Although Magnus Carlsen obtained a 2½-½ win in the first set against a very competent opponent, the world champion was not all that satisfied with his performance. He noted afterwards that he was lucky at different points of the 4-game confrontation and, in fact, felt that he survived some “pretty bad moments”.
Meanwhile, 19-year-old Arjun Erigaisi, who outperformed experienced elite grandmasters and fellow rising stars to reach the final, shared his psychological strategy to face this challenge:
I’ve been telling myself not to think too much about the fact that I’m playing against Magnus, and just try to play it as if it’s any other opponent.
Arjun now needs to win the second set to even the score and the match to tiebreakers.
Carlsen kicked off with the white pieces and achieved a 40-move victory after successfully taking control of the open g-file by sacrificing a bishop on g6. The highlight of the day was the second game, though, which Carlsen won with black in 29 moves.
In game 3, Carlsen also got winning chances, but did not manage to make the most of them. A draw was enough to secure set victory, nonetheless.
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