World Blitz Team chess: Arjun Erigaisi beats Carlsen as Team MGD1 clinches silver

New Delhi: The GM Arjun Erigaisi-led Team MGD1 banked on their all-Indian star cast to clinch the silver medal in the inaugural World Blitz Team Championships, a club-based event conceptualized by world chess governing body FIDE and held in Astana, Kazakhstan. In the final against Team WR Chess, Erigaisi, the highest-rated Indian in Classic Ranking, upset former World Champion and World No.1 Magnus Carlsen on the top board in Round 1.

But the Norwegian’s teammates won on the other boards to give the team a comfortable lead. Team MGD1 put up a strong fight in the second round to hold the eventual champions 3:3 but that was not enough to take the match into play-off.

“Beating Magnus Carlsen in any format is special and I really enjoyed playing against him. But more than that win, it’s the collective performance of the team that helped us with the silver medal was very special. The way we bonded and fought for each other makes this medal so special,” Erigaisi was quoted as saying in a release by Team MGDI on Tuesday.

The inaugural edition of the World Blitz Team Championships saw 40 teams compete in group-cum-knock out format in a one-day event that also carried a prize purse of 100,000 Euros. Each team had one female player and one amateur in their lineup.

Team MGD1, which also had GM Srinath Narayanan, SL Narayanan, B. Adhiban, former Women's World Championships bronze medallist D. Harika and amateur Mihir Shah in their squad, dominated Pool B by winning all their seven matches.

In round 3, they demolished World Rapid Team Champions Al-Ain 4.5-1.5 to underline their claim for a podium finish and then lived up to the expectations in the knock-out stage.

“It’s a very proud moment for all of us that we have won a silver medal in the World Blitz Team Championships, beating some of the best players in the world. We at MGD1 are committed to the development of chess in India and that is one of the reasons we fielded an all-Indian line-up in Astana and the players rose to the occasion,” said MGD1 co-founder Sreekar Chennapragada.

The Indian outfit raced through the Round of 16 against Astana-2 and quarterfinals against Israel’s Ashdod Chess Club respectively to reach the last-four stage.

MGD1 once again faced Al-Ain in the semifinals and were taken to a tie-breaker after both rounds ended in a 3:3 draw. The Indians then raised the bar in the play-off winning 5.5-0.5 to set up a summit clash against WR Chess.

Team MGD1 had also won a bronze medal in the World Rapid Team Championships in 2023.