All posts tagged: Erigaisi

Can Arjun Erigaisi beat Magnus Carlsen to become Freestyle World Champion? | Chess News

Can Arjun Erigaisi beat Magnus Carlsen to become Freestyle World Champion? | Chess News

Published by Webster

4 min readFeb 12, 2026 10:12 PM IST Arjun Erigaisi did not make the cut for the Candidates tournament that will be held in a couple of months to handpick a challenger to world champion Gukesh Dommaraju. It was a significant setback for one of the most exciting stars of Indian chess, who will have to wait two more years for his next shot at becoming the classical world champion. But Arjun could end up becoming a world champion by the end of this week. The Freestyle World Champion, that is. Arjun is the only Indian grandmaster to qualify for the FIDE Freestyle Chess World Championship that will be held in Germany’s Weissenhaus from Friday to Sunday. Standing in Arjun’s path will be players like Magnus Carlsen, Levon Aronian, Fabiano Caruana, Vincent Keymer, Javokhir Sindarov, Hans Niemann and Nodirbek Abdusattorov. After ending 2024 with twin bronze medals at the FIDE World Rapid and Blitz Championship in Doha, Arjun has had a difficult start to 2025. He came close to winning both the Rapid and Blitz …

Indian GMs’ struggles at Wijk aan Zee: 3 wins in 33 games between Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Aravindh Chitambaram | Chess News

Indian GMs’ struggles at Wijk aan Zee: 3 wins in 33 games between Praggnanandhaa, Arjun Erigaisi, Aravindh Chitambaram | Chess News

Published by Webster

3 min readUpdated: Jan 31, 2026 12:26 PM IST India’s top chess players endured another wretched day at the office in Round 11 of the Tata Steel Chess tournament in Wijk aan Zee with Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi suffering defeats and world champion D Gukesh being held to a draw by Aravindh Chitambaram after having a significant edge in the game. Pragg lost to German grandmaster Vincent Keymer while Arjun was beaten by World Cup winner Javokhir Sindarov. Friday’s results meant that between the three of them, Praggnanandhaa, Arjun and Aravindh have had three wins in 33 classical games at Wijk aan Zee, with two of those wins coming over Indian players itself. Meanwhile, despite all the scrutiny of his results as the world champion, Gukesh has racked up three wins in his 11 rounds. The world champion may have lost three games at Wijk, but he’s the top ranked Indian player in the Tata Steel masters standings with 5.5 points. With two more rounds left Praggnanandhaa (4.5 points), Arjun (4 points) and Aravindh (4 …

Chess guru RB Ramesh reveals differences between Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi | Chess News

Chess guru RB Ramesh reveals differences between Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Arjun Erigaisi | Chess News

Published by Webster

3 min readJan 30, 2026 04:01 PM IST One of India’s top chess gurus, RB Ramesh, has broken down the difference between India’s top three prodigies—world champion Gukesh, Arjun Erigaisi and Praggnanandhaa—who are also flagbearers of India’s chess revolution. Ramesh is the man who has shaped some of India’s best chess players like Praggnanandhaa, Vaishali Rameshbabu and Aravindh Chitambaram. Talking about Indian players as compared to rest of the players from the world, Ramesh told woman grandmaster and content creator Dina Belenkaya: “Generally, the Indian players are, in my view, mentally tougher than the rest.” Then he explained the ‘significant’ differences between the Indian trio. “I would say Arjun is probably mentally tougher than the other two. His style is more enterprising, and he can bounce back from bad performances. He can play a tournament badly, and in the next tournament, he can be a monster. In my view, he’s kind of a complete player and manages his time much better than the other two,” Ramesh said in the interview for Belenkaya’s YouTube channel. “Then, …

India No. 1 Arjun Erigaisi overlooked again for Grand Chess Tour as Gukesh-Pragg lead the Indian charge in 2026

India No. 1 Arjun Erigaisi overlooked again for Grand Chess Tour as Gukesh-Pragg lead the Indian charge in 2026

