TePe Sigeman Chess 2026 Round 1: Abdusattorov, Woodward Lead As Carlsen Returns

World number-four Nodirbek Abdusattorov and 15-year-old rising star GM Andy Woodward took the early lead in Malmo as the 2026 TePe Sigeman Chess Tournament began. They both pounced on game-deciding blunders, with Abdusattorov beating GM Zhu Jiner while Woodward overcame local hero GM Nils Grandelius. GM Magnus Carlsen was held to a draw by GM Arjun Erigaisi’s Petroff, while 14-year-old 2700-star GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus comfortably equalized against GM Jorden van Foreest. 

The second round is Saturday, May 2, starting at 9 a.m. ET / 15:00 CEST / 6:30 p.m. IST.

The TePe Sigeman Chess Tournament has been won by chess legends such as GMs Viktor Korchnoi, Boris Gelfand, Judit Polgar, Vasyl Ivanchuk, and Jan Timman in its previous 30 editions, but its 31st boasts its most formidable field yet. For the first time since 2004, when Carlsen was a 2552-rated 13-year-old, the world number-one has been tempted back to one of Scandinavia’s top chess events.

At the drawing of lots, which was done by picking special Swedish pawns, Carlsen noted, “Our first luxury chess set that we had at home was exactly with these kinds of pawns,” before adding:

I do think some of them were lost when we were trying to get from our cabin to the car. Back then, you had to park your car and then walk in the snow carrying everything to your cabin, and I seem to remember that I was responsible for carrying all the chess pieces and some got lost in the snow, and that was kind of the end of that about 25 years ago, but it’s certainly special for me!

I was responsible for carrying all the chess pieces and some got lost in the snow.

—Magnus Carlsen

Carlsen tops the lineup for an eight-player all-play-all classical event, and his involvement was enough to tempt back the 2024 winner Abdusattorov. The Uzbek number-one told Peter Doggers: “I decided to play here because of Magnus. When I first heard that he’s playing here, I immediately agreed to the organizers. I’m here only because of Magnus!”

I’m here only because of Magnus!

—Nodirbek Abdusattorov 

2024 runner-up Arjun and 2021 winner Van Foreest are joined by the newest member of the 2700 club, 2025 runner-up Erdogmus. The other past winner is Swedish number-one Grandelius, who’s playing for the 14th time—he hasn’t missed an event since his debut in 2010.

There are two newcomers to Malmo, women’s world number-four Zhu and 15-year-old Woodward. Both are facing a super-tournament field for the first time in their careers but had contrasting starts. Woodward got off to a win, while Zhu fell to Abdusattorov.  

Round 1 Results

That of course means that we have early leaders in Malmo.

Standings after Round 1

Now let’s get to the day’s action.

Zhu 0-1 Abdusattorov

Zhu ended the recent FIDE Women’s Candidates Tournament with five wins, four losses, and just five draws, so she makes a habit of living and dying by the sword. Abdusattorov, meanwhile, as the world number-four and winner of the latest London Chess Classic, Tata Steel Masters, and Prague Masters tournaments was never likely to do anything other than play for a win, even with the black pieces.

Abdusattorov put his success on the first day in Malmo down to the opening, calling it “a good practical decision” to go for the Caro-Kann, since Zhu’s favored variation would guarantee counterplay. When the Chinese star failed to push c3 at the right moment, it was Black who was pushing, until Zhu suddenly collapsed, making what Abdusattorov called the “inexplicable blunder” 23.Nd4?.

After 23…Rc8!, there was no way to avoid the loss of a pawn and the collapse of White’s position, with Abdusattorov’s best guess being that Zhu had intended 24.Qb3 and simply forgot the knight on d4 would be en prise. Zhu tried to play on with 24.Qd2, but it was a hopeless cause.

The other clash of the day involving players from the very top of the chess pyramid saw Carlsen playing his first regular classical game since a Norwegian League encounter in October 2025.

Carlsen ½-½ Arjun   

Carlsen is closing in on 15 years unbroken as the world number-one (he can reach that mark on the July 2026 rating list), and his sky-high rating is tough to defend in any tournament. As GM Viswanathan Anand explained on the Chess24 Indian broadcast, however, Carlsen is used to the challenge.

