Nineteen-year-old Arjun Erigaisi lost his best chance to make it to the 2024 Candidates Tournament when he came second-best to younger compatriot R Praggnanandhaa in a marathon blitz round of the quarterfinal at the FIDE World Cup on Thursday. While it was a bitter pill to swallow, the World No. 32 is not fretting about it. He rather prefers to look at how far he has come in the past five years.
Back in 2018, Erigaisi was a young player with plenty of promise, with Indian chess badly in search of someone who could carry Viswanathan Anand’s legacy forward, or at least do well on the international stage. That year, Erigaisi earned all six norms (three International Master and three Grandmaster) in a period of eight months to become a Grandmaster at the age of 14.
Erigaisi showed a lot of spark for a youngster but there was just one problem — he seemed flustered when it came to playing the big names.
The moment Praggnanandhaa force Arjun Erigaisi to Tiebreak pic.twitter.com/FhuIpGpmkU
— MasGanteng Sun 🌞 (@MasGanteng_69) August 16, 2023
The first step in rectifying a drawback is not being shy in asking for help. And Erigaisi really wanted help. It was during that time that he interacted with Grandmaster Srinath Narayanan, with the latter travelling with the Indian U-16 team which Erigaisi was a part of, for a tournament in Turkey.
They got talking, and Srinath started helping him though the 29-year-old officially became his full-time trainer only in December last year.
“When I first started analysing his game, I noticed that his opening preparation was very raw and he was scared of facing opponents he believed were stronger than him. His opening is one of the things that he has improved remarkably. He really turned his weakness into his strength and with that he has also become confident when it comes to facing tougher opponents. Now even if he has to face Magnus Carlsen, he’s not going to be intimidated,” Srinath told The Indian Express.
“One of his special qualities is that if you give him clear directions, he executes them perfectly. He absorbs everything that you tell him and is always keen on learning. There’s no ‘off’ switch when it comes to chess for him.”
Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay says what separates Erigaisi from the rest is that his tactical vision is limitless.
What a match what a drama…
The moment Praggnanandhaa eliminate Arjun Erigaisi on sudden death #FIDEWorldCup pic.twitter.com/xHXhMpe9Q4— MasGanteng Sun 🌞 (@MasGanteng_69) August 17, 2023
“He can almost see 30 moves into the future. Erigaisi may not have the best opening game as compared to say D Gukesh or Praggnanandhaa but his strength lies in his originality and ability to survive a difficult position and make continuous efforts to mend his position,” Thipsay said.
Blessing in disguise
The Covid-19 pandemic really changed Indian chess for the better. It gave India’s golden generation comprising players like Erigaisi, Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Nihal Sarin the chance to train extensively in the comforts of their homes and not worry about travelling for tournaments.
Once the world re-opened, the results started showing. Erigaisi won the Rapid section of the Tata Steel India Chess Tournament and did well in other events too, but it was in 2022 that he really showed his class.
After winning the Tata Steel Challengers, Erigaisi played and won the National Championships ahead of Gukesh. He then won the Delhi Open, won an individual silver medal at the Chess Olympiad, and also clinched the Abu Dhabi Masters. The medals did him a world of good but the highlight was beating five-time world champion Carlsen in an online game. He pumped up his rating that year by 100 ELO points to be ranked among the top-25 in the world. Then he got a call that he had never imagined he would ever get.
A company wanted to sponsor him. And it wasn’t a meagre amount. It was $1.5 million for a period of five years. That translated into roughly Rs 2.5 crore a year.
It wasn’t the money that really motivated him though. It was the fact that someone had such trust in him and his abilities.
Pragg emulates Vishy!
By edging out Arjun Erigaisi and entering the semifinals of the #FIDEWorldCup in Baku, @rpragchess has virtually secured a place in the Candidates tournament. So, for the first time, the Candidates will feature an Indian other than @vishy64theking. pic.twitter.com/AsI9OyqKnU— Santhosh Kumar (@giffy6ty) August 17, 2023
For him, it has been quite a journey that started as a seven-year-old after his family moved to Warangal from Tirupati.
“Before we moved to Warangal, my teacher in Tirupati had told my mother to enroll me at a chess academy as I was good with math calculations. My sister and I tried different activities like swimming and skating, but it was chess that stood out. I got completely attracted to it and wanted to keep playing it the entire day,” Erigaisi told The Indian Express.
Academics the casualty
Travelling for tournaments all over the country and beyond meant that he would often miss school and with his post-pandemic success, he just couldn’t keep up with college. Coming from a family of doctors (his father is a doctor, his mother the managing director of their hospital, and his sister is also pursuing an MBBS degree), Erigaisi at least wanted to get a degree but just couldn’t manage it.
“When I decided to quit college and focus fully on chess, they (family) only encouraged me,” he said. “They have all been extremely supportive throughout. My mother used to travel with me a lot when I was young and having constant support as a youngster makes a huge difference.”
Travelling also means that he hasn’t had time to make friends outside chess.
“There’s some sacrifice. I am hardly in touch with my school friends but do have chess friends to compensate for that,” he says.
Praggnanandhaa not only defends a losing position against Arjun Erigaisi, but wins it! Now Arjun has to win on demand or he’s out of the #FIDEWorldCup: https://t.co/zDDS9eBM8E pic.twitter.com/wabfjWbEWj
— chess24.com (@chess24com) August 17, 2023
His ‘chess friends’ Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Sarin have become a tight unit and it’s their companionship at tournaments that keeps them sane. They don’t just settle for board games. They’re quite competitive when it comes to table tennis and foosball too.
Though Erigaisi was playing Pragnanandhaa in the quarterfinals of the FIDE World Cup, they spent most of the evenings together, discussing chess and everything else.
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“We’re fierce rivals across the board but good friends off it. That’s all,” Erigaisi says.
It’s their rivalry that is, in a way, instrumental in raising India’s position in world chess but ask them individually, and they’ll say they have just one goal — to win The Candidates and challenge the World Champion.
Praggnanandhaa has a foot in the door. Gukesh is India’s highest-rated player. Erigaisi can’t be far behind.
