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Arjun Erigaisi

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Arjun Erigaisi
Erigaisi in 2026
Personal information
BornArjun Kumar Erigaisi
(2003-09-03) 3 September 2003 (age 22)
Warangal, Telangana, India
Chess career
CountryIndia
TitleGrandmaster (2018)
FIDE rating2759 (August 2026)
Peak rating2801 (December 2024)
RankingNo. 9 (August 2026)
Peak rankingNo. 3 (October 2024)

Arjun Kumar Erigaisi[1] (born 3 September 2003)[2] is an Indian chess grandmaster. A chess prodigy, he earned the title of grandmaster at the age of 14 years, 11 months, 13 days. In September 2024, he became India's top rated player, and in December 2024, he achieved his peak rating of 2801, making him the fifteenth-highest rated player in history and second Indian ever to cross the 2800 threshold after Viswanathan Anand.[3] Arjun won the double bronze medal at the FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships 2025, becoming the first Indian player to register podium finishes at both events since Viswanathan Anand won the Rapid section and finished third in Blitz in 2017.[4] He has sometimes been described as a 'madman' over the board for his bold and unpredictable style.[5]

Early life

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Arjun was born into a Telugu family in Warangal, Telangana.[6] His father is a neurosurgeon and his mother is a housewife.[7]

He began learning chess at the BS Chess Academy in Hanamkonda, under the mentorship of his first coach, Bollam Sampath, who played a key role in shaping his early development in the sport. [8]

He studied data science until December 2021, before deciding to drop out of university during his first year to focus on his chess career.[9][10]

Career

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2015–2018

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In 2015, Arjun won a silver medal in the 2015 Asian Youth Championship in Korea.[11]

2021

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2021 was a strong year for Arjun Erigaisi, as he became the first Indian to qualify to the Goldmoney Asian Rapid of the Champions Chess Tour 2021[12] ahead of Alireza Firouzja, Daniil Dubov, Peter Svidler and Vidit Gujrathi, only losing to Levon Aronian in tie breaks in a hard-fought match.[13]

In October 2021, Arjun placed 2nd at the Junior U21 Round Table Open Chess Championship (Classical) held in Bulgaria. He scored 7/9, along with Alexey Sarana.[14]

In November 2021, Arjun placed 3rd out of 82 players in the Lindores Abbey Blitz Tournament at Riga ahead of players such as Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Levon Aronian, David Navara, Daniil Dubov, Peter Svidler and many others.[15]

Later that month, Arjun won the Tata Steel Chess India 2021 Rapid Open in Kolkata. He scored 6½/9, ahead of Vidit Gujrathi, Levon Aronian, Sam Shankland and Lê Quang Liêm.[16] He clinched the win by holding Levon Aronian to a draw in a losing position.[17]

2022

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In January 2022, Arjun won the Tata Steel Chess 2022 Challengers,[18] qualifying him to play in the masters section in the next Tata Steel Chess tournament. His final score was 10½/13 and his TPR in the tournament was 2804, taking his rating to 2660, thereby breaking into the top 100.[citation needed]

In March 2022, he was crowned the Indian National Champion by winning the 58th MPL National Championship of India 2022 with a score of 8½/11. Furthermore, in March Arjun won the 19th Delhi Open, edging out Gukesh Dommaraju and Harsha Bharathakoti on tie-break after all scored 8½/10.[19]

Between July and August 2022, Arjun played as board 3 for the India-1 team at the Chess Olympiad. He finished with a score of 8½/11 (+6−0=5),[20] with the team finishing in 4th overall.[21] In August 2022, Arjun won the 28th Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival with 7½/9 and a performance rating of 2893.[22]

In December 2022, Arjun won the Tata Steel Chess India 2022 Blitz Open in Kolkata with 12½/18, which was his third victory in Tata Steel events to date.[23]

2024

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In April 2024, Arjun won Menorca Open A on superior tie-break score after he tied with 2 others with a score of 7½/9.[24]

In June 2024, Arjun won the Stepan Avagyan Memorial 2024 in Jermuk with a round to spare.[25]

At the 45th Chess Olympiad in September 2024, Erigaisi was part of the Indian team that won gold medal in the open section in Budapest. He was the only player in the Open section to score six straight wins in the first six rounds.[26] He finished the event with 10 points in 11 rounds (+9−0=2). His performance rating of 2968 earned him an individual gold medal on board three, and helped India to win their first ever team gold medal at the Olympiad.[27]

In October 2024, Arjun won the 2024 WR Chess Masters Cup in London by defeating Maxime Vachier-Lagrave in an armageddon tiebreak in the final.[28]

In December 2024, Arjun crossed 2800 on the FIDE Ratings list, making him the 16th player ever in history to cross the mark.[29]

Arjun finished 2nd on 2024 FIDE Circuit, with 124.40 points just 6.02 points behind Winner Fabiano Caruana. A win in the final round of Qatar Masters 2024 against eventual 1st place Andrey Esipenko would have given him the required points, once again narrowly missing the Candidates spot.

