As the Magnus Carlsen vs Arjun Erigaisi game in Round 9 of the FIDE World Blitz Championship reached its heart-stopping crescendo, even the official live stream froze. When it restarted a few seconds later, Carlsen was already walking off while Arjun sat on the seat calmly resetting the board. It later became apparent that Carlsen had lost after running out of time. But in the few seconds of live coverage that were lost in a transmission glitch, there had been plenty of drama in the game between two men who had claimed gold and bronze medals at the World Rapid Championship on Sunday.
Carlsen, who had already been forced into doing double take after double take on the board, got so low on the clock eventually that he picked up his queen to move it, but fumbled it instead in such a way that it went clattering to the ground. Just as the World No.1 tried to retrieve it, the clock ran out of time. Arjun had made one of the greatest blitz players blink. Carlsen reacted to the defeat just like he had when he had lost to Gukesh in a classical game at Norway Chess earlier in the year
“Arjun is just a complete mad man at the board. He wants to kill you in every single game. Has crazy preparation and plays extremely ambitiously and that’s what makes him very dangerous,” Carlsen had earlier told.
Playing against Carlsen is never easy. Facing an on-song Carlsen with the black pieces in a rapid format makes the contest even more lopsided, where holding the five-time World Rapid Champion to a draw can feel as good as a win. And when your opponent is rated 2,824, a full 110 Elo points above you, the task becomes anything but straightforward.
Patience and precision
Come the game, Arjun displayed extraordinary patience and precision. He consistently found the right moves, forcing Carlsen to burn precious seconds on the clock early on. Gradually, the Indian appeared to be pushing the prime title contender to the wall, yet it was the Norwegian’s mastery that still managed to steer the game toward an equal endgame with level material. By only move No.17, the pair had already reached a queen-and-rook endgame, and it was time for Arjun to summon his best defensive play.
