Arjun Erigaisi and Magnus Carlsen (Video grab) Magnus Carlsen defeated Uytze Kaan in a must-win situation in a classic game, then beat Arjun Erigaisi twice with the black pieces in a lightning tiebreak.The result brought the Norwegian world number one the TePe Sigeman & Co. chess title on Thursday in Malmö, Sweden. It was Carlsen’s first classic tournament in almost 11 months. And he became memorable after he tied with Arjun on five points.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SIGN UP NOW!Arjun, who led overnight by half a point at 4.5, showed great resilience against Andy Woodward in the seventh and final round of the classic stage. In a precarious situation, he constantly questioned the 15-year-old American. And when the teenager didn’t play, Arjun won half a point to ensure that he would either win the crown if the Carlsen vs Yagiz match (both on 4 points) ended in a draw, or get a chance to play a tiebreaker against the winner of that game.
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Vincent Keymer Exclusive: Becoming Germany’s No. 1, Intimidating Magnus Carlsen and moreForcing the opponent to play a series of correct and tricky moves is a hallmark of many great and resilient players. But these actions are usually done to pull the game out of a losing position.But Carlsen has another talent — he forces his opponent to play many more correct moves in the same position to win half a point. It’s a show like no other as it elicits depression from rivals.Yagiz responded to Carlsen’s pawn push on g6 with a panicked defensive kingside move with less than two minutes remaining (instead of pushing his own f-pawn). This allowed Carlsen to gain the triple advantage at the same time in the bishop and in the endgame three pawns against the knight and three pawns. Carlsen attacked with a king on the a-7-pawn, giving up an advanced pawn by drawing the rival knight away from his other two pawns; and stopped the rival pawn in the queen by creating a defensive path for his bishop.This was simply riveting stuff. Yagiz shed a tear or two behind his palm in front of Carlsen before holding out his hand in resignation.After holding Woodward to a priceless draw, Arjun lost the first of two tiebreak games (increment of 3 minutes + 2 seconds) against Carlsen, but bounced back to win the second game with the black pieces.Tournament rules then pushed the match into sudden death territory, as the white player only got two and a half minutes compared to black’s three minutes. A draw in such a game would require another such game with reversed suits.
