World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen had an underwhelming start to the World Rapid & Blitz Championship in New York, with just one win in the first five rounds. The Norwegian was languishing in the 80th position with 2.5 points out of a possible 5 in the rapid championship.

Carlsen (Elo rating: 2838) was held to a draw by three lower-ranked players: Awonder Liang (2519), Gleb Dudin (2436) and Aleksandr Shimanov (2578). He defeated Denis Kadric (2513) in the second round but suffered a shock loss to Belarusian Denis Lazavik (2553) in the fifth round.

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Carlsen is the reigning world rapid and blitz champion. The Norwegian must bounce back in style in the remaining eight rounds to retain his rapid title. World Chess Champion D Gukesh is not competing the Rapid & Blitz event.

Russia's Volodar Murzin leads the pack with 4.5 points, while Raunak Sadhwani (4 pts) is the only Indian who managed to sneak into the top 10 after the first day. He remained unbeaten with three wins and two draws, including a thrilling round-two win over World No. 7 Alireza Firouzja.

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India No. 1 Arjun Erigaisi has 4 points with four wins and a loss in round three against Sam Sevian of the USA. The game went on for 99 moves. R Praggnanandhaa, the best-ranked Indian in the event after Erigaisi, has 3 points with three wins and two defeats.

In the Rapid format, the time control is 15 minutes per player for the whole game with an increment of 10 seconds per move.

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