Abhimanyu Mishra draws both games with Magnus Carlsen in Budapest Total Chess event

Abhimanyu Mishra held World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen to draws in both of their encounters on Thursday in Budapest during the Fast Classic group stage of the Total Chess World Championship Tour pilot. Carlsen had to defend an inferior position in their second meeting before the game finished as a draw.

Mishra, the 17-year-old American rated 2644, had welcomed the opportunity to face Carlsen twice when the pilot’s draw was announced. In round three Mishra, playing Black, absorbed pressure in an Italian Game where Carlsen sacrificed a bishop on h6; a subsequent rook exchange on move 50 led to a draw. The return pairing saw Carlsen adopt the Scandinavian Defence.

In the second game Carlsen’s position deteriorated after he moved his king to d7 on move 26. Mishra rerouted a knight to h5 and captured the pawns on g7 and h6, establishing a substantial material edge. The game eventually simplified into an opposite-coloured bishop ending and finished as an 80-move draw, which was Carlsen’s fourth draw in as many games in the event.

Across Group C Mishra now stands on three points, one point behind Carlsen. Ian Nepomniachtchi and Haik Martirosyan shared the overall lead in the field with six points; Martirosyan and Anish Giri each recorded a win in the round.

Group D produced several notable results: Bibisara Assaubayeva (Elo 2532) upset the higher-rated Arjun Erigaisi (2746) with Black in round three, while Erigaisi won the return game with Black to level with Assaubayeva on five points and move into third place. R. Vaishali lost both of her games to Hans Niemann and remained last in the group with one point. Niemann joined Maxime Vachier-Lagrave on eight points after Vachier-Lagrave secured a win and a draw against Wesley So.

In Group B Fabiano Caruana beat R. Praggnanandhaa twice, leaving Praggnanandhaa at the bottom with two points and Caruana in clear control on 10 points. Liem Le sits two points behind Caruana after a win and a draw against Vincent Keymer. In Group A Alireza Firouzja leads on eight points following a win and a draw versus Jorden van Foreest.

There are six games remaining in Group C of the Fast Classic stage; Mishra’s two draws against Carlsen lifted him to three points, leaving him one point adrift of Carlsen as the group phase continues. (The writer is in Budapest at the invitation of Total Chess.)