Total Chess Pilot 2026 Day 2: Caruana sacrifices his house against Pragg!

by Sagar Shah - 13/11/2026

Fabiano Caruana beat R. Praggnanandhaa in both their games on the second day of the Total Chess Pilot group stage in Budapest. Pragg is now last in Group B with 2 points, and Fabi leads it with 10. Bibisara Assaubayeva beat Arjun Erigaisi and Arjun hit right back. Hans Niemann beat R. Vaishali twice. And Abhimanyu Mishra was totally winning against Magnus Carlsen, before the World no.1 made a Houdini-like escape.

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Fabiano Caruana against R. Praggnanandhaa. It turned out to be a day to forget for Pragg | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Total Chess

Each day of the group stage, players play two Fast Classic games (45 minutes plus 30 seconds a move) against the same opponent, with colours reversed. A win is 3 points, a draw 1. On the 12th of November, 13 of the 24 games were decisive, three more than on the first day.

Caruana crushes Pragg

In the first game Pragg had the black pieces, and on move four he surprised everyone!

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Caruana vs Praggnanandhaa, game one. 4...b5!? I hadn't seen this move before!

Fabi did not get excited. He took on b5, castled, and calmly and coolly built up a good position. Then came this moment.

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Pragg has just played 18...h6. White to move: what would you play?

18...h6 was a huge error. I love how Fabi played from here. First he sacrificed his bishop with 19.Bxh6!, and after 19...gxh6 his queen came to h6. Then the other bishop came from h3 to f5, and the rook went to c7.

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22.Rc7. Every white piece is now in the attack. Pragg had less than a minute on his clock

Pragg defended with 22...Qe8, Fabi brought in his knight with 23.Ne5, and after 23...Bd8 24.Rd7 Bc6 we reach this position.

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White to move. Fabi has already given a bishop. What next?

25.Rxd8! A sacrifice on d8. After 25...Qxd8, he sacrificed once more, on e6.

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26.Nxe6! After 26...fxe6 27.Bxe6+ the end is near. At this point Pragg had had enough and resigned

An amazing win by Fabi against Pragg, in just 26 moves.

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Fabi has three wins and a draw from his first four games in Budapest and his live rating is inching quickly towards 2800! | Photo: Michal Walusza/Total Chess

Pragg would have been looking for revenge in the second game. With White he got a fine position. But then Fabi once again started to take over, slowly, move by move, and just outplayed Pragg.

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Praggnanandhaa vs Caruana, game two. Fabi's pawn has reached b2. Pragg had about a minute on his clock

Pragg resigned on move 48. Two wins for Fabi, six points in a day.

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Two games, two wins for Fabi against one of the best young players in the world | Photo: Michal Walusza/Total Chess

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Pragg will need wins in his remaining games to climb up in Group B | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Total Chess

With these two losses Pragg is in big trouble in his group. Especially because Fabi is simply crushing it: three wins and a draw from four games, and a two-point lead over Le Quang Liem.

The ChessBase India live stream of the day: Carlsen vs Abhimanyu, Caruana vs Pragg

Bibisara stuns Arjun

Arjun Erigaisi lost a shocking game to Bibisara Assaubayeva in the King's Indian. And she played so well. She found one good move after another and Arjun got completely outplayed.

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Arjun Erigaisi vs Assaubayeva, game one. Bibisara has just played 23...Rc6, hitting the queen. White to move: a5 or b7?

Arjun's mistake was 24.Qa5. Instead he had to play 24.Qb7. His idea was that after Qa5 if Bibisara took on a7, he would be able to go Rd8. But Bibisara replied 24...Qe6!

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24...Qe6! The queen attacks the rook on h3

Arjun did play 25.Rd8+, but after 25...Rxd8 26.Qxd8+ Kf7 Black was much better. Bibisara played one accurate move after another, and her pawns marched down the board.

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44...g3. Two black pawns on the doorstep of the white king. Arjun resigned two moves later

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Arjun and Bibisara shake hands. The first game was the shock of the day | Photo: Michal Walusza/Total Chess

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Bibisara found one good move after another against Arjun | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Total Chess

After the game Bibisara revealed that when she had lost eight games in a row in the blitz, Arjun Erigaisi had sent her encouraging messages to cheer her up! And now in the Fast Classic she has two draws against Wesley So and a win over Arjun. Insane.

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Two draws against Wesley So, and now a win over Arjun. Bibisara is having a great time in Budapest | Photo: Tor Nilssen/Total Chess

Arjun came back in game two, as he himself played the King's Indian and outwitted Bibisara. The Kazakh no.1 played a great game, but faltered at one point.

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Assaubayeva vs Arjun Erigaisi, game two. Bibisara has just taken on g2 with her king. Black to move

33.Kxg2 allowed 33...Rb8! The rook goes after the pawn on b2, and from here Arjun simply converted with ease. He won in 48 moves.

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Arjun hit right back with his own King's Indian in the second game | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Total Chess

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With 5 points, Arjun is still very much in the race in Group D | Photo: Michal Walusza/Total Chess

With this win Arjun is on 5 points, three behind Maxime Vachier-Lagrave and Hans Niemann, with three days of the group stage to go. He still has a chance to finish on top of his group.

Vaishali fights, Niemann wins twice

R. Vaishali continued her excellent play and gave Hans Niemann an excellent fight in both games, with White and with Black. In fact in the first game she got a big advantage out of the opening.

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Vaishali vs Niemann, game one. Hans has just played 19...a5. White is clearly better here

Vaishali's best move here was Qg7 and she would have had a huge edge. But she wasn't able to follow up well. She was soon short of time, with three minutes on move 24 and 36 seconds on move 28, and Hans took over. She lost in 43 moves.

