Arjun Erigaisi one win away from securing 2800 Elo rating points

Indian chess grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi needs just one more win to surpass 2800 Elo rating points. Should he get to 2800 Elo rating points, it would make him only the second Indian chess player to achieve the feat, after the legendary Viswanathan Anand. Arjun recently defeated Praggnanandhaa in the semi-finals of the 2024 WR Chess Masters Cup in London with a score of 1.5-0.5, and is currently facing Maxime Vachier-Lagrave of France in the final. Vachier-Lagrave  defeated Alireza Firouzja in the other semi-final.

Game 1 of the final between Arjun and Vachier-Lagrave was held earlier on Thursday and ended in a draw. Game 2 of the final will take place later in the day.

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Arjun’s achievements

Even before Arjun made a mark in the world of chess during the coronavirus pandemic, Praggnanandhaa had already become a young, promising figure in the sport. However, Arjun rose through the ranks and won multiple tournaments, including the Rapid category of the Tata Steel India Chess tournament in 2021.

In 2022, he won the blitz competition of the Tata Steel India Chess tournament, and the same year, he won the National Premier Chess Championship, beating the likes of D Gukesh and Harsha Bharathakodi.

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Currently, Arjun is in fourth place as far as live ratings is concerned and has accumulated 2797.9 points so far. A win against Vachier-Lagrave will make him the 16th player to surpass Elo ratings of 2800.

Arjun’s win over Praggnanandhaa

Praggnanandhaa was aggressive with his approach against Arjun, employing a Ruy Lopez move, but that backfired with Arjun responding with a 20.Qd6, which is a move in the Scandinavian Defense Opening.

Arjun, though, continued putting pressure on the 19 year-old, before emerging victorious in the first game. Arjun played the second game with black pieces, and all he needed was a draw to make the final of the 2024 WR Chess Masters Cup.

The second match also turned out to be a neck-to-neck affair, but instead of the match heading towards a knight endgame, both the knights were eventually sacrificed. However, in the end, that moved proved to be crucial as the two settled for a draw eventually, despite suffering a scare from Praggnanandhaa in the last move.