GM Arjun Erigaisi shot into the lead with 6.5 points from nine rounds after the first day of the Tata Steel Chess India Open Blitz 2022, while GM Mariya Muzychuk scored an impressive eight points from nine rounds to win the Tata Steel Chess India Women’s Blitz 2022 to lead.
Erigaisi is followed by GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov with six points, while GM Vidit Santosh Gujrathi is third with 5.5 points, both recovering from lackluster performances in the open portion of the Rapid tournament.
In the women’s event, IM Vaishali Rameshbabu also scored an above-average seven points to take second place. Maria Muzychuk and Vaishali set a frantic pace; they are two full points above GM Anna Muzyuchuk and GM Harika Dronavalli trailing them by five points each. On Sunday, December 4, another nine-match round-robin will be played in both sections with colors reversed.
The blitz portion of the event continues December 3 at 9:30 PM PT/December 4 at 6:30 AM CET.
How to watch the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid and Tata Steel India Chess Women’s Rapid
You can stay up to date with all the details of the tournament on our live event platform by following separate links for the open sections and the women’s sections.
The place
As blitz is the most attractive form of chess, Saturday was an exciting day at the National Library of India, Kolkata. The day was all about quick thinking, fast reflexes and fast hands against the usual chess skills; it also saw more emotions, gaffes, and heartbreaks than any other form of the game. Players understood the need to be at the best of their inner calm, though it wasn’t easy for anyone.
A cool feature used at this event is the real-time biofeedback that measures heart rate for players who have agreed to wear a smartwatch that measures and relays it.
The data from the watches, in turn, is picked up by Android phones and recorded in real time. The whole activity is facilitated by Ashwin Subrahmanian, who provides logistical support and integrates the data with the live commentary. As a technical manager at Intel, he is an unclassified chess player who won the 2018 ACO World Amateur Champion in the Elo 1600-1800 category. During the Global Chess Festival in 2022 he gave an extensive lecture on the subject. After he became interested, the organizers of this event assigned him to run the system during the Tata Chess Festival India Rapid & Blitz.
The heart rates, in turn, were part of the live commentary, and the broadcast indicated the rates on the screen as the players made their moves.
Open
The open section was a bloodbath with no player escaping defeat during the event. Overall, Erigaisi kept his game as stable as possible and scored wins by mostly taking advantage of his opponents’ mistakes. A good example is his play against one of the most prolific blitz chess players in the world, GM Hikaru Nakamura:
Playing his kind of dynamic chess, Mamedyarov always came out on top in fast-paced tactical skirmishes:
Vidit was impressive in many games, the next effort was typical of his style. It’s a well-executed game, especially by blitz chess standards:
The most dynamic game was played by GM Nihal Sarin, our game of the day and analyzed below by GM Dejan Bojkov
Much was expected of Nakamura, whose iconic status extends across the globe due to his proven prowess at blitz, and he showed his brilliance in flashes even at the end of a game with little time on the clock:
A thrilling final day of blitz awaits spectators on Sunday, if the combative nature of the games and the prowess of the many blitz specialists in the field are any indication.
All Games Open Blitz – Day 1
Women
The women’s division was dominated by Maria Muzychuk and Vaishali:
Vaishali produced many games with stable play, as opposed to the dynamic style she is known for:
All Games Blitz Women’s – Day 1
Standings
The Tata Steel Chess India Blitz and Women’s Blitz 2022 are two of India’s most prestigious blitz chess events. Players compete in a 10-player round robin in blitz games with a 3+2 time control. The prize pool for each event is $17,500.
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