Tata Steel Chess India 2024 R4-6: Magnus accelerates, wins four in-a-row, leaps to the front

by Shahid Ahmed - 14/11/2024

Magnus Carlsen (NOR) crushed S L Narayanan, Wesley So (USA) and Arjun Erigaisi to emerge as the new sole leader at Tata Steel Chess India 2024. Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) slightly slowed down a bit as he scored 2/3 to move to 4.5/6. He is only a half point behind the World no.1. They are going to face each other in the final round of Rapid. Among the Indians, only R Praggnanandhaa scored 2/3 to move to 50% score 3/6. Nihal Sarin missed a win against R Praggnanandhaa. He managed to turn things around and win. GM Aleksandra Goryachkina won all three of her games on the second day to emerge sole leader 5/6. IM Vantika Agrawal, GM Harika Dronavalli and GM Valentina Gunina are at 3.5/6 each. Round 7 starts tomorrow at 2 p.m. IST. Photo: Lennart Ootes

A day of misses for the Indian women

IM Divya Deshmukh missed a win against GM Harika Dronavalli in Round 4. GM Koneru Humpy then overlooked a winning opportunity against GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (SUI). IM Vantika Agrawal allowed GM Harika Dronavalli to escape jaws of heat. So the Indian women could have had a much better day if they converted those into full points.

Magnus Carlsen has emerged sole leader 5/6 | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Magnus Carlsen will face Vincent Keymer (GER), Daniil Dubov and Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB). Keymer put Magnus on the brink of elimination at FIDE World Cup 2023. Abdusattorov has always proven to be a tough opponent for the World no.1. As for Dubov, well he is as unpredictable as his chess. Either we will see a great duel or a grandmaster draw. There is a less possibility of anything in between.

Tata Steel Chess India Rapid and Blitz 2024 logo | Photo: Official site

When Carlsen played like an old man - S L Narayanan vs Magnus Carlsen, Commentary by IM Sagar Shah | Video: ChessBase India

Round 4: S L Narayanan - Magnus Carlsen: 0-1 | Photo: Lennart Ootes

IM Divya Deshmukh lost from a winning position against GM Harika Dronavalli | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Round 5: Praggnanandhaa - Nihal: 1-0

R Praggnanandhaa (2676) and Nihal Sarin (2679) played only two rapid rated games against each other. Both occurred at the inaugural Global Chess League last year. Praggnanandhaa won one and drew the next. This time, Nihal was winning in the rook and bishop endgame.

Position after 34.Kf1

Nihal needed to focus on his passed d-pawn 34...Rc2 followed by d4 is what Black should have played. He need bother about the g5-pawn. 34...g5? 35.Rh7 Bf4 Black's advantage faded. Eventually he blundered and lost the game.

R Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin played an absolute thriller of a game which the latter could have won | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Humpy - Kosteniuk

Position after 62...Kb5

White is winning in the above position. Find out how.

Vantika - Harika

Position after 45...Qa1

46.Qc4 would have ended the game as checkmate is unstoppable. Instead, White played 46.Bc1 Qxa2+ 47.Bb2 and the game ended in a draw after another 36 moves.

IM Vantika Agrawal suffered a painful draw which she should have won against GM Harika Dronavalli | Photo: Lennart Ootes

IM Vantika Agrawal finished the day with a convincing victory over GM R Vaishali.

IM Vantika Agrawal scored 1.5/3 after starting her day with a loss | Photo: Lennart Ootes

IM Divya Deshmukh outplayed the twelfth Women's World Champion - GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (SUI).

After suffering two losses, IM Divya Deshmukh scored her first win of the event against GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (SUI) | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Photo Gallery

Nihal Sarin with his fans | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Fans waiting in drove to catch a glimpse of their favorites | Photo: Amruta Mokal

Kolkata is a sports loving city | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Our Cofounder and CEO - IM Sagar Shah poses with his fans | Photo: Vivek Sohani

Wesley So answers few questions at Day 2 Press Conference | Video: ChessBase India

Format

There will be two tournaments: a men's and a women's event. The tournaments will be played in two formats - Rapid and Blitz. For the first time, both Men's and Women's event will take place simultaneously. Three rounds of Rapid games will be played on the first three days, followed by nine rounds of Blitz per day on the remaining two days of each event. The time control is 25 minutes for the entire game with an increment of 10 seconds from move no.1. For Blitz, the time control is 3 minutes with an increment of 2 seconds from move no.1.

Venue

Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium in Kolkata, West Bengal. The tournament is open to spectators. Tickets will not be sold; passes will be available at the venue on first-come-first-serve basis on the days of the tournament.

Replay Round 4-6 Open games

Replay Round 4-6 Women games

Round 4-6 results

Round 4 on 2024/11/14 at 02.00 PM
Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.
1	10	2642	GM	Keymer, Vincent	½ - ½	GM	Praggnanandhaa, R	2676	7
2	8	2679	GM	Nihal, Sarin	½ - ½	GM	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	2742	6
3	9	2661	GM	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	½ - ½	GM	Dubov, Daniil	2686	5
4	1	2579	GM	Narayanan, S L	0 - 1	GM	Carlsen, Magnus	2825	4
5	2	2735	GM	So, Wesley	1 - 0	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	2706	3
Round 5 on 2024/11/14 at 03.30 PM
Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.
1	3	2706	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	½ - ½	GM	Keymer, Vincent	2642	10
2	4	2825	GM	Carlsen, Magnus	1 - 0	GM	So, Wesley	2735	2
3	5	2686	GM	Dubov, Daniil	½ - ½	GM	Narayanan, S L	2579	1
4	6	2742	GM	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	½ - ½	GM	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	2661	9
5	7	2676	GM	Praggnanandhaa, R	1 - 0	GM	Nihal, Sarin	2679	8
Round 6 on 2024/11/14 at 05.00 PM
Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.
1	10	2642	GM	Keymer, Vincent	1 - 0	GM	Nihal, Sarin	2679	8
2	9	2661	GM	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	½ - ½	GM	Praggnanandhaa, R	2676	7
3	1	2579	GM	Narayanan, S L	0 - 1	GM	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	2742	6
4	2	2735	GM	So, Wesley	½ - ½	GM	Dubov, Daniil	2686	5
5	3	2706	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	0 - 1	GM	Carlsen, Magnus	2825	4

Details

Standings after Round 6

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	RtgI	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4	n	w	we	w-we	K	rtg+/-
1	4	GM	Carlsen, Magnus	NOR	2825	5	0	12,50	4	2	6	5	4,21	0,79	10	7,9
2	6	GM	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	UZB	2742	4,5	0	11,50	3	2	6	4,5	3,73	0,77	10	7,7
3	2	GM	So, Wesley	USA	2735	3,5	0	8,00	2	0	6	3,5	3,43	0,07	10	0,7
4	5	GM	Dubov, Daniil	RUS	2686	3	0,5	8,75	0	0	6	3	3,05	-0,05	10	-0,5
5	7	GM	Praggnanandhaa, R	IND	2676	3	0,5	8,25	1	0	6	3	2,77	0,23	10	2,3
6	1	GM	Narayanan, S L	IND	2579	2,5	1	6,75	1	0	6	2,5	1,85	0,65	10	6,5
7	10	GM	Keymer, Vincent	GER	2642	2,5	0	6,25	1	0	6	2,5	2,63	-0,13	10	-1,3
8	8	GM	Nihal, Sarin	IND	2679	2	0	7,25	0	0	6	2	2,71	-0,71	10	-7,1
9	9	GM	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	IND	2661	2	0	6,25	0	0	6	2	2,46	-0,46	10	-4,6
10	3	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	IND	2706	2	0	4,50	0	0	6	2	3,16	-1,16	10	-11,6

Details

Round 7 pairings

Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.
1	4	2825	GM	Carlsen, Magnus		GM	Keymer, Vincent	2642	10
2	5	2686	GM	Dubov, Daniil		GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	2706	3
3	6	2742	GM	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek		GM	So, Wesley	2735	2
4	7	2676	GM	Praggnanandhaa, R		GM	Narayanan, S L	2579	1
5	8	2679	GM	Nihal, Sarin		GM	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	2661	9

