Arjun Erigaisi Settles For Bronze: Carlsen wins record ninth title, Erigaisi gets bronze medal

doha Indian Grandmaster Arjun Arigasi ended his stellar campaign with a bronze medal at the World Blitz Championship here on Tuesday, while World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen won a record ninth World Blitz title. The 22-year-old Erigaysi had to settle for a bronze medal after a heavy 2.5-0.5 defeat to young Uzbek grandmaster Nodirbek Abdusattorov in the semi-finals.

Despite the defeat, the medal was a major success for the Indian player, who had also won a bronze medal at the Rapid Championships earlier this week, and became the second Indian male player after Vishwanathan Anand to win a World Blitz medal in the open category.

The Indian had topped the league stage with an impressive 15 points, winning four and drawing two of his last six games, and became the sole leader. However, he was unable to capitalize on early opportunities in the semi-finals, losing the first game despite applying pressure from the white pieces. Abdusatorov then took control of the match by winning the second game after a long endgame, and then quickly secured a draw to book his place in the final.

In the title match, Magnus Carlsen once again showed his dominance in this format, defeating Abdusatorov 2.5–1.5, adding a ninth World Blitz crown to the rapid gold medal he had won two days earlier. The Norwegian made a brilliant pawn move in the fourth game to break the tie after both players were tied at 1.5 points each in the first three games. Earlier, Carlsen and Abdussaturov secured the last two semi-final spots with draws in the round of 19, finishing behind Errigassi and US Grandmaster Fabiano Caruana on 13.5 and 13 points respectively. After this, Carlsen defeated Caruana 3-1 in the semi-finals and made it to the finals.