After a nerve-wracking wait over the past week, Arjun Erigaisi has received his US visa to compete at the World Rapid and Blitz Championship on Wall Street in New York.
An elated Arjun Erigaisi confirmed the development to The Indian Express in a text message on Monday. He added that he will be flying to New York later on Monday night.
For Arjun Erigaisi, participation in the World Rapid and Blitz Championship is critical because it could help him top the FIDE Circuit standings. Arjun is currently trailing World No 2 Fabiano Caruana by just six points in the FIDE Circuit standings. The World Rapid and Blitz Championship is the last tournament that offers points for the FIDE Circuit 2024 race.
“The World Rapid and Blitz Championship may not be a classical world championship but it’s still a World Championship. It’s very prestigious. Beaides, if I do well there I will have the chance to qualify for the Candidates tournament,” Arjun had told The Indian Express.
Arjun currently has 124.40 points while Caruana has 132.42 points. Caruana had raced to the lead in the 2024 FIDE Circuit race after emerging victorious at the Saint Louis Masters. The win helped him get 16.39 points which helped him leapfrog over Arjun Erigaisi on the leaderboard.
Whoever tops the FIDE Circuit race at the end of 2024 will earn himself one of the eight spots at the Candidates tournament. The winner of the Candidates tournament will then challenge world champion Gukesh at the next World Chess Championship in 2026.
It must be noted that even if Arjun misses out on securing the Candidates spot via the FIDE Circuit standings, there will be seven more spots available via different routes including ranking.
But winning a quota via the FIDE Circuit will free up Arjun Erigaisi from chasing the spot via other avenues and he can focus on training for the second-toughest challenge in the sport.
Two days back, Arjun had posted a plea on social media requesting US Embassy to issue him a visa.
“Last week I submitted my passport to you for visa stamping and it still has not been returned. I request you to please expedite the process and return my passport as soon as possible as I need it for my travel to New York for World Rapid & Blitz Championship, If anyone can help me with this please DM,” Arjun Erigaisi had written on his social media handles while tagging the US Embassy besides the Ministry of External Affairs India, Minister of External Affairs Dr S Jaishankar, Sports Ministry and sports minister Mansukh Mandviya.
The World Rapid and Blitz Championship will be held from December 26 to 31. Besides Arjun and Caruna, players like Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, Nodirbek Abdusattorov, Praggnanandhaa will be in action in the year-end tournament.
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