Nihal Sarin (2705) vs Arjun Erigaisi (2777) || Tata Steel Chess India Blitz 2026 - R12

Wait, wait, wait. Did Arjun just play B6? Yes, he did, Sir Hedge. He is fan-catoing but on the other side. Alright, but this usually does have the makings of a Queen's Indian defence. And it's, I think, slowly transposed into the Petrosian line with a3 being played. And Nihal plays a slightly non-standard. If Knight f3, we would have standard chess now. But Bishop f4, a semi-new move. Absolutely. And you know, Tanya, this Petrosian system is the first opening, I believe you and I also played a match-in in the Tata Seal, it was. Actually, in my hands, I have always loved playing this a3 set-up with the white pieces. The idea is you stop Bishop to b4 at any moment, destroying the pawn structure. You also have the concept of advancing on. Right now, once again, you know, the King of Chaos, he's already making those ideas. He wants to take on g3 at the right moment. You don't want to rush with this decision, opening up the H-line. Exactly. You want to wait for white to castle and then you take on g3. And now maybe some Knight d7, try to keep things balanced. Maybe c5 break can be on the cards as well. He goes g6 first. Maybe the aim is to try and fianchetto this Bishop. That would make a lot of sense. But knowing Arjun, the aim might be to go h5 as well someday. It is indeed, Arjun. h5, h4. Just King g7, Rook h8. Checkmate. Let's go. You know, now that you also point out King g7, Rook h8, I'm liking h5 even more. He goes for another idea, another approach in the centre, first asking for some decisions. Perhaps trying to fix the centre before he advances on the flank. And now, after pawn takes pawn, he stopped e4 advance, right? Arjun stopped the idea of white gaining space. But e4 is possible now with his last move, c6. He is sort of defending d5, but I think he is just trying to not look at the King side whatsoever. But at some point, Arjun is going to throw h5. I just have a feeling. The problem with committing e4 after d5 has been played is that you end up with an isolated Queen spawn. So it does give dynamics to fight for. So I think Nihal will hold off on that idea. Arjun, I have a feeling he is setting up for h5. You know, Bishop d6 now, I love what Nihal has just done. b5 is so thematic to create a weakness on d5. Oh yes, when there is a pawn chain, you attack at the base always. Because then you create weaknesses with the pawns that are left. So once you go cxb5, the pawn on d5 becomes isolated. And that is the plan here. And he goes c5, but that gives a free pawn to Nihal. Wait, Nihal is just a free pawn up now. Arjun doesn't care about pawns. He is looking constantly for those activity. And he gets the Queen out. Knight on d5 attacked. Knight on d2 attacked. He comes back, blocks that. Arjun immediately ready with his response, brings the rook to the central line. Ashwit, I like this. You know, you are up a pawn, you exchange pieces. Oh yes, and also taking away the double Bishop advantage. Huge in this position, in this scenario. And now the d4 pawn is just... You are just up a pawn without any compensation whatsoever. Wow! Dream position I would say for Nihal. You can't even hide away from it because the Bishop on d6 is hanging. He might be just forced to trade the Queens off the board. And then you are really talking about no compensation for that pawn. Oh yes, then you play Rook e1, Rook c1. And okay, you just slowly try to grind this out. And Arjun will have to play flawlessly in order to hold this position. Banehal now getting into technical territories here. He is up a pawn. He will look at trading off the Rooks. If you can get the Rooks off the board, the minor pieces will make it easier. Ideas of a4. Rook takes Rook, Rook takes Rook. It might look like a3 is hanging. This! Woah! Nihal has that extra pawn, Syed. Rook is infiltrating on the 7th rank. The King forced up. But it feels like Knight g5, f7. Oof! Everything collapsing one by one. And he plays Knight e4. What technique is this? I just want to remind everyone, you know, Nihal has already won the rapid. And the thing is, once you start winning, Nihal will be in the mix as well, Sehaj. There are still a lot of rounds to be played here. Oh yes, and he drew to Arvind. Defeated Vishy in that game, in that miniature. And now he is taking down Arjun in such a technical, thematic way. Oh wow! Look at that move, Rook takes f7. Beautiful! You cannot capture it because there is a Knight d6 check and you take on Syed as well. I think Nihal is about to take down Arjun. Arjun will play on. But probably not for too long. That's another pawn gone now. And which makes g6 so weak as Rook f6 is a massive idea if you don't take the Rook. How do you even keep this game going actually if you are Arjun? He is struggling to find a way right now. At the back, you can see Wesley hurrying, rushing with the moves right now. As Arjun, he is just frozen. He takes it. Knight check. Picks up the Rook. Two pawns up. He is just two pawns up. Pawn on d4, pawn on f2 and that's it. And we've got the bars right there saying Wesley and Weiyi is just in the balance. But it's Nihal who is about to take down Arjun. Just that Knight coming to c6 at the right moment. He would first start with advancing. Your King taking away the d5 square. Yep, the game between Weiyi and Wesley. He plays g5 and now King goes to e4 perhaps. Or he plays g4. So thematic. Takes the expecting pawns on the light squares. Has an extra pawn over here as well. He now gets the Knight back. Just give a check to this King. Maybe with the Knight on e3 and you will be winning. e7 is where he is aiming at. The King forced back. The Bishop can't leave a5. You are running out of moves. It's become a King pawn endgame now. Your King will be forced all the way back. Nihal will bring the Knight to c6. Such great conversions. Such a high class game by him. Just curious to see what his accuracy is. 93% in a blitz match is very very good. This has been textbook by Nihal. In good Knight vs bad Bishop. In good endgame technique. How to improve the King. Push your opponent's King back. And forcing Arjun to resign. Wow! What a game by Nihal. Have to give it to him. Arjun didn't have a chance here whatsoever.