“That was a fun game, for sure!” said GM Magnus Carlsen after risking the Benoni to beat GM Nils Grandelius and join the 2026 TePe Sigeman Chess Tournament leaders after round two. GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov let a winning position slip three times against co-leader GM Andy Woodward, and that wasn’t the day’s only miss. GM Jorden van Foreest was a pawn up by move 20 and seemed sure to beat GM Zhu Jiner, but the Chinese star fought back and held in 93 moves, while GM Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus survived constant time trouble to make a draw against GM Arjun Erigaisi.Â
The third round is on Sunday, May 3, starting at 9 a.m. ET / 15:00 CEST / 6:30 p.m. IST.
Carlsen scored the day’s only win, but the remaining three games stretched to over five hours and could easily all have ended decisively.
Round 2 Results
That means Carlsen has caught Abdusattorov and Woodward in the lead.
Standings after Round 2
Grandelius 0-1 Carlsen
Carlsen explained his approach to this game on the live broadcast:
I asked Peter yesterday, ‘What are we going to do against 1.e4?’ and then he said, ‘Well, Nils plays 1.d4 exclusively these days,’ which was news to me, but he generally has a fairly solid repertoire, so I didn’t really know what to do. I thought, let’s go for something fighting!
The opening they chose was one Carlsen has barely played over his career—the Benoni. GM Erwin l’Ami, in commentary, immediately concluded, “He really desperately wants to win today!”
Erwin l’Ami on Carlsen playing the Benoni: “He really desperately wants to win today!” https://t.co/pMWDOFcQqU pic.twitter.com/4PiK0jSaEO
— chess24 (@chess24com) May 2, 2026
“I’m very happy that Nils is the type of player who tries to get a game, he doesn’t kill it!” said Carlsen afterward, while describing what followed as a “dream scenario.” He pointed to Grandelius’ 13.f4!? as a mistake (“If you cannot justify that quickly, it’s just positionally dubious”) and was soon able to take over the initiative. He wasn’t sure of his following play, saying he felt he’d got “a little bit over-excited with 17…b5!.”Â
When he saw the computer approved of that and almost all his later choices, however, he commented, “That kind of restores a little bit of my belief in myself!”
That kind of restores a little bit of my belief in myself!
—Magnus Carlsen on seeing the computer approved his play
The sacrifice of the b5-pawn opened up the b-file, the b2- and ultimately a2-pawns fell, and Carlsen beautifully finished things off by pushing the a-pawn toward the promotion square on a1.
That’s our Game of the Day, which GM Rafael Leitao has analyzed below.
Talking to Peter Doggers afterward, Carlsen explained that he’d been worried he would go into round three a point behind his opponent, Abdusattorov, while now they would probably be level. He added of the world number-four: “He’s probably been the hottest player in top-level tournaments over the last few months, with strong competition from his compatriot, of course, Sindarov. A very tough challenge!”
He’s probably been the hottest player in top-level tournaments over the last few months.
—Magnus Carlsen on Nodirbek Abdusattorov
In fact the players are level on 1.5 points each, but the Uzbek number-one was very, very close to becoming the sole leader.
Abdusattorov ½-½ Woodward
Woodward is the world’s highest-rated 15-year-old, and in fact there’s no one younger and higher-rated than him except one of his rivals in Malmo—Erdogmus. The U.S. prodigy is off to a great start after pouncing on a mistake by Grandelius in round one, while in round two he admitted he’d been in real trouble against Abdusattorov: “He played really, really well, he found lots of really insane ideas, and I was just really lucky in the time scramble!”
He found lots of really insane ideas!
—Andy Woodward on Nodirbek Abdusattorov
The evaluation graph of the game is one you don’t see every day, with Abdusattorov building up an objectively completely winning advantage three times, but letting it slip each time. Â
Of course that’s testimony to how difficult the position was, while Woodward also had a promising position out of the opening, even if he admitted he wasn’t prepared for 19.f4, varying from the 19.Rh3 by GM Victor Mikhalevski in a memorable victory for GM Vidit Gujrathi in the 2022 European Club Cup.Â
Abdusattorov first took over after 37…Qb8? by Woodward (who called it “a noticeable mistake”) ran into 38.Rh1!.
That was only the start of the adventure, however, with mistakes interlaced with brilliant play by both players, including a fantastic stalemate variation.
Few players have managed to escape Abdusattorov’s clutches in such a position, and Woodward was rightly proud, commenting, “I’m pretty happy about my play towards the end of the game, especially because I knew I was losing!”
Another player who knew she was lost but went on to survive was Zhu.
Van Foreest ½-½ Zhu
Zhu had made a terrible blunder in round one and had the sinking feeling of doing the same again when her 13…d4?! only left her a pawn down and soon without any compensation. When queens were exchanged, it looked like a straightforward technical task for Van Foreest, and for 30 moves he did little wrong, but 47.Nc4? allowed 47…Rd3+! and suddenly Zhu was right back in the game.
“At least I have some counterattack—I’m not sure, because still I don’t like my position, but I think it’s better than before,” said Zhu after the game.
In fact, things went remarkably smoothly from there for the Women’s world number-four, despite Van Foreest testing her all the way until move 93.
“I think I played slightly better than yesterday, so I hope that I can play better tomorrow,” is how Zhu summed up picking up her first half point.
The day’s remaining game was a very tense struggle.
Erdogmus ½-½ Arjun
Both players could claim to have missed chances in this clash, with Erdogmus gaining an edge around the time control, while Arjun was pushing at the end and seemed likely to be able to grind a queen endgame forever. Erdogmus was down to seconds and playing on increment for much of the game, but he found a clean way to give perpetual check and force the draw.
Both players will be hopeful of scoring their first wins in round three, with Erdogmus Black against Zhu, while Arjun has White against Grandelius. As we noted, however, the clash everyone will be watching is Carlsen-Abdusattorov.
Round 3 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.
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