Magnus Carlsen leaves 14-year-old opponent in tears en route to winning TePe Sigeman & Co Chess | Watch

Magnus Carlsen added another trophy to his overcrowded cabinet on Thursday, beating Indian No 1 Arjun Erigaisi in tie-breaks to win the 2026 TePe Sigeman & Co Chess tournament in Malmo, Sweden. Both Carlsen and Arjun were tied on 5 points after seven Classical rounds, and the world No 1 prevailed two games to one in the Blitz tie-breaks, in which each game was won by the player with black pieces.

Before his Blitz face-off against the Indian Grandmaster, Carlsen had to defeat Turkish GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus to keep his title hopes alive. Arjun had managed to eke out a draw from a losing position against American GM Andy Woodward, and Carlsen – who was trailing the Indian by half-a-point at the second position heading into the final round – had no option but to win his seventh-round encounter.

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Carlsen leaves opponent in tears

His face-off against Erdogmus, however, ended on a rather dramatic note as the 14-year-old Turkish GM – who had recently become the youngest player to breach the 2700-rating threshold in chess – was reduced to tears following his defeat against the five-time world champion.

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Carlsen had a slight advantage heading into the endgame, in which he was left with a light-squared bishop as opposed to a knight for his opponent. The Norwegian GM, however, capitalised on an error by his opponent (50. Ke7) to swing the game in his favour and force a resignation in 59 moves.

Carlsen is semi-retired in the Classical format, and hardly competes in Standard tournaments outside of the Norway Chess – his home event – making his appearance at TePe Sigeman & Co Chess all the more surprising.