Total Chess World Championship Tour: Erigaisi, Vaishali drawn in Group D; Praggnanandhaa to face Keymer, Caruana

Magnus Carlsen heads the 24-player field in Budapest, where a $650,000 prize fund accompanies an experiment in bringing three time controls into one tournament.

Updated : Nov 10, 2026 23:40 IST , Budapest - 3 MINS READ

For Arjun and Vaishali, the opposition includes Wesley So, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Hans Niemann and Bibisara Assaubayeva.  | Photo Credit: Total Chess / Michal Walusza

Arjun Erigaisi and R. Vaishali will begin their Total Chess campaigns on Wednesday, knowing that even if both find their best form, only one can remain in contention for the title after the group stage.

Drawn together in Group D, the Indians face a format where finishing second means continuing the tournament in a separate bracket, with the main prize already beyond reach.

That requirement to win the group gives an immediate edge to the Fast Classic competition at the Total Chess World Championship Tour pilot. Magnus Carlsen heads the 24-player field in Budapest, where a $650,000 prize fund accompanies an experiment in bringing three time controls into one tournament.

The first sustained test comes over five days of Fast Classic, with players starting each game with 45 minutes and receiving a 30-second increment per move. Each will face the other five members of the group twice, once with each colour, with two games scheduled daily from November 11 to 15.

There is also an incentive to pursue decisive results. A win earns three points and a draw one, meaning a victory and a defeat are worth more than two draws. How much that changes a player’s willingness to take risks could become significant as the standings tighten.

For Arjun and Vaishali, the opposition includes Wesley So, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Hans Niemann and Bibisara Assaubayeva. The draw brings together the field’s two women, with Vaishali and Assaubayeva meeting again after their closely contested Women’s Candidates campaign earlier this year.

Vaishali won that tournament with 8.5 points from 14 games to earn a World Championship match against Ju Wenjun. Budapest presents a different task, with a shorter clock and opponents she must face twice within a demanding schedule.

R. Praggnanandhaa, the third Indian in the field, has Fabiano Caruana, Vincent Keymer, Richard Rapport, Vladislav Artemiev and Liem Le for company in Group B. His meetings with Caruana carry some recent history: Praggnanandhaa defeated the American in the Grand Chess Tour final in Saint Louis in August.

Carlsen heads Group C, where he will face Anish Giri, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Haik Martirosyan and Abhimanyu Mishra. Each will play the world No. 1 twice as they compete for the group’s sole place in the title bracket.

R. Praggnanandhaa, the third Indian in the field, has Fabiano Caruana, Vincent Keymer, Richard Rapport, Vladislav Artemiev and Liem Le for company in Group B. | Photo Credit: Total Chess / Michal Walusza

Group A features Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Alireza Firouzja, Levon Aronian, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Jorden van Foreest and Andrew Hong.

Once the groups are settled, players will enter six knockout brackets according to their finishing positions. Only the four group winners will contest the Budapest title. Tuesday’s nine-round preliminary blitz competition supplies the tie-break rankings for the group stage.

The knockout rounds will then take players from blitz to rapid to Fast Classic within a single day. Each two-day match comprises four blitz games, two rapid games, and one Fast Classic game on each day, with semifinals on November 17–18 and finals on November 19–20.

Pairings:

Group A: Alireza Firouzja, Jorden van Foreest, Andrew Hong, Jan-Krzysztof Duda, Levon Aronian, Nodirbek Abdusattorov

Group B: Vladislav Artemiev, Richard Rapport, R. Praggnanandhaa, Vincent Keymer, Fabiano Caruana, Liem Le

Group C: Anish Giri, Haik Martirosyan, Ian Nepomniachtchi, Abhimanyu Mishra, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, Magnus Carlsen

Group D: R. Vaishali, Hans Niemann, Bibisara Assaubayeva, Wesley So, Arjun Erigaisi, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave