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Tata Steel Rapid 2026 R4-6: Nihal Sarin is the new coleader of Vishy Anand

by Shahid Ahmed - 08/01/2026

Nihal Sarin joined Vishy Anand in the lead at the conclusion of the sixth round of Tata Steel India Rapid 2026. The maestro, Anand, started the day with a loss against Arjun Erigaisi. Then he won the next two games against Hans Niemann (USA) and Volodar Murzin. Nihal on the other hand scored a hat-trick to move to the top of the standings with 4.5/6. He won against Niemann, Murzin and Vidit Gujrathi. Wesley So (USA) is trailing them by a half point at 4/6 each. Niemann, R Praggnanandhaa and Arjun are at 3.5/6 each. Anand or Nihal, who will win the event? Only three rounds are remaining. Round 7 starts tomorrow at 2 p.m. IST. Photo: Lennart Ootes

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A tough day for the Indian women

Indian women are having a tough event so far. GM Kateryna Lagno is the sole leader 4.5/6, followed closely by IM Carissa Yip (USA) at 4/6, GM Nana Dzagnidze 3.5/6 and IM Vantika Agrawal 3/6.

Tata Steel Chess India Rapid and Blitz 2026 logo | Photo: Official site

Round 4: Anand - Arjun: 0-1

Last year, Arjun Erigaisi (2746) defeated Vishy Anand (2721) in the Jerusalem Masters 2025 Finals to win the tournament. The colors were reversed this time but the outcome was the same again. However, it was Arjun who made the first blunder.

Position after 33...Rxb3??

33...Rxb3?? dropped an exchange 34.Rxd1+- Qxd1 35.Qxb3 Qxf1 36.Qb6 and White should ideally win this. It was Arjun who was low on time but the maestro blundered

Position after 53.Qd6??

Black pushed the passed d-pawn earlier threatening Qc7+ to pick up the rook. It worked this time, 53...d1Q-+ 54.Qxd1 Qc7+ 55.Kh1 Qxa5 56.Qd6 Be4 57.Qd4 Qe1+ 58.Kh2 Qe2 and it's over.

Arjun Erigaisi made a huge turnaround after making a blunder against Vishy Anand, handing the legend his first loss of the event | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Nihal - Hans: 1-0

It is quite possibly the first-ever Rapid rated game between Nihal Sarin (2660) and Hans Niemann (USA, 2636). Niemann is a creative and ambitious player. He met his match in the form of his opponent who is also a tactically alert player.

Position after 19...Ng4??

19...Ng4?? does not work due to 20.hxg4 Qh4 21.Re5! g6 22.Rd3 getting ready to move the queen away from h4. 22...Bxe5 23.dxe5 Qxg4 24.Rg3 Qh4 25.Nb5 White went on to use his extra material to win the game comfortably.

Nihal Sarin bounced back well after yesterday's loss with a win against Hans Niemann (USA) | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Just like Nihal, R Praggnanandhaa (2662) also bounced back after yesterday's defeat, with a victory against former World Rapid champion, Volodar Murzin (2603).

R Praggnanandhaa bounced back strong after previous day's loss by winning against Volodar Murzin | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

WGM Rakshitta Ravi started her day with a win over 38th Olympiad Women Gold medalist, GM Nana Dzagnidze (GEO) | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

Round 5: Niemann - Anand: 0-1

In a first-ever battle between Hans Niemann (USA) and Vishy Anand, the former missed all his chances to get back in the game against the latter.

Hans Niemann (USA) - Vishy Anand: 0-1 | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Arjun - Wei

Position after 54.a6

Wei Yi (CHN, 2746) went wrong in a tough rook and pawn race endgame 54...g3?? 55.a7+- Rb1 56.Kc5 Ra1 57.Rb7 Kf6 58.Rb3 h2 59.Rg3 Rxa7 60.Rxg2 Rc7+ 61.Kd5 Ra7 62.c5 Ra6 63.Re2 and White won.

Arjun Erigaisi scored his second win in-a-row | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

Nihal - Aravindh: 1-0

Nihal Sarin (2660) played two rated Rapid games against Volodar Murzin (2603). Nihal had drawn one and won the other. This time he showcased his mastery of the bishop pairs in the endgame to win.

Nihal Sarin scored an emphatic victory against World Rapid 2024 champion - Volodar Murzin | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

IM Vantika Agrawal ended WGM Rakshitta Ravi's unbeaten run at this event | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

Round 6: Nihal - Vidit: 1-0

Nihal Sarin faced Vidit Gujrathi three times at Tata Steel India Rapid. The first one was a draw and Nihal won the next two. Nihal continues his unbeaten streak against Vidit at this event as the former registered his third victory against his opponent.

