Arjun finds form, snaps Vachier-Lagrave’s winning run

Arjun Erigaisi caught Maxime Vachier-Lagrave at the top of Group D on Saturday by handing the Frenchman his first Fast Classic defeat. Yet the Indian will go into Sunday’s two games against R. Vaishali needing to outscore both Vachier-Lagrave and Hans Niemann to stay in the title race at the Total Chess World Championship Tour Pilot in Budapest.

Magnus Carlsen’s challenge ended with two draws against Shakhriyar Mamedyarov. The World No. 1 is winless after eight games and can no longer finish first in Group C. Only the four group winners advance to the championship bracket.

Arjun began the day three points behind Vachier-Lagrave. He drew their first game with black, then won the return with white. Niemann beat Bibisara Assaubayeva before the Kazakh held him to a 96-move draw, leaving all three leaders on 13 points.

The opening blitz decides ties, and both Vachier-Lagrave and Niemann finished ahead of Arjun. Vachier-Lagrave faces Assaubayeva on Sunday, while Niemann plays Wesley So. So was the only player to win both games on Saturday, beating Vaishali twice to reach 10 points. Vaishali remains on four.

Carlsen, on seven points, faces Ian Nepomniachtchi in his final two games. Anish Giri took the Group C lead with a win and a draw against Abhimanyu Mishra. His 13 points put him two clear of Nepomniachtchi and overnight leader Haik Martirosyan.

Carlsen’s lead over Fabiano Caruana in the live classical ratings also narrowed, from 7.2 points at the start of play to 5.4. Caruana drew twice with his closest Group B rival, Liem Le, to remain unbeaten on 16 points, four clear of the Vietnamese.

R. Praggnanandhaa lost with black to Richard Rapport before drawing the return game to reach five points. Still seeking his first Fast Classic win, he faces Le while Caruana meets Vladislav Artemiev.

In Group A, Alireza Firouzja drew twice with Jan-Krzysztof Duda to retain the lead on 13 points. Duda and Jorden van Foreest, who meet on Sunday, are two points behind.

(The writer is in Budapest at the invitation of Total Chess).