4 min readUpdated: Feb 14, 2026 08:13 AM IST
Less than two months after Magnus Carlsen had gone viral again for smashing his fist on the table at the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship for losing to Arjun Erigaisi, the world no 1 lost to the Indian again: this time in a classification game at the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship in Weissenhaus on Friday.
While Arjun Erigaisi did not make it to the semi-finals of the Freestyle World Championships 2026, he had one of the wildest days in the qualification rounds where he remained the only player to not have a single draw in the seven rounds that were played on Friday to determine the four semi-finalists. Arjun took down the top two finishers in the league stage — Carlsen and Vincent Keymer — besides also defeating Javokhir Sindarov. He lost the remaining four games to end in sixth place. Carlsen, Keymer, Fabiano Caruana and Nodirbek Abdusattorov qualified for the semi-finals.
The win over Carlsen, who has proven to be an unstoppable force in freestyle chess over the past two years, was particularly sweet for Arjun because the Norwegian lost just one game (which was the defeat to Arjun) on his way to claiming top spot after the round robin leg, ending with 4.5 points out of 7 games. Carlsen and Arjun clashed in the sixth round of the event, by which time, Carlsen’s semi-final spot was already secure while Arjun was scrambling to make the cut.
In the pre game analysis, Arjun was the only player out of the eight to not join the table for players playing with white, while Carlsen was doing plenty of talking on the table with players who had black pieces. A couple of times, Carlsen was overheard telling the other three players that the position did not look so dangerous to him.
But once the game started, he was proven wrong in the matter of minutes. Carlsen had famously nicknamed Arjun as the “mad man” of chess in an interview with The Indian Express. And on Friday, Arjun showed why.
The game, played in position no 277 that sees both bishops stationed like troublemakers in the corner of the board on kingside, saw Arjun force Carlsen in a spot of bother from as early as the second move, with Carlsen trailing behind on the clock early. And despite joining the trio of Keymer, Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Hans Niemann to discuss opening strategies with white pieces, Arjun played exactly the same opening moves that the other three players discussed at length with white pieces.
INTERACTIVE: How Arjun Erigaisi defeated Magnus Carlsen
By the seventh move, the engine was already liking Arjun’s chances much more than it favoured Carlsen.
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“This is a position that you don’t even want to get in your nightmares,” chess legend Judit Polgar said on the official broadcast on YouTube as Arjun’s advantage over Carlsen started becoming significant. “These are the positions that you want to make a good move and then resign because you don’t want to suffer longer.”
“You won’t even wish it upon your biggest enemy,” added Peter Leko. “This is a horror.”
File image of Arjun Erigaisi taking on Magnus Carlsen. (Express photo by Partha Paul)
What was also remarkable, was that till the 10th move, Arjun did not move any of his pieces on the back rank, instead preferring to move his pawns towards Carlsen’s army.
“I find it interesting that Arjun has not moved any other piece other than his pawns. It’s like a pawn war,” remarked Polgar.
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Eventually, when Arjun started pushing his other pieces into the action, it did not take long for him to seize control of the game.
Carlsen resigned in just 28 moves.
In tomorrow’s semi-finals, Carlsen will play for a spot in the final, while Arjun plays classification matches.
