The world No 1 lost to Jorden van Foreest, but squeezed into a tie for first and won the blitz playoff
The world No 1, Magnus Carlsen, making a rare return to classical chess this week at the annual TePe Sigeman tournament in Malmö, 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.
