All posts tagged: Erigaisi

Alireza Firouzja clinches Chennai Grand Masters title ahead of Arjun Erigaisi | Chess News

Alireza Firouzja clinches Chennai Grand Masters title ahead of Arjun Erigaisi | Chess News

Published by Webster

2 min readJul 22, 2026 09:31 PM IST French-Iranian grandmaster Alireza Firouzja parried away the attacks of India’s Arjun Erigaisi in the final round to clinch the Chennai Grand Masters 2026 tournament. The contest between the two title contenders ended in a draw, despite the best efforts of Arjun, who needed a win to take the crown. He opted for a Sicilian Defence but the game ended in a 41-move stalemate. Arjun had also finished second in the inaugural edition of the tournament, where he was pipped to the post by D Gukesh. In the next two editions, he had finished third in the standings. Arjun is likely to end the month as the India No.1 and World No.9. He and R Praggnanandhaa are the only Indians now rated above 2750, with a Chess Olympiad title defence looming in two months’ time. In the only other game that could have had a significant say on the final results, Nodirbek Abdusattorov lost to GM Dmitry Andreikin in 37 moves. Meanwhile, the much-anticipated game between current world …

Chennai Grand Masters 2026: Arjun Erigaisi beats Gukesh

Chennai Grand Masters 2026: Arjun Erigaisi beats Gukesh

Published by Webster

India’s Arjun Erigaisi pounced on world champion, D Gukesh’s errors to storm into joint lead after Round 5 of the Chennai Grand Masters 2026 on Monday. With just two rounds left to play, Erigaisi is tied with French GM Alireza Firouzja on 3.5 points while Abdusattorov is half a point behind on 3. After the fourth round ending in all draws, Abdusattorov took the attack to Indian GM Nihal Sarin with black pieces and slowly but surely tightened the noose to force his opponent to resign after 38 moves. The all-Indian clash between Erigaisi and Gukesh began with an opening move by Jeshua J, Tamil Nadu born youngster who holds the record of becoming the youngest Arena FIDE Master at the age of 7 years, 10 months and 8 days. Thereafter Erigaisi played a solid game with black and was quick to go for the kill once the world champion’s accuracy of moves dropped in the middle game. Erigaisi stayed patient and once it was clear that his pawn on the d-file was sure to …

Gukesh loses to Arjun Erigaisi in game that he was winning

Gukesh loses to Arjun Erigaisi in game that he was winning

Published by Webster

3 min readJul 20, 2026 09:23 PM IST After another day brought another defeat for the world champion there was one final act of cruelty that fate had in store for Gukesh D. He suffered his second loss at the Chennai Grand Masters 2026 tournament on Monday, losing to Arjun Erigaisi in a game that he was winning at one point but then allowed the game to equalise before resigning. When the game ended, a dejected Gukesh was mulling the loss in the lift back to his hotel floor. It was a moment where he would have wanted to be left completely alone. Instead, Erigaisi, the one man he would not have wanted if only for a few seconds, unwittingly entered the lift and the 20-year-old had to endure a few more seconds in the company of the man who had just compounded his misery. Monday’s defeat was Gukesh’s second in five rounds of his home tournament; he previously lost to Firouzja in round 2. All his other games have been draws. He now has …

How Arjun Erigaisi punished Magnus Carlsen’s rare rook blunder in Hong Kong

How Arjun Erigaisi punished Magnus Carlsen’s rare rook blunder in Hong Kong

Published by Webster

3 min readUpdated: Jun 18, 2026 11:49 PM IST Just days after R. Praggnanandhaa’s impressive exploits at Norway Chess 2026, where he defeated Magnus Carlsen twice, another Indian has struck a blow against the five-time World Champion. Arjun Erigaisi tasted victory over Carlsen during the second day of the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Team Championship 2026 in Hong Kong. Arjun, representing defending Rapid team champions MGD1, played on top board against a star-studded WR Chess side, who were hot favourites and led by Carlsen on Board No. 1. In the sixth round of the Rapid event, Arjun was pitted against Carlsen, and his win helped MGD1 defeat WR Chess in a high-octane clash. In a wild Queen’s Gambit Declined game, an uncharacteristic rook blunder by Carlsen proved decisive. The Norwegian had earlier sacrificed his bishop in desperation to gain an edge, but a queen b6 check from Arjun ensured the advantage stayed with the Indian. Arjun admitted he initially thought he had missed something when Carlsen launched the aggressive bishop takes e6 sacrifice. However, …

Arjun Erigaisi and Vidit Gujrathi battle to hard fought draw as Indian derby ends in stalemate

Arjun Erigaisi and Vidit Gujrathi battle to hard fought draw as Indian derby ends in stalemate

