Arjun Erigaisi beats Vachier-Lagrave, scores 5.5 in Total Chess Budapest blitz

Arjun Erigaisi scored 5.5 out of 9 in the opening blitz Swiss of the Total Chess World Championship Tour pilot event in Budapest, Hungary, on Tuesday, 10 November 2026, finishing in a five-way tie for fourth place, according to the International Chess Federation (FIDE). Magnus Carlsen won the blitz unbeaten on 7/9, ahead of Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (6.5) and Levon Aronian (6). Arjun was the only player to beat Vachier-Lagrave. R Praggnanandhaa finished on 4.5 points. The blitz sets tiebreak rankings and knockout pairings; the main group stage, played with longer "fast classical" games, starts on 11 November, with Arjun and Vaishali Rameshbabu in Group D and Praggnanandhaa in Group B.

Total Chess is a new attempt to build a world championship tour around a different format from classical chess. Players meet in groups at a faster time control than traditional classical games, earn football-style points that reward wins over draws, and then go into knockout brackets that mix blitz, rapid and fast classical games, with an Armageddon game to settle ties. The Budapest event is the pilot, so how players and fans respond will shape the tour.

For India, the event puts three of the country's young stars in a field that also includes Carlsen. Arjun's win over Vachier-Lagrave, the eventual runner-up of the blitz, shows his strength at fast time controls. Vaishali Rameshbabu gets games against elite opponents across a double round robin in Group D, valuable experience at the very top level.

The three-points-for-a-win system changes the calculation for every player in the field. Under traditional scoring a win is worth twice a draw; here it is worth three times as much, so taking risks pays off more.

The blitz result is not just a warm-up. Its ranking decides tiebreaks in the group stage, sets pairings in all six knockout brackets and gives the higher-ranked player the choice of colour in the first blitz game of each knockout match. All 24 players go on to the knockouts, but only the four group winners compete for the title.

Peepals calculation: Arjun's 5.5 out of 9 is 61% of the points available (5.5 ÷ 9 ≈ 0.61), against Carlsen's 78% (7 ÷ 9 ≈ 0.78). In the group stage's scoring, a win is worth three times a draw (3 ÷ 1), compared with twice a draw under traditional scoring (1 ÷ 0.5). Our calculation from the reported figures.

Short-term: Arjun starts Group D with a solid tiebreak ranking; Praggnanandhaa and Vaishali will need strong group results to reach the top brackets.

Long-term: If the format succeeds, Total Chess could become a regular tour, offering Indian players another route to big prize money and world titles beyond classical chess.

Who is affected: Indian chess players and fans, the event's organisers and FIDE, and the young players weighing new formats against classical chess.

What to watch next: The group stage from 11 to 15 November, followed by the knockout brackets.

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