Published by Webster

The Saint Louis Chess Club announced on Tuesday the lineup of full-tour participants for the 2026 Grand Chess Tour (GCT) season. The nine-player roster features two Indians, D. Gukesh and R. Praggnanandhaa, for a third consecutive year. Meanwhile, Arjun Erigaisi, the highest-rated Indian across all formats, once again did not receive an invitation. This marks the third straight year that reigning World Champion Gukesh and former World Cup finalist Praggnanandhaa have been invited as full-tour participants, while Arjun has been overlooked. Arjun missing out on invitations to super-elite events is not a new phenomenon. It is a widely discussed topic, and his former coach, N. Srinath, has often addressed Arjun’s exclusion. ALSO READ | How lack of invitations in elite events is holding back Arjun Erigaisi, India’s top-ranked player in all formats “Yes, he played Tata Steel and Norway Chess (in 2025)… two top-tier closed events this year, but compared to his peers, he competed in fewer tournaments than players at his level typically do across the year,” Srinath had told The Indian Express earlier …

Arjun Erigaisi loses to Vladimir Fedoseev; Pragg’s wait for win continues

Arjun Erigaisi loses to Vladimir Fedoseev; Pragg’s wait for win continues

Published by Webster

Arjun Erigaisi, India’s best performer at the ongoing Tata Steel Chess tournament, endured a difficult loss to Vladimir Fedoseev in the fifth round of the Wijk aan Zee event on Wednesday, ending his unbeaten run in the event. The day also saw Aravindh Chitambaram lose to German grandmaster Vincent Keymer while R Praggnanandhaa’s search for his first victory at the tournament will have to continue into the sixth round on Friday. Coming into the fifth round, Praggnanandhaa was marooned at the bottom spot in the standings after starting the event with two defeats in a row before finding some stability with three draws. Thursday is the first rest day of the tournament, which is known as the Wimbledon of Chess and has a reputation of being one of the most unforgiving events on the circuit, thanks to its three-week duration and the frigid weather conditions at the Dutch seaside town. ALSO READ | Are India’s top chess players Gukesh and Praggnanandhaa flirting with fatigue? At the time of going to press, world champion D Gukesh held …

Arjun Erigaisi draws with Gukesh in round-3

Arjun Erigaisi draws with Gukesh in round-3

Published by Webster

GM Arjun Erigaisi played his second draw of the tournament in round 3 against his compatriot Gukesh Dommaraju at the Tata Steel Chess Wijk aan Zee on Monday. Arjun, however, remained in joint lead with 4 other players, Nodirbek Abdusattorov (UZB), Hans Niemann (USA), Matthias Bluebaum (GER) and Jordan Van Foreest (NED) with 2 points each. Meanwhile, the defending champion GM Praggnanandhaa earned his first points on the board with a draw against Thai Dai Van Nguyen of Czechia in round-3. Earlier, Pragg lost to Uzbek GM Nodirbek Abdusattorov in round 2 with the black pieces, following his first-round defeat against Arjun Erigaisi. Meanwhile, Aravindh Chithambram played his third consecutive draw against Nodirbek Abdusattorov to remain unbeaten, trailing half a point behind 5 leaders. Aravindh will next take on the current joint leader, Hans Niemann, in the fourth round on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Gukesh will have second consecutive all-Indian game against Pragg. On the other hand, joint leader Arjun will aim to remain unbeaten against the Dutch GM Anish Giri with the black pieces in his …

Tata Steel Chess India: American double delight as Carissa Yip and Wesley So win Blitz titles while Arjun Erigaisi fades | Chess News

Tata Steel Chess India: American double delight as Carissa Yip and Wesley So win Blitz titles while Arjun Erigaisi fades | Chess News