Position after 44.e4

In a complex knight endgame, Black rushed by pushing his pawn 44...g5?? 45.f5+- Na7 46.Nd6 exf5 47.exf5 Nc6 48.Ne4 White went on to win the game convincingly.

Nihal Sarin finished the day with a win to move to the top of the standings 4.5/6 | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Vishy Anand ensured Volodar Murzin suffer a hat-trick of losses, a winless day | Photo: Lennart Ootes
The pawn promotion debacle between Wesley So and R Praggnanandhaa | Video: ChessBase India

Arbiters' team | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani

There are a lot of Hans Niemann fans in Kolkata | Photo: IA NI Vivek Sohani
Anand and Nihal lead in Kolkata | Video: ChessBase India

Replay live stream

Replay Tata Steel Chess India Rapid 2026 Round 4-6 live commentary by IM Sagar Shah and Amruta Mokal | Video: ChessBase India

Format

There will be two tournaments: a men's and a women's event. The tournaments will be played in two formats - Rapid and Blitz. For the second time, both Men's and Women's event will take place simultaneously. Three rounds of Rapid games will be played on the first three days, followed by nine rounds of Blitz per day on the remaining two days of each event. The time control is 15 minutes for the entire game with an increment of 10 seconds from move no.1. For Blitz, the time control is 3 minutes with an increment of 2 seconds from move no.1.

Venue

Dhono Dhanyo Auditorium in Kolkata, West Bengal. The tournament is open to all spectators and entry is free for all.

Replay Round 4-6 Men games

Replay Round 4-6 Women games

Round 4-6 Men results

Round 4 on 2026/01/08 at 15:00 hrs
Bo.FEDRtgWhiteResultBlackFEDRtg
1USA2705GMSo, Wesley½ - ½GMVidit, Santosh GujrathiIND2632
2IND2662GMPraggnanandhaa, R1 - 0GMMurzin, VolodarFID2603
3IND2660GMNihal, Sarin1 - 0GMNiemann, Hans MokeUSA2636
4IND2721GMAnand, Viswanathan0 - 1GMErigaisi, ArjunIND2746
5CHN2746GMWei, Yi1 - 0GMAravindh, Chithambaram Vr.IND2603
Round 5 on 2026/01/08 at 16:15 hrs
Bo.FEDRtgWhiteResultBlackFEDRtg
1IND2603GMAravindh, Chithambaram Vr.0 - 1GMSo, WesleyUSA2705
2IND2746GMErigaisi, Arjun1 - 0GMWei, YiCHN2746
3USA2636GMNiemann, Hans Moke0 - 1GMAnand, ViswanathanIND2721
4FID2603GMMurzin, Volodar0 - 1GMNihal, SarinIND2660
5IND2632GMVidit, Santosh Gujrathi½ - ½GMPraggnanandhaa, RIND2662
Round 6 on 2026/01/08 at 17:30 hrs
Bo.FEDRtgWhiteResultBlackFEDRtg
1USA2705GMSo, Wesley½ - ½GMPraggnanandhaa, RIND2662
2IND2660GMNihal, Sarin1 - 0GMVidit, Santosh GujrathiIND2632
3IND2721GMAnand, Viswanathan1 - 0GMMurzin, VolodarFID2603
4CHN2746GMWei, Yi0 - 1GMNiemann, Hans MokeUSA2636
5IND2603GMAravindh, Chithambaram Vr.½ - ½GMErigaisi, ArjunIND2746

Details

Standings after Round 6

Rk.SNoNameFEDRtgIPts. TB1  TB2  TB3  TB4 Rpnwwew-weKrtg+/-
11GMAnand, ViswanathanIND27214,501042286664,53,401,101011
29GMNihal, SarinIND26604,50941285464,52,991,511015,1
310GMSo, WesleyUSA2705406,75322786643,360,64106,4
45GMNiemann, Hans MokeUSA26363,517,531272863,52,720,78107,8
58GMPraggnanandhaa, RIND26623,52820271163,53,060,44104,4
64GMErigaisi, ArjunIND27463,5311,531272863,53,62-0,1210-1,2
77GMVidit, Santosh GujrathiIND2632309,25112669632,690,31103,1
82GMWei, YiCHN2746205,5102554623,55-1,5510-15,5
93GMAravindh, Chithambaram Vr.IND2603103,5002434612,16-1,1610-11,6
106GMMurzin, VolodarFID26030,501,500226860,52,45-1,9510-19,5

