Tata Steel Chess India: Viswanathan Anand in joint lead with Nihal Sarin despite loss to Arjun Erigaisi

The legendary Viswanathan Anand ended the second day of the 2026 Tata Steel Chess India tournament as the joint leader alongside Nihal Sarin even though the former world champion suffered a defeat early in the day to India’s number one Arjun Erigaisi.

The clash between Anand and Arjun was the most anticipated one at the tournament with big names like world number one Magnus Carlsen and reigning world champion D Gukesh both missing the event. Anand and Arjun combined to give a thrilling game where the veteran seemed to enjoy the lead before a late blunder helped Arjun claw his way back to victory.

Anand controlled the middle game and was up a rook for a knight to gain a big advantage. However, the former world champion allowed Erigaisi to queen a pawn and blundered his rook to lose the match.

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However, Anand bounced back with wins against Hans Niemann and Volodar Murzin to continue his lead. Sarin earned three wins on the day after three draws on the opening day to join Anand at the top. Both the leaders have 4.5/6 points.

Arjun, who did not have the best of starts to the tournament, revived his campaign with two wins and a draw. R Praggnanandhaa too posted a win against Niemann but drew in the other two rounds.

Meanwhile, in the women’s section Kateryna Lagno was in sole lead with 4.5/6.

Tata Steel Chess India Day 2 Results

Fourth round: Wei Yi beat Aravindh Chithambaram, Arjun Erigaisi beat Viswanathan Anand, Nihal Sarin beat Hans Niemann, R. Praggnanandhaa beat Volodar Murzin, Wesley So and Vidit Gujrathi played out a draw.

Fifth round: Viswanathan Anand beat Hans Niemann, Wesley So beat Aravindh Chithambaram, Vidit Gujrathi played out a draw with Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi beat Wei Yi, Nihal Sarin beat Volodar Murzin.

Sixth round: Nihal Sarin beat Vidit Gujrathi, Hans Niemann beat Wei Yi, Viswanathan Anand beat Murzin, Wesley So played out a draw with Praggnanandhaa, Aravindh Chithambaram played out a draw with Arjun Erigaisi.