Vishy Anand on Magnus: “He’s going to shed a few points with every draw, but he’ll find a way to do battle. It’s not like the 1st year or even the 1st decade he’s facing this problem, so he’s knows what it is to outrank his opponent by a lot!” https://t.co/qej33RIxTR pic.twitter.com/wkdATplfCr

— chess24 (@chess24com) May 1, 2026

Anand’s remark came as Carlsen paused for a remarkable 10 minutes when Arjun played the Petroff on move two. Arjun explained, “The Petroff is generally one of the solid and annoying openings to face, and maybe he didn’t expect it for this game, so he was choosing his options.”

GM Anish Giri took the chance to have some fun on X and echo Carlsen’s coach GM Peter Heine Nielsen’s praise of Freestyle Chess: 

Carlsen-Erigaisi feels like Freestyle, the players being put to the task of navigating something highly unusual.  Modern realities however are very different.  

Both players had this position on the computer at some point, and are trying to remember the machine’s conclusions.

The line Carlsen chose led to queens being exchanged on move eight, which in some ways suited both players. Arjun summed up, “I thought I’ll be solid and if I get my chances, take them, and I didn’t really get them, so it’s OK,” while Carlsen had the opportunity to try and grind out a position he could play for two results. Briefly it seemed it might work, but things fizzled out fast into a draw by three-fold repetition.

Carlsen’s best chance for more likely came on move 22, when he pushed his d-pawn instead of capturing on c5.

The rating hit Anand had talked about was in this case only 1.2 points for Carlsen, while Abdusattorov’s win reinforced his currently shaky position as the Uzbek number-one. 

Elsewhere making a draw with White against a 14-year-old kid might be considered disappointing, but not when that kid is Erdogmus and you suffered your only loss against him in a recent supertournament.

Van Foreest ½-½ Erdogmus  

Erdogmus finished only half a point behind winner GM Javokhir Sindarov (whatever happened to him!?) in 2025, while he has entered the 2026 edition as the only player ever to be rated above 2700 as a 14-year-old after crushing former FIDE World Champion GM Veselin Topalov in a match. Erdogmus said of that clash:

Of course, I wasn’t expecting 5-1, but it was actually a very good experience for me. We actually played very good games, and I’m very happy that I beat him 5-1! 

The game against Van Foreest wasn’t so dramatic, with the Dutchman commenting, “I checked a lot of lines, but not this one, so that was a pity!” Erdogmus had deep prep and then found a clear-cut way to make a draw, though the position had ample potential for chaos if the players had wanted to roll the dice.

Erdogmus said he was happy with the draw, adding, “I played a solid line, and he didn’t put too much pressure, and I easily managed to make a draw.”

That brings us to the day’s second win.

Woodward 1-0 Grandelius

15-year-old Woodward won the Tata Steel Challengers to book his spot in the Masters in 2026, so he has at least one more major event to look forward to, but first there’s a baptism of fire in Malmo.

The U.S. prodigy said “it feels great!” about playing his first supertournament and getting to play Carlsen, while he also revealed some surprising training: “I’ve been just sharpening my calculation, I’ve just been doing some exercises from some books, I’ve been doing a lot of exercises that my mum’s been helping me with from these books.”

I’ve been doing a lot of exercises that my mum’s been helping me with.

—Andy Woodward 

Woodward did clarify that especially through the Kasparov Chess Foundation he’s been able to work with several strong coaches.

Against Grandelius, Woodward was pressing, but he admitted the game might well have ended in a draw if not for the oversight 26…Rd8?.

Woodward noted: “I’m really lucky, I think. He had a simple blunder, but other than that, it would have been really difficult, so I was just fortunate that things went my way!”

Woodward’s conversion was flawless, and that’s our Game of the Day, which GM Rafael Leitao analyzes below.

It doesn’t get any easier for either player, with Grandelius needing to bounce back against Carlsen, while Woodward takes on Abdusattorov with the black pieces in round two. 

Round 2 Pairings

How to watch?

The Tepe Sigeman Chess Tournament takes place May 1-7, 2026, at the Elite Plaza Hotel in Malmo, Sweden. The players compete in an eight-player single round-robin. The time control is 90 minutes for 40 moves, with 30 more minutes for the rest of the game and a 30-second increment per move from move one.