Tata Steel Blitz 2026 R1-9: So gains sole lead, Arjun Erigaisi and Nihal Sarin in pursuit

by Shahid Ahmed - 10/01/2026

Wesley So (USA) scored 7/9 to emerge sole leader after Round 9 of Tata Steel India Blitz 2026. Despite starting the day with a loss against Vidit Gujrathi, blundering checkmate in a winning position, So bounced back and scored 7/8 in the next eight games. performing at 2908 and having a five-game win streak, including against pursuers - Arjun Erigaisi and Nihal Sarin. Arjun is at 6.5/9, followed by Nihal 5.5/9, Vishy Anand and Vidit 5/9 each and R Praggnanandhaa at 4/9. Nine more rounds of Blitz games will be played tomorrow. Anything can happen. Blitz Round 10 starts tomorrow at 3 p.m. IST. Photo: Lennart Ootes

Women: Carissa emerges sole leader, Vaishali in the chase

It is well known and agreed by everyone that Blitz games should not be analyzed. The best way to watch a Blitz game is on video and enjoy the game without evaluating it too much. The theme of the day was probably mate blunder. Plenty of games had checkmate blunders. In the Women's event, IM Carissa Yip (USA) gained sole lead 6/9. IM Stavroula Tsolakidou (GRE), GM Aleksandra Goryachkina and GM R Vaishali are at 5.5/9 each, IM Vantika Agrawal 5/9, GM Divya Deshmukh 4.5/9 and GM Harika Dronavalli 4/9.

Champion - Wesley So (USA) 7/9 | Photo: Lennart Ootes

IM Carissa Yip (USA) 6/9 | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Tata Steel Chess India Rapid and Blitz 2026 logo | Photo: Official site

Round 1: Arjun - Murzin: 1-0

Arjun Erigaisi (2777) had beaten Volodar Murzin (2656) twice before at World Blitz 2022 and 2023. This time also the result was the same.

Arjun Erigaisi won all three Blitz rated games against Volodar Murzin | Photo: Lennart Ootes

So - Vidit: 0-1

Wesley So (USA, 2781) and Vidit Gujrathi (2671) played Blitz rated games only at this event, Tata Steel Chess India. Out of eight games, six ended in draws and they share a win each. In their ninth Blitz game at this event, So had a winning position, but blundered a mate in one against Vidit.

Round 1 in progress | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Nihal - Aravindh: 0.5-0.5

Nihal Sarin started the day with a well-contested draw against Aravindh Chithambaram | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Kateryna - Rakshitta: 0-1

WGM Rakshitta Ravi pulled off a big upset against the three-time former World Blitz Women's champion, GM Kateryna Lagno | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Round 2: Aravindh - Praggnanandhaa: 1-0

Aravindh Chithambaram (2585) and R Praggnanandhaa (2691) are good friends. They played only two Blitz rated games against each other. That was last year in Warsaw, Poland at Grand Chess Tour. Praggnanandhaa had won both of them. Today, Aravindh outplayed Praggnanandhaa.

Aravindh Chithambaram scored his first win over R Praggnanandhaa in a Blitz rated game | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Wei - Arjun: 0-1

Wei Yi (CHN) and Arjun Erigaisi had played only three Blitz rated games against each other. Wei won two and Arjun one. Arjun leveled the score to 2-2 by playing a very nice game.

Nihal - Anand: 1-0

Nihal Sarin (2705) made a short work of Vishy Anand (2720) in just 21 moves.

Round 3: Arjun - Nihal: 1-0

Arjun and Nihal have played a total of ten Blitz rated games against each other. Out of them six of them were at the very same event and the recent one was at World Blitz 2025. Nihal won two, Arjun four and the remaining four ended in draws. Their eleventh game went Arjun's way after Nihal blundered his knight in the endgame.

Round 4: Anand - Arjun: 0-1

Vishy Anand and Arjun Erigaisi played their first-ever Blitz rated game against each other. Arjun made a beautiful finish after Anand made an incorrect capture and opened the g-file.

Final position after 33...Qc8

Vishy Anand probably in his mind - Yes kid you earned this one! | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Round 5: Niemann - Nihal: 0-1

Hans Niemann (USA, 2686) and Nihal Sarin played plenty of blitz online on the platform endgame.ai of which the former is a Brand Ambassador. However, this was their first-ever Blitz rated game against each other. Nihal won it by outplaying his opponent in the opposite color bishop endgame.

Arjun - Aravindh: 1-0

Arjun has never lost a Blitz rated game against Aravindh. The statistic remained unchanged today.

Round 6: Anand - Niemann: 1-0

Anand won the first-ever Blitz rated against Niemann. The evaluation swung back and forth at the end.

Hans Niemann (USA) and Vishy Anand had a slightly wild finish, fitting for Blitz battle | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Nihal - Praggnanandhaa: 1-0

Nihal and Praggnanandhaa played five Blitz rated games against each other. Black won in all of them. Nihal won three and Praggnanandhaa two. For the first time, White won in their sixth battle and it was Nihal after his opponent made a simple tactical error in the endgame.

