Chess: Magnus Carlsen enjoys narrow win in Malmo during rare classical outing

"Magnus Carlsen, making a rare return to classical chess this week at the annual TePe Sigeman tournament in Malmo, Sweden, squeezed through to a blitz playoff in Thursday's final round after Turkey's 14-year-old talent Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus blundered fatally in the late stages after reaching a drawn position. Carlsen tied on 5/7 with India's Arjun Erigaisi and won the blitz playoff 2-1. This was the final sudden death game."

"Earlier, Carlsen was defeated in Monday's fourth round in a fluctuating marathon 88-move game by the Netherlands GM Jorden van Foreest, whose predatory rook finally trapped a Carlsen knight which had wandered too far from base. It was a grind of a type which Carlsen himself has won many times in his career. This was Carlsen's first classical loss since his defeat against India's reigning world champion, Gukesh Dommaraju, at Norway 2025, when he famously banged the table in frustration."

"Carlsen was taking a risk, for seven rounds was a sprint where dangers lurked. He played conservatively against his two top-12 opponents in the first three rounds, but chose the aggressive King's Indian, Benoni and Najdorf Sicilian with Black against the lower rated players. His reasoning was that, with a fast classical time limit, there would be a period of 20 moves or so before the move 40 clock control where the game would effectively be rapid chess, a genre at which Carlsen is supreme."

"Carlsen called his win with the Benoni a fun game as the Swede Nils Grandelius went strategically wrong with 13 f4? after which his pawn centre became static while the world No 1 mobilised his queen's wing by 17b5! There was a thematic end to the ga"

Magnus Carlsen returned to classical chess at the TePe Sigeman tournament in Malmo, Sweden. He advanced to a blitz playoff after Turkey’s 14-year-old Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus blundered in the late stages of a drawn position. Carlsen tied for first with 5/7 against India’s Arjun Erigaisi and won the blitz playoff 2-1 in the final sudden-death game. Earlier, Carlsen lost a classical game in a long 88-move battle to Jorden van Foreest, where a rook trapped a knight that had wandered too far. Carlsen’s return was motivated by preparation for Norway Chess in Oslo, and his opening choices reflected a plan to transition into faster play after move 40.

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