 "Arjun Erigaisi to compete in Paris leg of Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour 2025")
Indian grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi will compete in the Paris leg of the 2025 Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour in April, becoming the second player from the country after world champion D Gukesh to take part. The development was confirmed by Freestyle Chess on their official Instagram account.
“A new face for Freestyle Chess! Arjun Erigaisi has confirmed his participation for the Paris Grand Slam (8-15 April) #FreestyleChess #Weissenhaus,” Freestyle Chess said on their Instagram handle.
Arjun Erigaisi’s forgettable Tata Steel Chess outing
Arjun, ranked World No 4, endured a disappointing outing in the recently-held Tata Steel Chess tournament in Wijk aan Zeee, Netherlands. He finished the tournament in 10th place out of 14 competitors in the Masters section, registering just two wins, while drawing seven and losing four other games.
His wins came against Uzbekistan's Nodirbek Abdusattorov and fellow Indian GM D Gukesh in round 12 and round 13 of the tournament respectively.
Erigaisi later admitted that the Tata Steel Chess tournament was one of the toughest competitions in his life. “It was one of the toughest tournaments of my life so far. There is always learning to be taken away from tournaments. Especially in such tournaments like there are many (learnings to be taken away). But the ones that I can reveal is that I was playing a bit too aggressively and taking too much risks," he told the Indian Express.
D Gukesh, who defeated Ding Liren to win the World Chess Championship title in December, endured a disappointing outing in the Weissenhaus leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour. The teenager lost to eventual runner-up Fabiano Caruana in the quarter-finals in Germany and not a single win throughout the tournament meant that Gukesh finished in eighth place (Four points) of the 10-player standings.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe Paris leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour will be followed by three more legs in New York (17-24 July), New Delhi (17-24 September) and Cape Town (5-12 December).
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