World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen does not always have an off day in front of the board. Even rare is the Norwegian Super GM getting crushed by an opponent. That happened in round eight of the Tata Steel Chess India Blitz tournament when Carlsen played India No. 1 Arjun Erigaisi.
Despite playing with white pieces, Carlsen was forced to resign just 20 moves into the battle. Erigaisi swept through his defences, leaving the favourite in a precarious position (see above image). The chess engines showed Erigaisi playing at an accuracy of over 98% and Carlsen uncharacteristically low at 80%.
The rare slip-up aside, Carlsen remains top of the blitz standings with 6.5 points after nine rounds. Indian GM R Praggnanandhaa is second with 6 points, while Erigaisi is joint-third with 5.5 points with Russian Daniil Dubov.
GMs S L Narayanan and Nihal Sarin, two Keralites in the 10-player open category, are on 3.5 points each. The two played each other in round two, with Nihal coming out on top. Narayanan defeated Praggnanandhaa, Wesley So and Vincent Keymer in the first nine rounds. Nihal also scored wins against Keymer and Vidit Gujrathi.
Narayanan lost his first round to Carlsen, but will have a chance to do an Erigaisi when he plays the former World champion again, with white, in round ten on Sunday.