After a shaky start, Carlsen surged strongly in the final stages. In the first four rounds, the Norwegian player won one game, drew two, and lost one, including a defeat to Dutch player Jorden van Foreest on 4/5. At that point, he was almost out of the championship race, trailing 14-year-old prodigy Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus by one point at the top of the standings.

However, Carlsen won three consecutive final games against Zhu Jiner, Andy Woodward, and Erdogmus himself to equal Erigaisi's score (5 points from 7 games). In the final round on the evening of 7/5, Carlsen seemed to be out of chances when Erigaisi drew with Woodward from a losing position, thereby taking sole possession of the top spot with five points.

Carlsen (left) in his winning game against Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus in the final standard chess round of TePe Sigeman on 7/5 in Malmo, Sweden.

However, on the other board, the position was balanced until Erdogmus made a serious error on move 50. Carlsen capitalized on the opportunity to convert his advantage into a win after just a few more moves, forcing his opponent to resign. This result helped him equal Erigaisi's score, forcing a blitz tie-break series for the championship.

Erdogmus just broke the record for becoming the youngest grandmaster in history, at 14 years old. The game against Carlsen on 7/5 was their first encounter in standard chess. Had he drawn, the Turkish player could have entered a tie-break against Erigaisi. But upon realizing he would lose, Erdogmus burst into tears, wiping his eyes right at the board.

Erdogmus crying after losing to Carlsen.

In the tie-break series against Erigaisi, Carlsen won the first game playing with the black pieces, but the Indian representative equalized in the next game, forcing the tie-break into an "armageddon" game. There, Carlsen still played with the black pieces but dominated. The world number one won after 35 moves to claim the TePe Sigeman 2026 title in Malmo, Sweden.

This marks his third consecutive standard chess title, following two victories at the Norway Chess super-tournament in 2024 and 2025. The last time he failed to win an individual standard chess tournament was the Qatar Masters 2023.

In recent years, Carlsen has participated in fewer standard chess tournaments than before. He has repeatedly acknowledged a decreased interest in this format, instead prioritizing rapid chess, blitz chess, and Chess960 (freestyle chess). Nevertheless, whenever he returns to standard chess, the Norwegian player consistently demonstrates superior class in decisive moments.

After TePe Sigeman, Carlsen will next compete in the Norway Chess super-tournament, which begins in Oslo on 25/5.

Xuan Binh