World Blitz Team Championships: Team MGD1 clinches silver medal; Arjun Erigaisi beats Carlsen

GM Arjun Erigaisi-led Team MGD1 banked on its all-Indian star cast to clinch the silver medal in the inaugural World Blitz Team Championships, a club-based event conceptualised by world chess governing body FIDE, in Astana, Kazakhstan.

In the final against Team WR Chess, Arjun, the highest rated Indian GM in Classic Ranking, upset former world champion and world no. 1 Magnus Carlsen on the top board in Round 1.

But the Norwegian’s teammates won on the other boards to give the team a comfortable lead. Team MGD1 put up a strong fight in the second round to hold the eventual champion 3:3 but that was not enough to take the match into play-off.

“Beating Magnus Carlson in any format is special and I really enjoyed playing against him. But more than that win, it’s the collective performance of the team that helped us with the silver medal was very special. The way we bonded and fought for each other makes this medal so special,” said Arjun.

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The inaugural edition of the World Blitz Team Championships saw 40 teams compete in group-cum-knock out format in a one-day event that also carried a prize purse of 100,000 Euros. Each team had one female player and one amateur in its lineup.

Team MGD1, which also had GM Srinath Narayanan, SL Narayanan, B Adhiban, former world championships bronze medallist D Harika and amateur Mihir Shah in its squad, dominated Pool B by winning all its seven matches. In round 3, it demolished World Rapid Team Champion Al-Ain 4.5-1.5 to underline its claim for a podium finish and then lived up to the expectations in the knock-out stage.

“It’s a very proud moment for all of us that we have won a silver medal in the World Blitz Team Championships, beating some of the best players in the world. We at MGD1 are committed to the development of chess in India and that is one of the reasons we fielded an all-Indian line-up in Astana and the players rose to the occasion,” said MGD1 co-founder Sreekar Chennapragada.

The Indian outfit raced through the Round of 16 against Astana-2 and quarterfinals against Israel’s Ashdod Chess Club respectively to reach the last four stage.

MGD1 once again faced Al-Ain in the semifinals and was taken to a tie-breaker after both the rounds ended in a 3:3 draw. The Indians then raised the bar in the Play-off winning 5.5-0.5 to set up a summit clash against WR Chess.

Team MGD1 had also won a bronze medal in the World Rapid Team Championships in 2023.