Arjun - So: 0-1

Arjun and So played four Blitz rated games against each other. All of them took place at this very event. Arjun and So won a game each, the remaining two ended in draws.

Round 8: Anand - Vidit: 1-0

Anand and Vidit played five Blitz rated games against each other, four of them occurred at this event. Anand won two, Vidit won one and the remaining two ended in draws. This time Anand just simply crushed Vidit.

Arjun - Praggnanandhaa: 0-1

Arjun suffered his second loss of the day. It was against Praggnanandhaa in Round 8.

Round 9: Vidit - Arjun: 0-1

Arjun and Vidit played ten Blitz rated games against each other. Arjun won four, Vidit one and the remaining five ended in draws. Eight out of the ten battles took place at this event. The eleventh one between them was won by Arjun.

Murzin - Anand: 0-1

In a battle between former World Rapid champions, Anand came out on top against Volodar Murzin.

Replay live stream

Replay Tata Steel Chess India Blitz 2026 Round 1-9 live commentary by IM Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal | 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 second 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 15 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 all spectators and entry is free for all.

Replay Round 1-9 Men games

Replay Round 1-9 Women games

Round 9 Men results

Bo.		White	Result		Black
1	GM	Niemann, Hans Moke	1 - 0	GM	Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr.
2	GM	Praggnanandhaa, R	½ - ½	GM	So, Wesley
3	GM	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	0 - 1	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun
4	GM	Murzin, Volodar	0 - 1	GM	Anand, Viswanathan
5	GM	Wei, Yi	0 - 1	GM	Nihal, Sarin

Details

Standings after Round 9

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	4	GM	So, Wesley	USA	2781	7	0	29,25	6
2	3	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	IND	2777	6,5	0	25,75	6
3	1	GM	Nihal, Sarin	IND	2705	5,5	0	19,75	5
4	2	GM	Anand, Viswanathan	IND	2720	5	1	17,25	4
5	7	GM	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	IND	2671	5	2	21	4
6	6	GM	Praggnanandhaa, R	IND	2691	4	0	20,5	2
7	9	GM	Wei, Yi	CHN	2705	3,5	0	14,75	1
8	5	GM	Niemann, Hans Moke	USA	2686	3,5	0	14	2
9	8	GM	Murzin, Volodar	FID	2656	2,5	1	8	2
10	10	GM	Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr.	IND	2585	2,5	2	10,25	2

Details

Round 10 pairings

Bo.		White	Result		Black
1	GM	Aravindh, Chithambaram Vr.		GM	Nihal, Sarin
2	GM	Wei, Yi		GM	Anand, Viswanathan
3	GM	Murzin, Volodar		GM	Erigaisi, Arjun
4	GM	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi		GM	So, Wesley
5	GM	Praggnanandhaa, R		GM	Niemann, Hans Moke

Details

Round 9 Women results

Bo.		White	Result		Black
1	GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	1 - 0	WGM	Rakshitta, Ravi
2	GM	Dzagnidze, Nana	0 - 1	GM	Dronavalli, Harika
3	IM	Yip, Carissa	½ - ½	GM	Divya, Deshmukh
4	IM	Tsolakidou, Stavroula	1 - 0	GM	Goryachkina, Aleksandra
5	IM	Vantika, Agrawal	½ - ½	GM	Lagno, Kateryna

Details

Standings after Round 9

Rk.	SNo		Name	FED	Rtg	Pts.	TB1	TB2	TB3
1	7	IM	Yip, Carissa	USA	2347	6	0	23,5	5
2	8	IM	Tsolakidou, Stavroula	GRE	2410	5,5	1	25,25	5
3	2	GM	Goryachkina, Aleksandra	FID	2444	5,5	2	23	3
4	5	GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	IND	2372	5,5	3	20,25	5
5	9	IM	Vantika, Agrawal	IND	2246	5	0	24,25	3
6	3	GM	Divya, Deshmukh	IND	2375	4,5	0	17,5	4
7	4	GM	Dronavalli, Harika	IND	2357	4	1	14,25	3
8	1	GM	Lagno, Kateryna	RUS	2445	4	2	18,25	3
9	6	GM	Dzagnidze, Nana	GEO	2310	3	0	12,75	2
10	10	WGM	Rakshitta, Ravi	IND	2177	2	0	9	2

Details

Round 10 pairings

Bo.		White	Result		Black
1	WGM	Rakshitta, Ravi		GM	Lagno, Kateryna
2	IM	Vantika, Agrawal		GM	Goryachkina, Aleksandra
3	IM	Tsolakidou, Stavroula		GM	Divya, Deshmukh
4	IM	Yip, Carissa		GM	Dronavalli, Harika
5	GM	Dzagnidze, Nana		GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu

Details

Schedule

Everyday round starts at 3 p.m. IST. The Rapid event will take place from 7th to 9th January, followed by the Blitz event on 10th and 11th January.

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.