“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.
The third round is on Sunday, May 3, starting at 9 a.m. ET / 15:00 CEST / 6:30 p.m. IST.
This is a flash report—come back later for full coverage of the round-two action!
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
Carlsen’s win is our Game of the Day, which GM Rafael Leitao will analyze below.
Round 3 will feature the most anticipated game of the tournament, as Carlsen takes on 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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