Details

Round 4-6 Women results

Round 4 on 2024/11/14 at 1400 h
Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.
1	10	2416	GM	Dronavalli, Harika	1 - 0	IM	Divya, Deshmukh	2401	7
2	8	2384	GM	Gunina, Valentina	1 - 0	GM	Koneru, Humpy	2451	6
3	9	2508	GM	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	½ - ½	GM	Lagno, Kateryna	2436	5
4	1	2427	GM	Dzagnidze, Nana	1 - 0	GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	2359	4
5	2	2472	GM	Goryachkina, Aleksandra	1 - 0	IM	Vantika, Agrawal	2314	3
Round 5 on 2024/11/14 at 1530 h
Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.
1	3	2314	IM	Vantika, Agrawal	½ - ½	GM	Dronavalli, Harika	2416	10
2	4	2359	GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	0 - 1	GM	Goryachkina, Aleksandra	2472	2
3	5	2436	GM	Lagno, Kateryna	½ - ½	GM	Dzagnidze, Nana	2427	1
4	6	2451	GM	Koneru, Humpy	½ - ½	GM	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	2508	9
5	7	2401	IM	Divya, Deshmukh	0 - 1	GM	Gunina, Valentina	2384	8
Round 6 on 2024/11/14 at 1700 h
Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.
1	10	2416	GM	Dronavalli, Harika	½ - ½	GM	Gunina, Valentina	2384	8
2	9	2508	GM	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	0 - 1	IM	Divya, Deshmukh	2401	7
3	1	2427	GM	Dzagnidze, Nana	1 - 0	GM	Koneru, Humpy	2451	6
4	2	2472	GM	Goryachkina, Aleksandra	1 - 0	GM	Lagno, Kateryna	2436	5
5	3	2314	IM	Vantika, Agrawal	1 - 0	GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	2359	4

Details

Standings after Round 6

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3	TB4
1	2	GM	Goryachkina, Aleksandra	FID	2472	5	0	13,25	4	1
2	1	GM	Dzagnidze, Nana	GEO	2427	4	0	10,50	2	0
3	3	IM	Vantika, Agrawal	IND	2314	3,5	1,5	9,25	2	0
4	10	GM	Dronavalli, Harika	IND	2416	3,5	1	11,50	1	0
5	8	GM	Gunina, Valentina	FID	2384	3,5	0,5	7,25	3	1
6	5	GM	Lagno, Kateryna	FID	2436	3	0	8,75	1	0
7	7	IM	Divya, Deshmukh	IND	2401	2,5	0	5,00	1	1
8	6	GM	Koneru, Humpy	IND	2451	2	0,5	5,50	0	0
9	9	GM	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	SUI	2508	2	0,5	4,75	0	0
10	4	GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	IND	2359	1	0	2,25	0	0

Details

Round 7 pairings

Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.
1	4	2359	GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu		GM	Dronavalli, Harika	2416	10
2	5	2436	GM	Lagno, Kateryna		IM	Vantika, Agrawal	2314	3
3	6	2451	GM	Koneru, Humpy		GM	Goryachkina, Aleksandra	2472	2
4	7	2401	IM	Divya, Deshmukh		GM	Dzagnidze, Nana	2427	1
5	8	2384	GM	Gunina, Valentina		GM	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	2508	9

Details

Schedule

Everyday round starts at 2 p.m. IST. The Rapid event will take place from 13th to 15th November, followed by the Blitz event on 16th and 17th November.

Tata Steel Chess India 2024 Men and Women Rapid schedule | Source: Official site

Tata Steel Chess India 2024 Men and Women Blitz schedule | Source: Official site

Prize

The total prize fund remains the same as the previous two editions - US$ 41500. The top three prizes in the Rapid are - $10000, $6000 and $3000. For Blitz they are - $7500, $4000 and $2500. Most importantly, the prizes remain equal in both Open and Womens events.

Links

Official site

Information

Gameplan

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