Arjun Erigaisi keeps alive Indian Bull run in Chess by beating Magnus Carlsen

Indians continue to make waves in world chess. After a fabulous 2024 for players from the country, Arjun Erigaisi began the new year on a rousing note, by winning the Titled Tuesday event. It’s an online competition played in the blitz format. Among the participants were World No. 1 Magnus  Carlsen, No. 2 Fabiano Caruana and No. 3 Hikaru Nakamura.

Arjun is no outsider in such elite company. The 21-year-old is ranked fourth in the world. He drove the Indian campaign at the Chess Olympiad in Budapest last year, when the team clinched a historic god medal. He is one place ahead of world champion D Gukesh in rankings and only the 15th player in history to cross the Elo rating mark of 2800 points.

Although Titled Tuesday is not an official event, it is deemed prestigious because several top players participate in it. It’s a weekly competition featuring games in the blitz or the shortest format. In the latest edition of it, Arjun beat Norway’s Carlsen in the 10th round and Caruana of the USA in the 11th. His only defeat came against USA’s Nakamura.

Born in Warangal in Telangana, Arjun became a Grandmaster at the age of 14 and went on to become one of the best players in the generation after Viswanathan Anand. He trains in Chennai at the WestBridge Anand Chess Academy in Chennai. Before that, he was coached by Grandmaster N Srinath, who was the non-playing captain of the Indian men’s team at the Olympiad.