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20-year-old Indian grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi, hailing from Warangal, broke into the top five FIDE live ratings to make it to the fourth position, just behind legendary chess players Magnus Carlsen, Hikaru Nakamura, and Fabiano Caruana in the list.
Notably, Arjun propelled to the World No. 4, becoming the No.1 Indian chess player, accumulating 2773.9 ratings. However, Arjun failed to make it to the invite-only elite competitions as he has continuously played the open tournaments.
The risk of playing the open tournaments in a draw or a loss against a lower-ranked player may heavily impact the rating points. Most recently, in the Menorca Open in April 2024, Arjun scored 7.5/9, displaying his exceptional run.
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“But it can also pay off. I would say it has paid off for me. It is best to be part of closed events, but given the circumstances, playing open was the way ahead for me,” Arjun Erigaisi told the Indian Express.
“If I had cared less, I would have made it to the Candidates” - Arjun Erigaisi
It’s important to note that Arjun missed out on making it to the FIDE Candidates 2024 by a whisker as Gukesh D made it to the competition with a better circuit rating, eventually winning the title and getting a chance to challenge the reigning world champion Ding Liren.
Nevertheless, Arjun has a strong chance to make it to the next FIDE Candidates 2026 as he is leading the current FIDE Circuit points.
"Earlier, I used to care about my ratings and rankings. It used to affect me negatively. Maybe if I had cared less, there was a good chance I would have made it to the Candidates," Arjun stated.
Currently, Arjun is taking part in the Stepan Avagyan Memorial in Armenia. Arjun started on a winning note in round 1 with the white pieces against Robert Hovhannisyan from Armenia.
Though all eyes were on fellow Indian Grandmasters Gukesh Dommaraju and Praggnanandhaa Rameshbabu, Arjun Erigaisi has been grinding hard. Out of 12 tournaments, Arjun has gained exceptional rating points. However, he lost a negligible 1.2 points in the Sharjah Masters.
