Magnus Carlsen returns to Kolkata after almost five years at Tata Steel India Rapid and Blitz 2024

by Shahid Ahmed - 12/11/2024

Tata Steel Chess India is the strongest and biggest Rapid and Blitz tournament to take place in India. For the first time, Men's and Women's events will take place simultaneously at the same time. Just like the last two years, both men and women's section will have equal prize fund of US$ 41500. The five-day Rapid and Blitz tournament will feature 20 of the world's best including the World no.1 - Magnus Carlsen who returned to Kolkata after almost five years. The remaining players are: Men - Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB), Wesley So (USA), Arjun Erigaisi, Daniil Dubov, Nihal Sarin, R Praggnanandhaa, Vidit Gujrathi, Vincent Keymer and S L Narayanan. Women - GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (SUI), GM Aleksandra Goryachkina, GM Koneru Humpy, GM Kateryna Lagno, GM Nana Dzagnidze (GEO), GM Harika Dronavalli, IM Divya Deshmukh, GM Valentina Gunina, GM R Vaishali and IM Vantika Agrawal. Round 1 starts tomorrow at 2 p.m. IST. Photos: Shahid Ahmed

For the third consecutive year, Men and Women's event to have equal prize fund

The sixth edition of India's strongest and biggest Rapid and Blitz tournament has a star-studded lineup. Men's section has four former World Champions, Women's also have four, Aleksandra Goryachkina is the reigning World Cup Women winner and Divya Deshmukh is the only defending champion of the 2023 edition. Who will be crowned the four champions this Sunday?

All 20 participants of Tata Steel Chess India Rapid and Blitz 2024

Tata Steel Chess India Rapid and Blitz 2024 logo | Photo: Official site

Players in Men

The Men section will be headlined by the World no.1 and Tata Steel Chess India 2019 Rapid and Blitz winner - Magnus Carlsen (NOR). He will be joined by the world no.4, Tata Steel India Rapid 2021 and Blitz 2022 winner - Arjun Erigaisi, World no.6 and World Rapid 2021 champion - Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB), World no.11 and first official World Fischer Random champion - Wesley So (USA), World no. 15 and 45th Olympiad Gold medalist - Vidit Gujrathi, World no.18 and 45th Olympiad Gold medalist - R Praggnanandhaa, World no.21 and Germany no.1 - Vincent Keymer, World Rapid 2018 champion - Daniil Dubov, Tata Steel India Rapid 2022 winner - Nihal Sarin and India no.11 - S L Narayanan.

Tata Steel Chess India 2024 Rapid and Blitz Men participants

Players in Women

World no.5 and World Rapid Women 2019 champion - GM Koneru Humpy, World no.6 and FIDE World Cup Women 2023 winner - GM Aleksandra Goryachkina, World no.7, World Rapid and three-time World Blitz Women champion - GM Kateryna Lagno, World no.8 and 38th Olympiad Gold medalist - GM Nana Dzagnidze (GEO), World no.13, 45th Olympiad Gold medalist and the defending Tata Steel India 2023 Rapid champion - IM Divya Deshmukh, World no.14 and 45th Olympiad Gold medalist - GM Harika Dronavalli, World no.16 and 45th Olympiad Gold medalist - GM R Vaishali, World no.18 and the twelfth Women's World Champion - GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (SUI), reigning World Blitz champion - GM Valentina Gunina and 45th Olympiad Gold medalist - IM Vantika Agrawal.

Tata Steel Chess India 2024 Rapid and Blitz Women participants

Photo Gallery

Magnus Carlsen with 3 years 9.5 months old - Anish Sarkar

India's second in history GM Dibyendu Barua greeting first official World Fischer Random champion - Wesley So

Fun fact: GM Dibyendu Barua drew four players names and all of them are either present or former World Champions - GM Valentina Gunina (World Blitz Women), GM Alexandra Kosteniuk (World Women's Classical), GM Wesley So (World Fischer Random) and GM Daniil Dubov (World Rapid).

The legend GM Koneru Humpy lifted 3 years 9.5 months old, Anish Sarkar so that the photo and videographers could get a better of the kid

One can hope Anish Sarkar to sit across the board against R Praggnanandhaa in the future

A guest would randomly pick up a scarf which has the name of the player. The player then comes down the stage and bursts the balloon of their choice with the provided pin. When the balloon was burst, it would reveal the seeding number for the player. Nihal's number flew away in a random direction, none could find it and his number was determined by the process of elimination, once all balloons were burst. Well that's a first.

Nodirbek Abdusattorov woke up few minutes before the Draw of Lots was about to be over, so he pushed the pin very gently to burst the balloon

Daniil Dubov did not hold back in applying his force on the balloon

The photo perfectly captures the moment before the balloon burst, virtually making it transparent on camera but not to the human eye. The neighbor balloon shows how thick they actually were.

For more photos, please click here: Men and Women. If you are still eagerly waiting to watch moments and highlights of Draw of Lots, stay tuned. They will be published soon.

