The year 2021 seems to have held out the jackpot for India’s young GM Arjun Erigiasi as he struck it lucky again with his impressive win at the "Tata Steel Chess India Rapid" in Nov 2021. The sweet victory comes close on the heels of his brilliant performance at the Lindores Abbey Blitz tournament, finishing third.
Though Erigiasi was initially scheduled only for the Rapid section and didn’t feature in blitz, destiny moved the pawn. GM Adhiban Baskaran opted out on the eve of the blitz tournament due to personal reasons, paving the way for Arjun to enter.
TATA STEEL CHESS 2020: THE HICCUPS & THE MIRACLES
Kolkata Rapid Blitz
In the finals of the recent Tata Steel Rapid Chess, Arjun locked horns with World No.4 Levon Aronian of Armenia. While Aronian who spearheaded the line-up dominated the first day, Erigaisi soon caught up on the second day with a perfect 3/3 and remained on top with three draws on the third day. In the finals, despite the pressure from the veteran player, Arjun maintained a calm defense. He turned things around with his classic move and then went on to make a tie. Arjun clinched the title with 6.5 points from 9 games.
Looking back on his mindset prior to and during the match against Levon Aronian, Arjun said that he was trying to “stay calm before the game, be normal and play as I usually do”.
An extremely impressed Viswanathan Anand commented on Arjun’s performance as “clinical” and revealing character under pressure, and his calculations as superlative. Vidit Gujrathi, the No.2 seeded player of India, summed it up: “We all had our chances, but Arjun converted them well”.
The match had every element of emotion making the match a power-packed one where Arjun showcased true grit. The triumphant young GM called his achievement "a dream come true" moment and remarked that he “just wanted to play good chess."
Vishy Anand’s words reflect the bright future of an upcoming chess star as he described Arjun as “a huge discovery for India”.
The Story of Arjun Erigaisi
The young player from Telangana became famous as the 5th GM from the state. In 2018, as a teen (14 years), he became the 32nd youngest chess player to be crowned with the title of grandmaster. Now hardly 18, Arjun has finally “arrived” and is at the crossroads to some of the biggest chess games in his life.
It was one of his teachers from early school days who first recognized the sharp skills of the five year old and suggested chess to him. Nine years later, a 14-year-old clinched all the six norms in the same year and gained an ELO rating of 200 points in 2018.
The day he received his GM title, Arjun had said that he had started the year with a target to achieve both the IM and GM norms. No one - including himself - might have foreseen that the player would achieve both in such a short span. After winning the titles, he aimed at securing as many titles as he could with his focus and hard work. He played in the Serbia, Armenia, Switzerland and Hungary tournaments in the following years, with the Serbian checkmate granting him his 2nd Grandmaster Norm. He received his 3rd norm in Hungary and qualified for a title in Abu Dhabi. In 2015, Arjun also won a silver medal at the 2015 Asian Youth Championship in Korea.
The Support System
Arjun attributes his achievement to his supportive family and his mentor, Victor Michaelosky. A young Arjun was coached by Bollam Sampath during his early days at chess, and later by A.Sudarshan. Arjun later started training under N Ramaraju who also coaches Harika Dronavilli.
The young GM is currently trained online by his coach Victor Michaelosky from Israel. As motivated by his coach, Arjun believes that age is just a number. and it is the game that matters. He vouches for the technological leaps that chess as a sport has taken in the past decade, especially regarding online learning and competition platforms.
Till the Tata Steel Victory, Arjun Erigaisi was a quiet name in the Indian seed, not holding weight as his better-known peers Praggnanandhaa or Nihal Sarin. With the new title, Arjun Erigaisi has joined the ranks of Hikaru Nakamura and Magnus Carlson who had earlier won the titles in 2018 and 2019.
Conclusion
Arjun Erigaisi’s success is backed by his hard work, determination and the right training. If you wish your kids to soar high on the spectrum of competitive chess, you need to give them professional training at the hands of an expert coach. We, at Mind Mentorz, have a technology-backed chess coaching process to hone the cognitive skills and tune the young minds. We emphasize the joy of learning a brain game like chess, ensuring that your kid enjoys and masters the game. Visit our website to know more about the top-graded training programs and the success stories of our students.