Arjun Erigaisi beats R Praggnanandhaa in 43 moves at chess tour pilot

Indian grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi defeated fellow Indian R Praggnanandhaa in the second round of the blitz event at the Total Chess World Championship Tour Pilot 2026 in Budapest, Hungary, on Tuesday. Playing with black pieces, Arjun won after 43 moves.

The blitz event was held in Budapest ahead of the group stage and knockout rounds of the Total Chess World Championship Tour Pilot. The nine-round tournament featured 24 players.

Praggnanandhaa opened with 1.Nf3 before playing e3, c4 and b3. Arjun brought his pieces into the game and fought for control of the centre. The players exchanged pawns in the centre early on. Praggnanandhaa castled on move 10, while Arjun castled two moves later.

After 19...a6, Praggnanandhaa played 20.Na4 with only nine seconds left on his clock. Arjun had more than a minute remaining at that stage. Arjun pushed his queenside pawns forward with 23...b4, forcing Praggnanandhaa's knight back to a4. He followed with 24...Ne2+, putting the white king under pressure.

Arjun used his knight to capture Praggnanandhaa's rook on c1. After 26.Qxc1 Qxd2, Arjun had gained an important material advantage. The players exchanged queens after the 27.Qc7 Qd6+ 28.Qxd6 Rxd6 moves. With the queens off the board, the game moved into an endgame, where Arjun had a rook and a knight against Praggnanandhaa's remaining pieces.

The final moves came after 41.Kh4, when Arjun played 41...Nxg2+. He then moved his knight to e3 and followed it with 43...Nf1+. Praggnanandhaa resigned after the move, handing Arjun the victory.

The win helped Arjun finish the nine-round blitz event with 5.5 points. He recorded five wins, one draw and three defeats. Praggnanandhaa finished with 4.5 points, placing 14th in the standings. Magnus Carlsen topped the blitz standings with seven points. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave finished second with 6.5 points, while Levon Aronian took third with six points. Arjun finished sixth in the competition.

The fast classical campaign began on day two of the Total Chess World Championship Tour Pilot. Praggnanandhaa was held twice by Germany's Vincent Keymer in Group B, while Erigaisi played out two draws against American Hans Niemann in Group D on Wednesday, November 11, 2026.

R Vaishali, the third Indian in the fray, lost her opening game to French Grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave due to a late error before settling for a draw in the return encounter.

With one point from two games, 25-year-old Vaishali, who will challenge Ju Wenjun for the Women's World Championship title next year, was placed last in Group D, which was led by Vachier-Lagrave.

Erigaisi was among four players tied for second place with Niemann, Wesley So and Bibisara Assaubayeva. In Group B, Fabiano Caruana and Liem Le shared the lead with four points each, while Praggnanandhaa and Keymer were tied for second.

Alireza Firouzja and Jan-Krzysztof Duda are the joint leaders in Group A with four points apiece, while Ian Nepomniachtchi took the sole lead in Group C with an identical tally. World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen, who won the blitz section on Tuesday, had to settle for two draws against Dutch Grandmaster Anish Giri. The two finished the day tied for third place in Group C with two points each.

In the fast classical format, players get 45 minutes each, with an increment of 30 seconds per move from the first move.

Arjun Erigaisi suffered a shock defeat against lower-rated Bibisara Assaubayeva but hit back to beat the Kazakh in the reverse Fast Classical fixture at the Total Chess World Championship Tour Pilot. Playing with the white pieces, world No.

12 Erigaisi had a good opening, but Bibisara's advancing pawns proved decisive as she won the opening encounter. Erigaisi, rated 2746 and more than 200 points ahead of the women's world No.

7 Bibisara, responded with a win of his own while playing with the black pieces. Both players ended the day on five points in Group D.

The win lifted Bibisara to five points, while Erigaisi also finished the day on the same tally. Erigaisi is third in the group, behind Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Niemann, who both have eight points. With one draw and three losses, Vaishali remained at the bottom of Group D.

Competing in Group B, Praggnanandhaa lost both his games to Caruana, who produced one of the day's strongest performances. Playing with white, Caruana sacrificed a piece to open up Praggnanandhaa's defences and won comfortably. He then added another win with black.

Having drawn both his games on day one of the Fast Classical event, Praggnanandhaa slipped to the last spot in the group with two points, while the twin victories lifted Caruana to 10 points, two ahead of Liem Le, who remained his closest challenger after a win and a draw against Vincent Keymer.

Blitz standings and Erigaisi's record

Related on Apex Sports News

• Praggnanandhaa and Erigaisi draw twice at Total Chess Pilot in Budapest

• Total Chess World Championship Tour: Erigaisi and Vaishali in Group D, Praggnanandhaa faces Caruana

• Total Chess World Championship: Mishra holds Carlsen, Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali lose twice

Sources

• Mint

• thehindu.com