Aronian Beats Erigaisi In Armageddon To Clinch Tata Steel India Blitz
After a nail-biting finish that went all the way to armageddon, GM Levon Aronian won the Tata Steel Chess India blitz tournament on Sunday. The playoff was necessary after he had finished in a tie with GM Arjun Erigaisi, who impressed once again by winning the rapid tournament on Friday.
You can find the games of the Tata Steel Chess India blitz tournament here.
Our interview with the winner, Levon Aronian.
The blitz tournament was played over two days, with nine rounds on Saturday and another nine on Sunday. It was again Erigaisi who was in the sole lead halfway through the tournament, having scored an undefeated plus-four.
At the closing ceremony, tournament ambassador GM Vishy Anand said that Erigaisi's win over GM Sam Shankland had made a strong impression:
One of the main goals of the tournament was to give the young Indian talents a chance to play against top grandmasters. The youngsters did quite well and went toe to toe, as you can see from the final standings.
One of the champions of the new generation is GM Nihal Sarin, who "won" the second half of the blitz, scoring a wild 6.5/9 on Sunday that included just one draw. One of his victims was Erigaisi, in the 10th round:
Nihal was doing so well that he was, in fact, leading the tournament with 11/17, with one round to go. A blunder in the opening of his final game with GM Parham Maghsoodloo ended his dream:
As a result, Aronian and Erigaisi had the chance to overtake Nihal and both did, which led to the following final standings.
Tata Steel India Blitz 2021 | Final Standings
| # | Fed | Name | Rtg | Perf | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 | Pts |
| 1 | Erigaisi | 2616 | 2712 | ½1 | ½0 | ½0 | 10 | ½1 | ½½ | 1½ | 11 | 11 | 11.5 | ||
| 2 | Aronian | 2767 | 2697 | ½0 | 0½ | ½½ | ½1 | ½1 | 11 | 10 | 1½ | 11 | 11.5 | ||
| 3 | Maghsoodloo | 2601 | 2693 | ½1 | 1½ | 01 | 10 | 01 | 00 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 11 | ||
| 4 | Nihal | 2667 | 2686 | ½1 | ½½ | 10 | 01 | ½0 | 01 | 11 | 01 | 11 | 11 | ||
| 5 | Gukesh | 2376 | 2679 | 01 | ½0 | 01 | 10 | 11 | 00 | ½1 | 11 | ½½ | 10 | ||
| 6 | Le | 2774 | 2577 | ½0 | ½0 | 10 | ½1 | 00 | 10 | 0½ | 1½ | 11 | 8.5 | ||
| 7 | Sadhwani | 2517 | 2585 | ½½ | 00 | 11 | 10 | 11 | 01 | 00 | 00 | 01 | 8 | ||
| 8 | Shankland | 2660 | 2571 | 0½ | 01 | 00 | 00 | ½0 | 1½ | 11 | 11 | ½0 | 8 | ||
| 9 | Vidit | 2739 | 2501 | 00 | 0½ | 01 | 10 | 00 | 0½ | 11 | 00 | 1½ | 6.5 | ||
| 10 | Harika | 2422 | 2418 | 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 | ½½ | 00 | 10 | ½1 | 0½ | 4 |
A two-game playoff followed. Erigaisi had great chances in each game, but they both ended in draws. Here's the second game, where there was a clear win earlier on for White (Anand: "Levon has had the luck of the devil today!") but then was even in the opposite-colored bishop endgame at the very end:
Erigaisi won the toss and chose to play black in the armageddon, meaning he got four minutes on the clock (vs. five for Aronian) with draw odds. At the closing ceremony, Aronian was humble and stated that he had been lucky: "I think today I played one good game. It was the armageddon."
And indeed, Aronian's reaction to Erigaisi's interesting knight sacrifice (Anand: "This is how Arjun plays for a draw!") is excellent.
All games
Previous report:
Peter Doggers joined a chess club a month before turning 15 and still plays for it. He used to be an active tournament player and holds two IM norms. Peter has a Master of Arts degree in Dutch Language & Literature. He briefly worked at New in Chess, then as a Dutch teacher and then in a project for improving safety and security in Amsterdam schools. Between 2007 and 2013 Peter was running ChessVibes, a major source for chess news and videos acquired by Chess.com in October 2013. As our Director News & Events, Peter writes many of our news reports. In the summer of 2022, The Guardian’s Leonard Barden described him as “widely regarded as the world’s best chess journalist.”
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