2025

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In Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2025, he finished 10th, scoring 5½/13 (+2−4=7). Between 28 February and 14 March, Arjun managed to win all of the three Chess.com Freestyle Friday events held. He is the first Indian to win the event and the first player to win it three consecutive times.[30][31] He was part of the Team MGD1 that won the World Rapid Team Chess Championship in London in June 2025.[32]

In July–August, Arjun competed in the 2025 Esports World Cup – Chess (having qualified via the Champions Chess Tour 2025) in Riyadh, representing Gen.G Esports. He finished fourth, losing to Alireza Firouzja in the semifinal and to Hikaru Nakamura in the third-place playoff, earning $115,000.[33]

In October–November, Arjun participated in the Chess World Cup 2025. In the tournament, he knocked out Martin Petrov in the second round, Shamsiddin Vokhidov in the third round, Peter Leko in the fourth round, and Levon Aronian in the fifth round. He was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Wei Yi.

In December, Arjun won the double bronze medal at the FIDE World Rapid & Blitz Championships 2025. In Rapid he finished third on tiebreak to win the bronze medal.[34] In Blitz he finished as the sole leader at the swiss stage but lost in the semifinal to win the bronze medal.[35]

2026

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Starting in January and ending in February, Arjun participated in the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2026. He finished tied for 12th place with a score of 4.5/13, but came in 13th after Sonneborn-Berger tiebreaks.[36]

In May, at the 2026 TePe Sigeman Chess Tournament, Arjun tied for first place with Magnus Carlsen after the classical portion of the event, but lost 2–1 in blitz tiebreaks to finish runner-up.[37]

In June, Arjun participated in UzChess Cup, He scored 5 (+2-1=6) points to tie for 3rd place alongside Ian Nepomniachtchi and Shakhriyar Mamedyarov,[38] He then led Team MGD1 to a silver in the Rapid Section of World Rapid and Blitz Team Chess Championships 2026, He won individual silver for board 1.[39]

In July, Erigaisi finished 3rd (+2-1=4) at Chennai Grand Masters, ½ points behind winner Alireza Firouzja and tied for 4 points with Dmitry Andreikin, though with worse tiebreaks.[40]

In August, Arjun represented Gen.G Esports at the 2026 Esports World Cup – Chess (having qualified via the Champions Chess Tour 2025–2026) in Paris. He advanced through the lower bracket to reach the quarterfinals, where he faced Hikaru Nakamura in a rematch of the previous year's third-place match. All four regulation games ended in draws, sending the match to an Armageddon tiebreak, which Nakamura won with the white pieces to eliminate Arjun. His quarterfinal finish earned him $75,000 in prize money from the tournament's $1.5 million prize pool.[41][42]