Published by Webster

At just 22, International Master Carissa Yip is already a four-time US Women’s Champion. Ahead of the Tata Steel Chess India tournament, she had said that Rapid and Blitz were her weaker formats, based on past performance. However, six days later, she will fly home with enough reasons to reassess that judgment. After tying for third place in the Rapid event, Yip clinched the Blitz title in the women’s category on Sunday, defeating India’s Vantika Agrawal in a tie-break after the two could not be separated after 18 tiring rounds.Yip’s creative ideas on the board and her versatility make her one of the most exciting young talents emerging from the United States. It was double delight for the American contingent as 32-year-old Wesley So dominated the Blitz segment in the Open section, winning the title with a round to spare. A regular participant and a crowd favourite in Kolkata, this was So’s sixth appearance at the Tata Steel event and his first title. For 32-year-old Wesley So, this was his first title at the Tata …

How Arjun Erigaisi hoodwinked Viswanathan Anand and Wei Yi at Rapid event of the 2026 Tata Steel Chess | Chess News

How Arjun Erigaisi hoodwinked Viswanathan Anand and Wei Yi at Rapid event of the 2026 Tata Steel Chess | Chess News

Published by Webster

Top-ranked Indian across all formats, Arjun Erigaisi is described by his mother as a jhala prasantamaina abbayi, a very calm boy. Yet that same calm boy transforms into a destructive beast the moment he steps up to the chessboard. Having finished third in the Rapid event of the 2026 Tata Steel Chess India tournament in Kolkata, Arjun began the Blitz portion with a blitzkrieg of his own. On Saturday, he took down five opponents one by one, starting with five straight wins, many of which were swindled in his favour at the very last second. Facing the Russian teenager and 2024 World Rapid Champion, Murzin, Arjun found himself in a precarious position after holding equality for 51 moves. Both players were down to mere seconds on the clock, and Arjun was hanging by a thread. In a sharp position, Murzin needed to find a winning sequence, but against a resourceful Arjun, that was never going to be easy. A pawn down, Arjun managed to snatch back a pawn and steer the game toward a draw …

How Arjun Erigaisi double bronze in Doha could alter perceptions of India’s weakness in shorter forms | Chess News

How Arjun Erigaisi double bronze in Doha could alter perceptions of India’s weakness in shorter forms | Chess News

Published by Webster

There is a strong perception, led notably by Magnus Carlsen, that the new generation of Indian chess prodigies are exceptionally strong calculators. This inherently makes them a formidable force in classical chess, yet they often struggle with intuitive play, a weakness that directly impacts their performance in shorter time controls. This perception is not entirely unfounded. Since Viswanathan Anand, India’s presence in Rapid and Blitz chess has faded significantly. The five-time World Classical Champion’s last rapid medal, a gold in 2017 was also the last time an Indian (male) stood on the podium at the World Rapid and Blitz Championships. Both the fact, and with that perhaps, the perception shifted in Doha, where Arjun Erigaisi made history by winning a double bronze, returning with medals in both the Rapid and Blitz events. Though rare, this feat was still a disappointing end to Arjun’s campaign in the eyes of his former trainer, N. Srinath. He believes that Arjun, the top-ranked Indian in all three formats, could have won medals of a better colour had he received …

Nearly there: Arjun Erigaisi, India’s most complete player, yet short of the finish line

Nearly there: Arjun Erigaisi, India’s most complete player, yet short of the finish line

Published by Webster

Arjun Erigaisi, finished the 2025 season strong, winning two bronze medals at the 2025 World Rapid and Blitz Championships in Doha on Tuesday. The 22-year-old had finished on top of the standings by one whole point in blitz but went down in the semi-finals to Nodirbek Abdusattorov. Had the winner been crowned after the swiss rounds like in the rapid section, he would have been a world champion. The semi-final loss, in essence, summed up the 2025 season for Erigaisi. It was a year he established himself as the most well-rounded Indian Grandmaster only to suffer heartbreaks just before the finish line. It happened at the 2025 FIDE World Cup in Goa. And before that at the 2025 Grand Swiss as well. The lone Indian surviving in the home world cup, Erigaisi lost out in the quarter-finals, dashing his hopes of making it to the Candidates for a second-time in a row. At the Grand Swiss, Erigaisi was in contention to finish in the top-two and earn a Candidates spot but slipped down to sixth, …