World Blitz C'ship: Arjun Erigaisi stuns Magnus Carlsen; joint leader after 13 rounds

GM Arjun Erigiaisi continued his good form in Doha, attaining a joint lead at the World Blitz Championship after 13 rounds in Qatar on Monday.

He also defeated the rapid champion Magnus Carlsen in round 9 and is now in a tied top position with Fabiano Caruana (USA) and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (FRA) on 10/13 points. 

He started the day brilliantly, winning the first five straight games, but then he faced his first defeat to Dutch GM Jorden Van Forest in Round 6.

But this was his only defeat of the day as he remained unbeaten in the next 7 games, having 3 wins and 4 draws to finish the day at the top with two other players.

With six rounds to go before the semi-finals, Arjun will be aiming to continue his form on Tuesday and bag another medal in Doha, following his bronze from the rapid section.

Following him, five more Indian players - M Pranesh, Goutham Krishna, R Praggnanandhaa, Raunak Sadhwani and SL Narayanan - are currently in the top-25, having 9/13 points from the first day.

No Indian in the top 30 of the Women's section

India had a comparatively poor day in the women's section as none of the players is currently in the top-30 after the first 10 games on day 1.

After having three top-5 finishes in the rapid section, Indian players will be disappointed with the first day's blitz performance and will be hoping to come back stronger for the final 5 games on Tuesday.

Divya Deshmukh (34th), Rakshitha Ravi (41st) are the best-ranked Indian players in the women's section currently, with 6 points out of 10 games, trailing by a big 2-point margin from the top 4.

On the other hand, the rapid medalist Koneru Humpy only managed to win 5 points on the first day and is currently sitting in the 61st position.