Details

Round 7 pairings

Bo.FEDRtgWhiteResultBlackFEDRtg
1IND2746GMErigaisi, ArjunGMSo, WesleyUSA2705
2USA2636GMNiemann, Hans MokeGMAravindh, Chithambaram Vr.IND2603
3FID2603GMMurzin, VolodarGMWei, YiCHN2746
4IND2632GMVidit, Santosh GujrathiGMAnand, ViswanathanIND2721
5IND2662GMPraggnanandhaa, RGMNihal, SarinIND2660

Details

Round 4-6 Women results

Round 4 on 2026/01/08 at 15:00 hrs
Bo.FEDRtg WhiteResultBlack FEDRtg
1FID2512
GMGoryachkina, Aleksandra0 - 1GMLagno, Kateryna
RUS2421
2IND2416
GMDronavalli, Harika½ - ½GMVaishali, Rameshbabu
IND2392
3GRE2347
IMTsolakidou, Stavroula1 - 0IMVantika, Agrawal
IND2325
4IND2148
WGMRakshitta, Ravi1 - 0GMDzagnidze, Nana
GEO2393
5USA2347
IMYip, Carissa½ - ½GMDivya, Deshmukh
IND2422
Round 5 on 2026/01/08 at 16:15 hrs
Bo.FEDRtg WhiteResultBlack FEDRtg
1IND2422
GMDivya, Deshmukh0 - 1GMGoryachkina, Aleksandra
FID2512
2GEO2393
GMDzagnidze, Nana1 - 0IMYip, Carissa
USA2347
3IND2325
IMVantika, Agrawal1 - 0WGMRakshitta, Ravi
IND2148
4IND2392
GMVaishali, Rameshbabu½ - ½IMTsolakidou, Stavroula
GRE2347
5RUS2421
GMLagno, Kateryna½ - ½GMDronavalli, Harika
IND2416
Round 6 on 2026/01/08 at 17:30 hrs
Bo.FEDRtg WhiteResultBlack FEDRtg
1FID2512
GMGoryachkina, Aleksandra½ - ½GMDronavalli, Harika
IND2416
2GRE2347
IMTsolakidou, Stavroula0 - 1GMLagno, Kateryna
RUS2421
3IND2148
WGMRakshitta, Ravi0 - 1GMVaishali, Rameshbabu
IND2392
4USA2347
IMYip, Carissa1 - 0IMVantika, Agrawal
IND2325
5IND2422
GMDivya, Deshmukh½ - ½GMDzagnidze, Nana
GEO2393

Details

Standings after Round 6

Rk.SNo NameFEDRtgIPts. TB1  TB2  TB3  TB4 Rpnwwew-weKrtg+/-
17
GMLagno, KaterynaRUS24214,5012,7532259164,53,201,301013
22
IMYip, CarissaUSA23474010,75302483642,911,091010,9
34
GMDzagnidze, NanaGEO23933,501120240763,53,310,19101,9
45
IMVantika, AgrawalIND2325307,5302345632,830,17203,4
510
GMGoryachkina, AleksandraFID2512307212358634,15-1,1510-11,5
66
GMVaishali, RameshbabuIND23922,517,2511230562,53,22-0,7220-14,4
78
GMDronavalli, HarikaIND24162,527,7500235462,53,03-0,5310-5,3
89
IMTsolakidou, StavroulaGRE23472,526,2520232662,52,71-0,2120-4,2
91
WGMRakshitta, RaviIND21482,54810234262,51,181,322026,4
103
GMDivya, DeshmukhIND2422206,25002236623,46-1,4610-14,6

Round 7 pairings

Bo.FEDRtg WhiteResultBlack FEDRtg
1GEO2393
GMDzagnidze, NanaGMGoryachkina, Aleksandra
FID2512
2IND2325
IMVantika, AgrawalGMDivya, Deshmukh
IND2422
3IND2392
GMVaishali, RameshbabuIMYip, Carissa
USA2347
4RUS2421
GMLagno, KaterynaWGMRakshitta, Ravi
IND2148
5IND2416
GMDronavalli, HarikaIMTsolakidou, Stavroula
GRE2347

Details

Schedule

Everyday round starts at 3 p.m. IST. The Rapid event will take place from 7th to 9th January, followed by the Blitz event on 10th and 11th January.

Prize

The total prize fund remains the same as the previous two editions - US$ 41500. The top three prizes in the Rapid are - $10000, $6000 and $3000. For Blitz they are - $7500, $4000 and $2500. Most importantly, the prizes remain equal in both Open and Womens events.

Links

Official site

Information

Gameplan

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