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Warangal boy Arjun Erigaisi seals national chess title | Hyderabad News
KANPUR: Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi is on a roll. A month after he scaled a new high by moving 49 places up in the rankings to become India’s No 4, Arjun sealed his first senior national title in Kanpur on Thursday.
Arjun – who scored 8.5 points from 11 rounds in the competition – was tied for first place along with GMs D Gukesh and P Iniyan but won the event on a better tie-break score. Gukesh finished second while Iniyan settled for the third spot.
The victory earned Arjun 11 ELO points to take his rating to 2670. He is India No. 4 ranked player behind five-time former World champion Viswanathan Anand, P Harikrishna and Vidit Gujrathi.
Arjun – undefeated during the competition – began his campaign with victories in the first four rounds. He drew his fifth-round game against Gukesh before defeating former National champion Abhijeet Gupta in the sixth round. In the penultimate round, Arjun drew with Iniyan and had the same result in the last encounter against Sethuraman too. “I think this was a very tough tournament with so many high-quality players, and to win it is definitely special. Gukesh and Iniyan too played very well as it went down to the wire,” Arjun told TOI.
Arjun is hopeful that his performances in recent times will help him to get a sponsor. “So far my father, a neurosurgeon in Warangal, has been sponsoring me. But it will be great to have a sponsor,” Arjun pointed out.
“Ahead of the tournament, I was not well and was on the verge of skipping this event. Once I felt better, I convinced my parents and decided to play here. I am happy with the result.”
Standings: 1 Arjun Erigaisi, 2 D Gukesh, 3 P Iniyan, 4 Aravindh Chithambaram, 5 Aryan Chopra, 6 Koustav Chatterjee, 7 Karthikeyan Murali, 8 NR Visakh, 9 SP Sethuraman, 10 V Pranav.
Arjun – who scored 8.5 points from 11 rounds in the competition – was tied for first place along with GMs D Gukesh and P Iniyan but won the event on a better tie-break score. Gukesh finished second while Iniyan settled for the third spot.
The victory earned Arjun 11 ELO points to take his rating to 2670. He is India No. 4 ranked player behind five-time former World champion Viswanathan Anand, P Harikrishna and Vidit Gujrathi.
Arjun – undefeated during the competition – began his campaign with victories in the first four rounds. He drew his fifth-round game against Gukesh before defeating former National champion Abhijeet Gupta in the sixth round. In the penultimate round, Arjun drew with Iniyan and had the same result in the last encounter against Sethuraman too. “I think this was a very tough tournament with so many high-quality players, and to win it is definitely special. Gukesh and Iniyan too played very well as it went down to the wire,” Arjun told TOI.
Arjun is hopeful that his performances in recent times will help him to get a sponsor. “So far my father, a neurosurgeon in Warangal, has been sponsoring me. But it will be great to have a sponsor,” Arjun pointed out.
“Ahead of the tournament, I was not well and was on the verge of skipping this event. Once I felt better, I convinced my parents and decided to play here. I am happy with the result.”
Standings: 1 Arjun Erigaisi, 2 D Gukesh, 3 P Iniyan, 4 Aravindh Chithambaram, 5 Aryan Chopra, 6 Koustav Chatterjee, 7 Karthikeyan Murali, 8 NR Visakh, 9 SP Sethuraman, 10 V Pranav.
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