The Week in Chess

• Erigaisi leads the Sigeman tournament alone with one round to go - 6

  The final round of the Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament in Malmo promises to be very tense after an interesting round 6. Arjun Erigaisi beat Zhu Jiner in an endgame where the Chinese player had a tricky defence in a holdable position. Magnus Carlsen chose the King's Indian against Andy Woodward which led to double edged play and eventually Carlsen brought home the full point. Carlsen will have white against Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus in what will be a must win game for both of them and their first classical meeting. Jorden Van Foreest was winning against Nils Grandelius but missed his chance and had to settle for a draw.

  Round 6 Standings: 1st Erigaisi 4.5pts 2nd= Carlsen, Erdogmus 4pts, 4th Abdusattorov, 3.5pts, 5th Van Foreest, Jorden 3pts, 6th Woodward 2.5pts, 7th Zhu Jiner 1.5pts 8th Grandelius 1pt.

  Final Round 7 pairings 11am 7th May: Carlsen vs Erdogmus, Erigaisi vs Woodward, Grandelius vs Zhu Jiner and Abdusattorov vs Van Foreest.

• Gukesh beats Sindarov in the GCT Poland Super Rapid - 5

  The first event in the Grand Chess Tour 2026 is the Super Rapid & Blitz Poland in Warsaw. This is a category 20 field. The players meet once in a rapid game and twice in the blitz.

  Of major interest was the first meeting of Javokhir Sindarov and World Champion Gukesh in the rapid. It turned out to be a little disappointing. In a balanced position Sindarov sacrificed a piece and there was just never enough for it. There were three games on day 2 and Sindarov lost all three.

  Hans Moke Niemann and Wesley So lead the rapid on 4.5/6 with the last day tomorrow followed by two days of blitz.

  Round 6 of 9 standings: 1st= Niemann, So 4½pts, 3rd Fedoseev 4pts, 4th= Caruana, Gukesh, Duda 3pts, 7th MVL 2½pts 8th= Firouzja, Sindaro 2pts, 10th Wojtaszek 1½pts

• GCT Super Rapid & Blitz Poland 2026 - Games and Results

  The GCT Super Rapid & Blitz Poland takes place Tue 5th May to Thu 7th May 2026. 9 rounds of rapid and 18 rounds of blitz. Players: Wesley So, Radoslaw Wojtaszek, D Gukesh, Hans Moke Niemann, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Alireza Firouzja, Vladimir Fedoseev, Fabiano Caruana, Javokhir Sindarov and Jan Krzysztof Duda.

• Erigaisi and Erdogmus lead the Sigeman & Co tournament after five rounds - 5

  Arjun Erigaisi beat Jorden van Foreest in the fifth round of the 31st Sigeman & Co tournament in Malmo. van Foreest will probably be disappointed with his play and especially 25...e5 which directly led to his loss.

  Magnus Carlsen said that his play was shaky against Zhu Jiner and that he'd been outplayed in a key middlegame sequence. Zhu had the upper hand sometimes and Carlsen then got the advantage but let it go. The strange 33...Kf8 would have been equal and only with 36...Nxg3? was Carlsen winning.

  Andy Woodward was briefly winning against Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus, the game lasted 104 moves but the position remained stubbornly equal after he failed to find 37.h5!

  Absolutely no-one can blame Nils Grandelius' decision to hack off all the pieces against Nodirbek Abdusattorov and end his losing run.

  Round 5 Standings: 1st= Erigaisi, Erdogmus 3.5pts, 3rd= Carlsen, Abdusattorov 3pts, 5th= Van Foreest, Woodward 2.5pts, 7th Zhu Jiner 1.5pts 8th Grandelius...

• Erdogmus leads the Sigeman tournament with 3/4, Van Foreest beats Carlsen - 4

  Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus defeated Nils Grandelius to take the lead alone in the 31st TePe Sigeman & Co Chess Tournament 2026. Grandelius achieved equality but 25...cxd6? (Rxd6) cost him the game.

  Nodirbek Abdusattorov obtained a winning advantage against Arjun Erigaisi but frittered the advantage away to a draw. Andy Woodward got caught out in the opening against Zhu Jiner and 10...Bxd5? and 11...Nb4? his goose was cooked and Zhu made no mistakes.

  Jorden van Foreest beat Magnus Carlsen in the final game of the day to finish. van Foreest had a large advantage for much of the game but after 53.Bd2 Nfxg2 it seemed Carlsen would escape but the endgame was hard to play and after many changes in evaluation and very close to a draw 86....Na3? was the final error and Carlsen resigned a move later with his knight caught.

  Round 4 Leaders: 1 Erdogmus 3pts 2 Van Foreest, Erigaisi, Abdusattorov 2.5pts 5 Woodward, Carlsen 2pts 7 Zhu Jiner 1.5pts 8 Grandelius 0pts

  Round 5 Tuesday 5th...

• Five way tie for the lead in the Sigeman & Co tournament after three rounds - 3

  The top two seeds met in Round 3 when Magnus Carlsen drew against Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Carlsen tried a quiet Exchange Slav with white but Abdusattorov was precise and they drew in 44 moves. The other draw was between Andy Woodward and Jorden Van Foreest in a Philidor where black was a tiny bit better for a while.

  Nils Grandelius took the battle to Arjun Erigaisi in a Dragon Sicilian. They castled on opposite sides but then transposed into an endgame where both sides had running pawns. The endgame was very difficult but Erigaisi was always at least equal, in the end he was the one to Queen first. Zhu Jiner played a Reti against Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus and went wrong with 10.Nd4?! and 11.g4? the trouble was she ended up with an extremely difficult position to play, in particular her King had nowhere safe to go and her position eventually just fell apart.

  Round 3 Standings: 1st= Woodward, Carlsen, Erigaisi, Abdusattorov, Erdogmus 2pts, 6th Van Foreest 1.5pts, 7th Zhu Jiner 0.5pts, 8th...

• Carlsen impresses in beating Grandelius in Sigeman Round 2 - 2

  Magnus Carlsen joined the leaders Nodirbek Abdusattorov and Andy Woodward on 1.5 points after two rounds of the 31st Sigeman & Co tournament in Malmo. Carlsen was the only winner but all four games could easily have finished decisively.

  Carlsen was the only winner when he defeated Nils Grandelius using the Modern Benoni as black. Once Carlsen assumed the initiative, he quickly overpowered his opponent.

  Nodirbek Abdusattorov seemed to be heading for a win against Andy Woodward first just before first time control 39.g6! would have won and 40.Nd4? was almost equal. Abdusattorov was then soon winning again but couldn't land the final blow and 60.Rxf7? was the move that ended the winning chances. Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus drew against Arjun Erigaisi in 78 moves of a Ruy Lopez where both players stood better at one stage or another, Erigaisi was winning in a Queen endgame but only drew. Jorden Van Foreest messed up a winning position against Zhu Jiner who took her chance to equalise well 47.Nc4?...