 34…Nc3+. With this win, Erdogmus also joined the lead group.

Even All the Way

Before the round, most people saw the game between top seeds Magnus Carlsen and Nodirbek Abdusattorov as the most exciting one. It proved to be a well played game that was even all the way. According to chess.com, they both a precision of close to 99%. It was chess at the highest level.

Magnus had probably hoped to get more out of this game, since he had the white pieces. He has now faced his two toughest opponent, Abdusattorov and Erigaisi as white, without defeating any of them. It seems like the Norwegian world number one will have to trust winning the black pieces in order win the tournament. This opens for a risky strategy in the upcoming rounds. Will there be another Benoni defense, like in the game against Grandelius?

On Monday, the Norwegian will face Jorden van Foreest, who played a rather unexciting draw against the surprise of the tournament, Andy Woodward, who also is part of the lead group with 2 points.

Analysis of the round 3 game Erigaisi-Grandelius:

Analysis of round 3 game Erigaisi-Grandelius

Photo: Peter Doggers

Grandelius-Carlsen analysis

Photo: Peter Doggers

When Magnus Carlsen was interviewed after his win against Nils Grandelius in the second round of the TePe Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament, a surprising name showed up. Peter Lund. Peter Lund was the friend that helped Magnus by driving him to the local chess club. The also met over the board, and in the Asker club championship in the year 2000, Magnus played the Benoni defense.

Magnus has hardly played the Benoni since then – until facing the Swedish hope in the TePe Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament. When Grandelius chose to open with 1.d4, Carlsen surprised everyone by opting for the Benoni defense.

Nils got a good position in the opening, but then he played 13.f4. According to Carlsen, this was a mistake; “Doubtful from a positional perspective” was Magnus’s opinion. Carlsen took over the initiative, but Nils fought on and he kept his balance, aided by some small tactical tricks.
However, keeping things balanced was time-consuming, and when the clock kept ticking, mistakes happened. In order to threaten world number one Carlsen, you have to play exact moves throughout the game. Towards the end of the game, Carlsen saw that the a-pawn would pave the way to victory, and at move 36, Grandelius was forced to resign.

Nils Grandelius is now the only player with two losses in a row. Many people probably thought that the same fate would come to Jiner Zhu. After he loss to Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the first round, she got in trouble against Jorden van Foreest. But suddenly, she managed to infiltrate Foreest’s position with both her rooks, and after a hard fight, she managed to secure a draw. A strong comeback!

The two other draws in this round were also hard fights.

Andy Woodward, who defeated Nils Grandelius in the first round, was down for the count twice against Nodirbek Abdusattorov, but made use of two mistakes by the Uzbek player, and managed to secure half a point. On his first ‘match point’ at move 53, Abdusattorov should have hid his king on h2, which would have given him a winning attack. His second mistake was taking a pawn with his rook at move 60.

These two missed opportunities mean that Abdusattorov has 1½ point, thereby sharing the lead with Magnus Carlsen, who he will play on Sunday. This will be a very exciting game – this meeting between the world’s number one and the world’s number four might decide the outcome of the tournament.

The game between Arjun Erigaisi and Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus was also a tense battle – it got even more intense when both players ended up in serious time trouble. Erdogmus was the one having real time trouble, and he lost his advantage right before the time control. After 40 moves, Erdogmus was soon in time trouble again. On several occasions, he made a move with only seconds left on the clock in a complicated endgame, where both promoted one of their pawns to a queen. It ended in a number of checks and finally a draw by repetition.

Standings after round 2:
1) Magnus Carlsen, 1½p
1) Nodirbek Abdusattorov, 1½p
1) Andy Woodward, 1½p
4) Jorden van Foreest, 1p
4) Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, 1p
4) Arjun Erigaisi, 1p
7) Zhu Jiner, ½p
8) Nils Grandelius, 0p

This Friday afternoon, with the audience, the press and the autograph collectors all in place at the Elite Plaza Hotel in Malmo, the TePe Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament started.

The poster boy of the tournament, world no. 1 Magnus Carlsen, faced Indian start player Erjun Erigaisi in his first classical chess game in almost a year. Magnus Carlsen stopped and thought for almost ten minutes already at the second move, when Erigaisi chose the Russian defense. They opted for a pretty harmless variation and the game ended in a draw after 36 moves.

Carl Cederstam will analyze a game from each round, the analusis can be found here: TePe Sigeman game analysis

Second Draw

Today’s second draw was agreed upon between the young Turkish star Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus and Dutch grandmaster Jorden van Foreest. In the Catalan opening, they both followed a variation that was played already back in 1980, between Robert Hübner and Boris Spassky, until van Foreest deviated at the 14th move with 14.Be3. The position was balanced throughout the game and a draw was agreed upon at move 30.

A Loss for the Home Team

The other two games came to a conclusion, and unfortunately (from a Swedish perspective), local hero Nils Grandelius was one of the players that lost. In an even position, Grandelius played 26…Rd8, which allowed Woodward’s bishop to reach f8 via a check at b4 and exchanging the rooks. Grandelius fought on, but after another 20 moves, he was forced to resign. Nils will get a chance to bounce back in the second round, but it will not be easy, since he will be facing Magnus Carlsen.

A Critical Mistake

This means that Andy Woodward shares the lead with Nodirbek Abdusattorov, who won quickly after Jiner Zhu making a critical mistake at move 23, when she put her knight at the d4 square. Abdusattorov found the strong 23…Rc8, which meant that Jiner Zhu’s queen became overloaded and she was forced to relinquish a pawn. Abdusattorov won yet another pawn, and at move 38, Zhu gave up. World number 4 Abdusattorov has won three tournaments in a row – London, Wijk aan Zee and Prague – he has now also had a very good start in this tournament.