Published by Webster

5 min readNew DelhiJun 10, 2026 11:29 PM IST The fourth round of the UzChess Cup 2026 Masters event saw two Indians pitted against each other. Barring their nationality, there was nothing in particular that resembled how their tournaments had gone. On one side was Arjun Erigaisi, jointly leading the event with a couple of draws and a win sandwiched in between. On the other side was Vidit Gujrathi, languishing at the bottom after endured a terrible start to his campaign as he lost his opening two games before gaining his first half point, which came in a draw against Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Having played multiple team events like the Olympiad and the Asian Games together in a tightly knit squad, both players are fairly familiar with each other. They know their strengths, weaknesses, tricks and perhaps even each other’s mindset to some extent. So when they faced each other for the umpteenth time in Tashkent on Wednesday, one could expect a battle of attrition with both fighting for the full point. It was indeed a …

Arjun Erigaisi roars back for first win as Vidit Gujrathi suffers second straight loss

Arjun Erigaisi roars back for first win as Vidit Gujrathi suffers second straight loss

Published by Webster

4 min readJun 8, 2026 11:34 PM IST The second round of the Uzchess Cup 2026 Masters offered no respite for the faint-hearted, as all five games ended decisively. For India, the day brought mixed fortunes as Arjun Erigaisi roared back after a draw in the opening round to claim his first win, toppling Nodirbek Yakubboev, while Vidit Gujrathi endured another crushing defeat, falling this time to former two-time Candidates champion Ian Nepomniachtchi. Yakubboev has strong credentials and is one of the stronger players hailing from an extremely talented player pool in Uzbekistan. He was a semifinalist at the FIDE World Cup 2025, just one win away from locking in his spot at the Candidates. He eventually finished fourth and was one of the nearly men of the event. In an English game, both Yakubboev and Arjun ventured deep into a fairly complex middle game that saw only two exchanges: a pawn and a knight trade in the first 22 moves. Both players bled more than an hour on the clock and reached an exciting …

Magnus Carlsen denies Arjun Erigaisi TePe Sigeman title with sudden-death win

Magnus Carlsen denies Arjun Erigaisi TePe Sigeman title with sudden-death win

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3 min readUpdated: May 8, 2026 12:01 AM IST The near-miss streak and the jinx of missing out on titles by a whisker continue to haunt India’s No. 1 Arjun Erigaisi, as he fell short of winning the 2026 TePe Sigeman Tournament after losing to World No. 1 Magnus Carlsen in a sudden-death tie-break, despite tying for first place. The overnight sole leader, Arjun suffered a major scare before American teenager Andy Woodward messed up a completely winning position in the final round on Thursday. Woodward blundered in a tricky knight-versus-bishop endgame while holding an extra pawn, allowing Arjun to shut the door and salvage a draw from a hopeless position. The result took Arjun to five points, while the nearest chasing pack of Carlsen and 14-year-old Turkish prodigy Yagiz Kaan Erdogmus faced each other. A draw in their game would have handed the title to the Indian. But as fate would have it – and as Carlsen has done in so many events – a comeback from behind saw him beat Erdogmus to draw …

Arjun Erigaisi defeats Jorden van Foreest, moves to joint lead of TePe Sigeman; Magnus Carlsen bounces back after loss

Arjun Erigaisi defeats Jorden van Foreest, moves to joint lead of TePe Sigeman; Magnus Carlsen bounces back after loss

Published by Webster

2 min readUpdated: May 6, 2026 06:49 PM IST The highest-ranked Indian male chess player, Arjun Erigaisi, moved into the joint lead of the TePe Sigeman chess tournament after beating Dutch Grandmaster Jorden van Foreest in the fifth round on Tuesday. Arjun caught up with the overnight leader and the youngest player in the lineup, Yaagiz Kaan Erdogmus, with both sitting on 3.5 points each with two rounds to go. The Indian pounced on a blunder by the Dutchman. Playing with the white pieces in the Slav game against van Foreest, Arjun won the game in just 30 moves after the latter made two decisive errors in the middlegame. First, he allowed Arjun to win a pawn, and then he blundered his entire rook and resigned in a completely losing position, handing Arjun his second win of the tournament. Arjun had previously beaten Swedish GM and local player Nils Grandelius in the third round. Erdogmus could have taken the sole lead in the event with a win but avoided a big scare against American Andy …

Arjun Erigaisi stuns Magnus Carlsen but misses semifinals

Arjun Erigaisi stuns Magnus Carlsen but misses semifinals

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GM Arjun Erigaisi faced a group stage exit at the maiden FIDE Fresstyle Chess World Championship at Schloss Weissenhaus in Wangels, Germany, on Friday. Arjun finished the tournament with 3 points from 7 games in a round-robin format, with 3 wins and 4 defeats, finishing 6th and missing out on the top four by a single point. The Indian, however, showed some good results at the tournament, defeating the leader, Magnus Carlsen and then a brilliant queen sacrifice to defeat Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov. He started his day with a good win over Germany’s top grandmaster, Vincent Keymer, in the first game, but then faced two consecutive defeats to Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB) and Hans Niemann (USA). He then had a topsy-turvy run afterwards with two big wins and two defeats against the top American GMs, Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian. His biggest win of the day was against Magnus in round-6, where he attained a mate-in-10 position, handing the Norwegian legend his first and only defeat in the group stage. Final round-robin standings at FIDE Freestyle …