Photo: Peter Doggers
In a dramatic playoff, Magnus Carlsen defeated Arjun Erigaisi to become the winner of the 2026 tournament.
In both the first game, the players won with the black pieces. This led to a sudden death game, where Magnus had the black pieces, but got 30 seconds more on the clock. Both players felt the pressure, and after a series of moves with close to no time left, Arjun finally blundered his queen, and Magnus ended up winning the tournament.
Tough on Arjun, who played his best tournament in quite a while. Congratulations Magnus!