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Vaishali had the upper hand out of the opening against Hans Niemann in the first game | Photo: Michal Walusza/Total Chess

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Two wins for Hans Niemann, who is now level with MVL at the top of Group D | Photo: Michal Walusza/Total Chess

In the second game as well she fought really well, and the position was level for a long time. With seconds on her clock she went wrong on move 48, Hans got his a-pawn rolling, and in the end she had to throw in the towel.

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The results did not go her way, but Vaishali gave Hans a real fight in both games | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Total Chess

Abhimanyu almost beats Magnus

Magnus Carlsen was held to a draw by Abhimanyu Mishra in both games. In the second one the youngster was totally winning after the GOAT blundered with 26...Kd7.

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Magnus Carlsen and Abhimanyu Mishra: two games, two draws, and the second one was a narrow escape for Magnus | Photo: Michal Walusza/Total Chess

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Mishra vs Carlsen, game two. Magnus has just played 26...Kd7, with a little over two minutes on his clock. White to move: what would you play?

Abhimanyu found 27.Nh5!

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27.Nh5! The pawn on g7 is attacked twice, and the point is that 27...f6 is met by 28.Bxf6 and it is game over

Magnus lost not one pawn but two of them. His only chance to hold the draw was the opposite-coloured bishops. But Abhimanyu correctly assessed that he was winning. His final mistake came here.

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43.f4. The pawn on g4 is now weak and the bishop on e3 is passive. The winning idea was Bf4, first activate the bishop on c7 or b8 and then go f4-f5, so that the bishop can be activated via a7 or b6.

Three moves later Magnus took the pawn on g4, and the position was a dead draw.

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The final position after 80 moves. White is two pawns up, but nothing gets through. The World no.1 once again made a Houdini-like escape

He was so close: when Magnus Carlsen took on the world's youngest Grandmaster

Before the game Abhimanyu said he would try to create history by beating Magnus. He almost did.

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The second game against Abhimanyu was a long, tough fight for the World no.1 | Photo: Michal Walusza/Total Chess

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There were moments when Magnus did not like what he saw on the board | Photo: Maria Emelianova/Total Chess

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Abhimanyu Mishra came so close to beating the World no.1 | Photo: Michal Walusza/Total Chess

Magnus has now drawn all four of his Fast Classic games and is fifth in Group C with 4 points.

The four groups after day two

A win is 3 points, a draw is 1. If two players are level, the one who finished higher in the Blitz Swiss is ahead. Every group winner goes to Knockout 1, every runner-up to Knockout 2, and so on.

Group A

Rank	Player	Win	Draw	Loss	Points
1	Alireza Firouzja	2	2	0	8
2	Jan-Krzysztof Duda	2	1	1	7
3	Levon Aronian	1	2	1	5
4	Nodirbek Abdusattorov	1	1	2	4
5	Jorden van Foreest	1	1	2	4
6	Andrew Hong	0	3	1	3

Firouzja beat van Foreest and drew the second game. Duda and Abdusattorov both won with the black pieces against each other. Aronian and Hong drew twice.

Group B

Rank	Player	Win	Draw	Loss	Points
1	Fabiano Caruana	3	1	0	10
2	Le Quang Liem	2	2	0	8
3	Richard Rapport	0	3	1	3
4	Vincent Keymer	0	3	1	3
5	Vladislav Artemiev	0	3	1	3
6	R. Praggnanandhaa	0	2	2	2

Le Quang Liem beat Keymer and drew the second. Rapport and Artemiev drew twice.

Group C

Rank	Player	Win	Draw	Loss	Points
1	Ian Nepomniachtchi	1	3	0	6
2	Haik Martirosyan	2	0	2	6
3	Anish Giri	1	2	1	5
4	Shakhriyar Mamedyarov	1	2	1	5
5	Magnus Carlsen	0	4	0	4
6	Abhimanyu Mishra	0	3	1	3

Giri beat Martirosyan in just 26 moves, and Martirosyan won the return game. Nepomniachtchi and Mamedyarov drew twice. Martirosyan has now played four games, won two and lost two, and not drawn a single one!

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Anish Giri beat Haik Martirosyan in just 26 moves, and Martirosyan won the return game | Photo: Michal Walusza/Total Chess

Group D

Rank	Player	Win	Draw	Loss	Points
1	Maxime Vachier-Lagrave	2	2	0	8
2	Hans Niemann	2	2	0	8
3	Arjun Erigaisi	1	2	1	5
4	Bibisara Assaubayeva	1	2	1	5
5	Wesley So	0	3	1	3
6	R. Vaishali	0	1	3	1

MVL beat Wesley So and drew the second game.

Pairings for the 13th of November

The players listed first have White in game one. The colours are reversed in game two.

Group	Game one (7.30 p.m. IST), White vs Black
A	Jorden van Foreest vs Nodirbek Abdusattorov
A	Andrew Hong vs Alireza Firouzja
A	Jan-Krzysztof Duda vs Levon Aronian
B	Richard Rapport vs Le Quang Liem
B	R. Praggnanandhaa vs Vladislav Artemiev
B	Vincent Keymer vs Fabiano Caruana
C	Haik Martirosyan vs Magnus Carlsen
C	Ian Nepomniachtchi vs Anish Giri
C	Abhimanyu Mishra vs Shakhriyar Mamedyarov
D	Hans Niemann vs Maxime Vachier-Lagrave
D	Bibisara Assaubayeva vs R. Vaishali
D	Wesley So vs Arjun Erigaisi

Niemann against MVL is a clash of the two leaders of Group D. Arjun plays Wesley So, Vaishali meets Bibisara, and Pragg needs wins against Artemiev.

The first game begins at 7.30 p.m. IST and the second at 11 p.m. IST. You can follow the games live on chessbase.in/live, with commentary on the ChessBase India YouTube channel.