Awards and recognition

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Others

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See also

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References

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  1. ↑ "Arjun Kumar Erigaisi". Chessbase.com. Retrieved 10 April 2025.
  2. ↑ "Erigaisi Arjun". Chess-DB.com. Archived from the original on 6 August 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  3. ↑ "Arjun Erigaisi Officially Joins Carlsen, Caruana, Nakamura In 2800 Club". Chess.com. 2 December 2024. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
  4. ↑ "History for India! Arjun Erigaisi becomes first since Viswanathan Aanand to podium in World Rapid & Blitz". THE TIMES OF INDIA. 30 December 2025.
  5. ↑ Keerthivasan, K. (26 September 2024). "Olympiad". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 18 June 2025.
  6. ↑ "Arjun Erigaisi's fast-track to GM title". telanganatoday.com. Archived from the original on 21 October 2018. Retrieved 20 October 2018.
  7. ↑ "Hanamkonda boy set to create ripples in chess world". The Hindu. 1 August 2016. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
  8. ↑ Srikanth, Saishyam (10 February 2021). "Arjun Erigaisi - a peaceful warrior and the future of Indian chess - ChessBase India". www.chessbase.in. Retrieved 14 May 2026.
  9. ↑ Chakravorty, Reshmi (27 July 2022). "Beyond Checkmate!". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  10. ↑ Nair, Abhijit (7 June 2022). ""Chess over studies" — How quitting college took Arjun Erigiasi to Indian Olympiad team". thebridge.in. Retrieved 12 December 2024.
  11. ↑ Subrahmanyam, V. V. (2 August 2016). "Hanamkonda boy set to create ripples in chess world". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 25 June 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2018 – via thehindu.com. Erigaisi Arjun, a Class VIII student, qualifies for World Youth Chess championship, and the Asian championship
  12. ↑ "Goldmoney Asian Rapid Chess: Arjun Erigaisi makes history, first Indian in quarterfinals". 28 June 2021. Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2021. Arjun Erigaisi, the lowest-rated player who now plays league topper Levon Aronian, came up with a display on the final day of the preliminaries
  13. ↑ Rao, Rakesh (30 June 2021). "Arjun falls to Aronian in tiebreaker". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 27 October 2021. Arjun Erigiasi's gallant show against Levon Aronian ended in the blitz tiebreaker
  14. ↑ "Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - Junior U21 Round Table Open Chess Championship". chess-results.com. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  15. ↑ Doggers (PeterDoggers), Peter (8 November 2021). "Kirill Shevchenko Surprise Winner at Lindores Abbey Blitz". Chess.com. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  16. ↑ "Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - TATA STEEL CHESS INDIA RAPID 2021". chess-results.com. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  17. ↑ Arjun Erigaisi on winning the Tata Steel Chess India Rapid and training with Kasimdzhanov, 19 November 2021, retrieved 20 November 2021
  18. ↑ "Tata Steel Chess 2022: Indian GM Arjun Erigaisi wins Challengers event with a round to spare". www.firstpost.com. 30 January 2022. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  19. ↑ "The Week in Chess 1430". theweekinchess.com. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
  20. ↑ "Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - 44th Chess Olympiad 2022 Open". archive.chess-results.com. Retrieved 18 June 2025.
  21. ↑ "Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - 44th Chess Olympiad 2022 Open". archive.chess-results.com. Retrieved 18 June 2025.
  22. ↑ "Chess-Results Server Chess-results.com - 28th Abu Dhabi International Chess Festival - Masters". chess-results.com. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  23. ↑ "Arjun Erigaisi wins Tata Steel Chess India 2022 Blitz with a round to spare, now World no.10 TATA STEEL CHESS INDIA, RAPID & BLITZ, 2022". tatasteelchess.in. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  24. ↑ "Arjun Erigaisi Briefly World #5 As Menorca Open Winner". www.chess.com. 8 April 2024. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  25. ↑ "Arjun Erigaisi wins Stepan Avagyan Memorial 2024 with a round to spare; Achieves 2779.9 live rating". sportstar.thehindu.com. 17 June 2024. Retrieved 17 June 2024.
  26. ↑ "Chess Olympiad Arjun Erigaisi scores his sixth straight win Indian women beat Armenia". The Week. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
  27. ↑ "Chess Olympiad 2024 Round 11 Live Updates: Arjun and Gukesh win as India clinch historic Open GOLD; Divya gives India crucial lead against AZE". 22 September 2024. Retrieved 22 September 2024.
  28. ↑ "Arjun crushes Maxime to win WR Chess Masters". The Hindu. 22 September 2024. Retrieved 19 October 2024.
  29. ↑ "FIDE ratings - December 2024". Chess News. 2 December 2024. Retrieved 17 January 2025.
  30. ↑ "That is three in a row for Arjun". Chess.com. 14 March 2025.
  31. ↑ "Arjun India's first to claim Freestyle Friday". Chess.com. 28 February 2025.
  32. ↑ "MGD1 convincingly clinches World Rapid Team 2025 Championship, Hexamind second and Freedom third". Chessbase India. 14 June 2025.
  33. ↑ "Esports World Cup: Carlsen knocks out Naka, will face Firouzja in Grand Final". ChessBase. 1 August 2025.
  34. ↑ "Arjun Erigaisi and Koneru Humpy win bronze at 2025 FIDE World Rapid Championships". News on AIR. 29 December 2025.
  35. ↑ "World Blitz Magnus Carlsen clinches record ninth title Arjun Erigaisi wins bronze". THE TIMES OF INDIA. 31 December 2025.
  36. ↑ "2026 Tata Steel Master Standings". Tata Steel Chess. Tata Steel. Retrieved 25 February 2026.
  37. ↑ McGourty (Colin_McGourty), Colin (7 May 2026). "Carlsen Beats Erdogmus, Arjun To Clinch TePe Sigeman Chess 2026". Chess.com. Retrieved 7 May 2026.
  38. ↑ "Erigaisi at UZChess 2026". lichess.org. Retrieved 24 June 2026.
  39. ↑ "Rapid Rankings". Chessresults.com. Retrieved 24 July 2026.
  40. ↑ "Alireza Firouzja wins Chennai Grand Masters, rejoins world top ten". chessbase.com. 22 July 2026.
  41. ↑ "Nihal Sarin and Arjun Erigaisi advance to quarter-finals of Chess at Esports World Cup 2026". ANI News. 14 August 2026. Retrieved 28 August 2026.
  42. ↑ "Arjun Erigaisi, Nihal Sarin finish in top 8 as India's Chess campaign ends at Esports World Cup 2026". The Tribune. 14 August 2026. Retrieved 28 August 2026.
  43. ↑ "Arjun Erigaisi wins Sportstar Emerging Hero award at Focus Telangana". Sportstar. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  44. ↑ "TOISA 2021: Arjun Erigaisi wins Chess Player of the Year Award". The Times of India. Retrieved 14 October 2022.
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