 "Exclusive | Arjun Erigaisi 'excited' to participate in ESports World Cup: 'It will open many doors'")
By returning to action in the Paris leg of the Freestyle Chess Grand Slam Tour, where he will be competing alongside his good friends D Gukesh and R Praggnanandhaa , Indian Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi will be turning his attention towards the ESports World Cup. The World Cup will be taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia later this year, where the board game will be making its maiden appearance.
The ESports World Cup enters its second year, having been staged for the first time in the Saudi capital in the months of July and August last year, and had featured a variety of games – from Call of Duty: Warzone and Apex Legends to EA FC.
With organisers adding online chess to this year’s list of games, it was only natural to expect some Indian participation in the event, given how the likes of Gukesh, Praggnanandhaa and Arjun are dominating the scene at the moment and are among the top-10.
Arjun, who has signed with leading global esports team Gen.G, certainly is excited for the event, where the experience will be vastly different from what he is normally used to as a professional chess player.
In an exclusive chat with Firstpost, the 21-year-old Grandmaster from Warangal also shed light on the positive impact that chess’ appearance at the ESports World Cup could have on the sport, especially when it comes to making it more popular among the younger crowd – particularly gamers.
“Yeah, definitely. I think there are a lot of people who don’t follow other sports, but follow Esports a lot. So I think for all of them, this is a chance to look at chess, which is very good for the sport. So that way it definitely opens new doors.
“Chess can be played not just as a like physical over-the-board sport but also as an e-sport and this is very unique to just chess like no other sport can be played that way. So I’m glad this is happening and I hope it will become huge and open many doors,” Arjun told Firstpost.
Erigaisi reveals Carlsen and Nakamura’s role in introducing him to ESports World Cup
Arjun also revealed how chess stars Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura, ranked first and second respectively in the current FIDE ratings, helped introduce him to the ESports World Cup that later led to his association with Gen.G – a professional esports organisation with headquarters in Santa Monica, Seoul, and Shanghai.
Life's too short to make bad moves... so we made a great one ♟️
— Gen.G Esports (@GenG) February 5, 2025
Ranked #4 in the World, he's the most interesting Chess player alive.
Welcome @ArjunErigaisi to Gen.G! pic.twitter.com/TYXSTFkhIG
“So first I got to know about the ESports World Cup when Magnus and Hikaru spoke about it, like, towards the end of last year. Okay. Then I, like, I checked the format and things related to that and that excited me. And then Gen G approached my team and because I was already excited about it, like I was also interested.
“We had a few discussions and then we decided that I’ll play for them and I’m so glad I made that decision. Also, they are the champions in League of Legends and this is their first time with chess, and I’m so glad that they chose me and I’ll try my best to make them proud,” said Arjun, currently ranked fifth in the world and also someone who recently become only the second Indian after the legendary Viswanathan Anand to breach the 2800+ ELO Rating.
Training for non-increment time control
Among the unique challenges of the chess event at the ESports World Cup that Arjun is looking forward to conquering is the lack of increment, which is standard for every other format of the game – Classical, Rapid, Blitz and even the recently-introduced Fischer Random or Freestyle Chess.
Exclusive | 'Freestyle Chess definitely future of sport, but not in next 10 years': Arjun Erigaisi
For Arjun, his preparation for the World Cup will revolve around training for non-increment time control and managing time pressure.
“So one of the things like actually the main thing here is that there is no increment. So that makes a huge difference in the format and everything because like when there’s no increment and you’re in time pressure, it’s like a completely new different game while even when there’s at least one second increment, it’s still quite different.
“So like, I think it’s a lot about training for non-increment time control and managing how to play fast in time pressure,” Arjun added.
‘Factors like cheating is a bigger concern’: Arjun on online chess
The Indian chess star also highlighted some of the differences between online and over-the-board chess, adding that cheating is a major concern when it comes to the former. Controversial American Grandmaster Hans Niemann, who has been involved in a long-running feud with Carlsen , Nakamura, as Chess.com, had admitted to cheating in online games in his early years.
Other than that, there are also factors such as the ability to quickly make moves with one’s mouse – which Arjun believes some can struggle with, especially in the shorter formats – as well as internet connection and server response.
“With online, there is this benefit of like just being sitting at home and playing. That’s always nice when you can just be home and play. But also there are other factors like cheating is a bigger concern. There’s also the mouse factor. Some people can play very fast with their mouse and not all can do that.
“And also internet connection. I haven’t faced any disconnections as such, but it’s definitely the case that the servers in, at least for Chess.com, the servers in US are better. So when you play from US, your move reaches the server faster. So you lose less time and that. So there are these factors,” he added.
The ESports World Cup will be taking place between 31 July and 3 August this year and will feature a total of 16 players in the chess event – the qualification for which will be decided through the Champions Chess Tour.
Besides Arjun, Russian GM Volodar Murzin – who had recently won the World Rapid Championship in New York in December – has signed with Vietnamese-Chinese esports organization AG Global.
American GM Nakamura, who also happens to be a popular streamer besides being one of the biggest chess stars in the world today, has signed with Team Falcons, the reigning ESports world champions. Also confirming his participation in the event after signing with Serbian esports organization Aurora Gaming is Russian GM Ian Nepomniachtchi, who had controversially shared the world blitz title with Carlsen at the ‘Big Apple’.
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