Kolkata, January 08, 2026: Rounds four to six of the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid produced high drama, fighting chess and several shifts at the top of the standings in both the Open and Women’s sections.
Round four began with a major upset as Arjun Erigaisi defeated Viswanathan Anand.
Anand appeared to be winning in the middlegame, but a rook blunder gave Arjun the win.. The young star defended patiently and later capitalised on an endgame error to secure an important win.
Nihal Sarin took full advantage of a knight blunder by Hans Niemann to score a clean victory. Wei Yi played ambitiously with an early g4 and transitioned into a dominant endgame to beat Aravindh Chithambaram, while R Praggnanandhaa slowly squeezed on the queenside to defeat Volodar Murzin.
In the women’s section, Rakshitta Ravi produced a fearless attacking game to defeat Nana Dzagnidze in an opposite side castling battle. Kateryna Lagno converted an endgame advantage against Divya Deshmukh, while Stavroula Tsolakidou outplayed Vantika Agrawal in a controlled encounter.
Round five saw Anand bounce back strongly. Against Niemann, the game featured opposite side castling in the Italian, but Anand defended calmly and converted with active rook play and a superior pawn structure. Vidit Gujrathi and Praggnanandhaa agreed to a quick draw, while Arjun won a subtle rook endgame by pushing a pawn race from a symmetrical position.
Nihal struck again with a neat back rank combination against Murzin and Wesley So punished an endgame pawn blunder by Aravindh.
In the women’s games, Aleksandra Goryachkina outplayed Divya after weathering early pressure. Dzagnidze converted smoothly after an opening mistake by Carissa Yip, while Vantika handed Rakshitta her first loss of the event.
Round six added further clarity at the top. Nihal handled a knight endgame with great finesse to defeat Vidit, while Anand produced a positional masterclass in an opposite coloured bishop middlegame against Murzin. In the women’s section, Vaishali Rameshbabu powered through with strong central pawns against Rakshitta, and Lagno defeated Tsolakidou to move into the sole lead with 4.5 points out of 6.
After six rounds in the Open section, Anand and Nihal share the lead on 4.5 points! One more day of rapid to go.
STANDINGS AT THE END OF DAY 2
| OPEN | WOMEN | ||
| NAME | POINT | NAME | POINT |
| Viswanathan Anand | 4.5 | Kateryna Lagno | 4.5 |
| Nihal Sarin | 4.5 | Carissa Yip | 4 |
| Wesley So | 4 | Nana Dzagnidze | 3.5 |
| Arjun Erigaisi | 3.5 | Aleksandra Goryachkina | 3 |
| R Praggnanandhaa | 3.5 | Vantika Agarwal | 3 |
| Hans Niemann | 3.5 | Harika Dronavalli | 2.5 |
| Vidit Gujrathi | 3 | Stavroula Tsolakidou | 2.5 |
| Wei Yi | 2 | Vaishali R | 2.5 |
| Aravindh Chithambaram | 1 | Rakshitta Ravi | 2.5 |
| Volodar Murzin | 0.5 | Divya Deshmukh | 2 |