Video gallery

Q&A with Magnus Carlsen at Draw of Lots at 6th Tata Steel India Rapid and Blitz | Video: ChessBase India

Draw of Lots | Video: ChessBase India

Daniil Dubov answers if he is the most creative player at Tata Steel India Rapid and Blitz | Video: ChessBase India

How hard did the players pin the balloon at the Draw of Lots? | Video: ChessBase India

Format

There will be two tournaments: a men's and a women's event. The tournaments will be played in two formats - Rapid and Blitz. For the first time, both Men's and Women's event will take place simultaneously. Three rounds of Rapid games will be played on the first three days, followed by nine rounds of Blitz per day on the remaining two days of each event. The time control is 25 minutes for the entire game with an increment of 10 seconds from move no.1. For Blitz, the time control is 3 minutes with an increment of 2 seconds from move no.1.

Venue

Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium in Kolkata, West Bengal. The tournament is open to spectators. Tickets will not be sold; passes will be available at the venue on first-come-first-serve basis on the days of the tournament.

Rapid Round 1-3 Open pairings

Round 1
Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.
1	1	2579	GM	Narayanan, S L		GM	Keymer, Vincent	2642	10
2	2	2735	GM	So, Wesley		GM	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	2661	9
3	3	2706	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun		GM	Nihal, Sarin	2679	8
4	4	2825	GM	Carlsen, Magnus		GM	Praggnanandhaa, R	2676	7
5	5	2686	GM	Dubov, Daniil		GM	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	2742	6
Round 2
Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.
1	10	2642	GM	Keymer, Vincent		GM	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek	2742	6
2	7	2676	GM	Praggnanandhaa, R		GM	Dubov, Daniil	2686	5
3	8	2679	GM	Nihal, Sarin		GM	Carlsen, Magnus	2825	4
4	9	2661	GM	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi		GM	Erigaisi, Arjun	2706	3
5	1	2579	GM	Narayanan, S L		GM	So, Wesley	2735	2
Round 3
Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.
1	2	2735	GM	So, Wesley		GM	Keymer, Vincent	2642	10
2	3	2706	GM	Erigaisi, Arjun		GM	Narayanan, S L	2579	1
3	4	2825	GM	Carlsen, Magnus		GM	Vidit, Santosh Gujrathi	2661	9
4	5	2686	GM	Dubov, Daniil		GM	Nihal, Sarin	2679	8
5	6	2742	GM	Abdusattorov, Nodirbek		GM	Praggnanandhaa, R	2676	7

Details

Rapid Round 1-3 Women pairings

Round 1 on 2024/11/13 at 1400 h
Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.
1	1	2427	GM	Dzagnidze, Nana		GM	Dronavalli, Harika	2416	10
2	2	2472	GM	Goryachkina, Aleksandra		GM	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	2508	9
3	3	2314	IM	Vantika, Agrawal		GM	Gunina, Valentina	2384	8
4	4	2359	GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu		IM	Divya, Deshmukh	2401	7
5	5	2436	GM	Lagno, Kateryna		GM	Koneru, Humpy	2451	6
Round 2 on 2024/11/13 at 1530 h
Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.
1	10	2416	GM	Dronavalli, Harika		GM	Koneru, Humpy	2451	6
2	7	2401	IM	Divya, Deshmukh		GM	Lagno, Kateryna	2436	5
3	8	2384	GM	Gunina, Valentina		GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu	2359	4
4	9	2508	GM	Kosteniuk, Alexandra		IM	Vantika, Agrawal	2314	3
5	1	2427	GM	Dzagnidze, Nana		GM	Goryachkina, Aleksandra	2472	2
Round 3 on 2024/11/13 at 1700 h
Bo.	No.	Rtg		White	Result		Black	Rtg	No.
1	2	2472	GM	Goryachkina, Aleksandra		GM	Dronavalli, Harika	2416	10
2	3	2314	IM	Vantika, Agrawal		GM	Dzagnidze, Nana	2427	1
3	4	2359	GM	Vaishali, Rameshbabu		GM	Kosteniuk, Alexandra	2508	9
4	5	2436	GM	Lagno, Kateryna		GM	Gunina, Valentina	2384	8
5	6	2451	GM	Koneru, Humpy		IM	Divya, Deshmukh	2401	7

Details

Schedule

Everyday round starts at 2 p.m. IST. The Rapid event will take place from 13th to 15th November, followed by the Blitz event on 16th and 17th November.

Tata Steel Chess India 2024 Men and Women Rapid schedule | Source: Official site

Tata Steel Chess India 2024 Men and Women Blitz schedule | Source: Official site

Prize

The total prize fund remains the same as the previous two editions - US$ 41500. The top three prizes in the Rapid are - $10000, $6000 and $3000. For Blitz they are - $7500, $4000 and $2500. Most importantly, the prizes remain equal in both Open and Womens events.

Links

Official site

Information

Gameplan

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