Olympiad – The Hindu

Dubbed ‘a complete madman’ by none other than the World No.1 Magnus Carlsen for his unpredictable and bold moves on the chess board, Arjun Erigaisi literally played like one in the Chess Olympiad in Budapest recently.

With a stunning display on board three, Arjun won a whopping nine games (and drew two) out of 11 to win an individual gold and most importantly ensured India claimed a historic gold in the Open section. “It’s just sinking in and am super happy,” he told The Hindu.

His brilliant performance in Hungary earned him valuable Elo points, pushed him up to World No. 3 in live FIDE ratings and boosted his confidence. “My confidence received a huge boost. I did quite well against players with a rating of 2750 points. I played with them the way I play a player who is rated 2650. The Olympiad showed that I can also beat players rated above 2750,” Arjun called ‘A complete madman’ by Carlsen for his style of play, said.

Arjun said he has already received requests to play in invitation tournaments next year but refused to divulge any further information. “I will not like to reveal anything now. But the invitations were from some top tournaments. I expect to get more. I would like to add that the invitations came not after the Olympiad but a few months earlier,” he added.

For all his confidence, the 21-year-old from Telangana said he felt scared in the 10th and penultimate round against USA, which India went on to win 2.5-1.5.

“The match against USA was very close. It was only match where we lost even one game (Praggnanandhaa lost to Wesley So on board two). At that point in the entire Olympiad for me, I was a bit scared that the team might lose. When I saw Pragg’s position he was losing. Gukesh was under massive time pressure against Fabiano Caruana on board one. When I checked again, his position was OK,” said Arjun, who won his game against a higher-rated player, Leinier Dominguez on the third board.

Terming the Global Chess League (GCL) beginning in London on October 3 as one that will do wonders for chess, Arjun said playing for the Ganges Grandmasters team with five-time world champion Viswanathan is a huge honour. “GCL is a great event, it’s the IPL of chess. In the last edition, I was in the same team as Magnus Carlsen. Now to be in the same team as Anand sir is great. I always looked up to him. I had a chance to meet him in the final of the Leon Masters in June, but I was knocked out in the semifinals,” he said.