After Praggnanandhaa, Carlsen humbled by Arjun with stunning loss in World Rapid Team Championships

Magnus Carlsen hasn't had it easy against Indian Grandmasters of late. After back-to-back losses at the hands of R Praggnanandhaa at the Norway Chess earlier this month, the world No 1 has now suffered a stunning loss at the hands of Arjun Erigaisi at the ongoing FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team Championships in Hong Kong.

Rook blunder costs Carlsen match against Arjun

Arjun, representing Team MGD1, defeated WR Chess' Carlsen in the sixth round of the event on Thursday, capitalising on a rook blunder to defeat the world No 1 in 30 moves while playing with black pieces.

Their game witnessed a Reti Opening that later developed into a 'Three Knights Variation' of Queen's Gambit Declined. The game was far from ideal, with both players making mistakes and Arjun committing a rook blunder of his own in the 26th move (Rd8).

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However, it was Carlsen's blunder four moves later that proved decisive, with Arjun forcing a resignation from the Norwegian chess icon after a pawn capture with his Queen (Qxf3) in response.

Arjun also had the advantage of having nearly a minute at his disposal, compared to just 12 seconds for Carlsen, which also contributed towards his victory.

Arjun's victory over Carlsen helped Team MGD1 defeat WR Chess 3.5-2.5 in Round 6 with Aryan Abhijeet Shah's victory over Wadim Rosenstein also helping the team's cause. Carlsen's teammate Fabiano Caruana collected the only win for WR Chess in Round 6, beating Abhimanyu Puranik.

Arjun and Co currently are second on the standings with 13 points, behind Dragon Chilling that is led by Chinese GM and former world champion Ding Liren. WR Chess, on the other hand, is 12th on the standings with 10 points.

Carlsen is the reigning world champion in the Rapid as well as Blitz formats, with Arjun having won bronze in both categories at the World Championships in Doha last year.

The two had also participated at the Tepe Sigeman and Co Chess tournament in Malmo, Sweden in May, which Carlsen had won after defeating Arjun in the tie-breaks.

That was followed by Norway Chess, Carlsen's home event where he suffered four Classical defeats in 10 rounds including back-to-back losses to eventual champion Praggnanandhaa, finishing fourth out of six players as a result.