Magnus Carlsen takes sole lead in Tata Steel India chess tournament

World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen recorded a flawless performance to claim victory over SL Narayanan, Wesley Soh and Arjun Eligaishi at the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid Tournament held in Kolkata on Thursday. He took the lead alone. Although he started the day just 0.5 points behind last night’s leader, Nodirbek Abdusatlov, the Norwegian’s superb performance earned him an overwhelming 5 out of 6 points in the “Open” section. rose to the top of the leaderboard. Russia’s Alexandra Golyachkina had an equally impressive performance in the women’s division, taking sole lead after three wins on the second day.

She gained back-to-back wins over India’s Vantika Agrawal and R. Vaishali, followed by a win over Katerina Ragno, increasing her points tally to five.

Just behind Carlsen is former world rapid champion Abdu Satrov with 4.5 points. The Uzbek phenom held on despite draws with Nihal Sarin and Vidit Gujrati in the fourth and fifth rounds, ending the day with a win over Narayanan and confirming his position as Carlsen’s primary challenger heading into the final day. established a position.

In the women’s category, Georgian grandmaster Nana Zagnidze is close behind Alexandra with four points. It was a successful day for Zagnidze, which included wins over Vaishali and Connell Hampy, as well as a hard-fought draw with Katerina Ragno.

India’s D Harika, Vantika Agrawal and Valentina Gunina shared third place with 3.5 points each.

Standings: (Open) Magnus Carlsen 5; Nodirbek Abdusatrov 4.5; Wesley So 3.5; Daniel Dubov and R. Praggnananda 3; SL Narayanan and Vincent Keemer 2.5. Arjun Erigaishi, Nihal Sarin, Vidit Gujrati 2.

Women: Aleksandra Golyachkina 5; Nana Zagnidze 4; Vantika Agarwal, D Harika, Valentina Gunina 3.5; Katerina Ragno 3; Divya Deshmukh 2.5; Connell Hampy, Alexandra Kosteniuk 2; R Vaishali 1.

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